Tips for Recruiting Gen Y

During these challenging economical times "career" real estate agents are retiring at an alarming rate. In fact, according to RIS Media, by 2010 nearly 58% of the real estate workforce will have moved out of the field. Who will replace them?

Now is the time to understand and target the new generation of agents, the Gen Y group. To understand the mindset of Gen Y, you have to understand the environment into which they were born. Gen Y came of age during a time that saw unprecedented economic growth (late 1990s), shaping their expectations of themselves and the world around them.

These twenty-somethings have been called Echo Boomers, Millennials, the Net Generation, Generation Y, but because brevity is important, let's go with Gen Y. This group of tech-savvy, wellness-focused people represents 47 million potential candidates who are ready, willing, and able to succeed. A few of their favorite things are: The Hillz show, working in pajamas, wall posts, Obama, avatars, and an aversion to vowels.

Their spheres are enormous and easily accessed through social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, which Gen Y navigate blindfolded. In fact, Facebook was created by a Gen Y in a dorm room.

So how can you attract them?

Optimize social networking – Gen Y love to blog. Having a blog on your website, specifically one dedicated to recruiting, will entice communication and ultimately result in more recruiting appointments.

Update your website – Do you have a career section? Are you refreshing your site often to keep keywords updated, especially keywords related to your value proposition? Make it easy for people to find you when they are searching for career-related information.

Community involvement – Show that you care about the community you serve. Gen Y is leading many volunteer and fund raising efforts. The mandatory community service hours established in their education system have trained them to give back. The more you do to participate in those efforts, the more respect you will gain and the more likely they will be to seek you out.

Educate - Utilize the many online educational resources to train, prospect and market. Offer as much access to continuing education and training as possible. This generation will embrace online teaching and marketing tools and optimize their efficiency. They will be attracted to your organization as a result.

Tap into their financial cushion – More than half of Gen Y's new graduates move back to their parents' homes after collecting their degrees, and that cushion of support makes them ideal candidates to recruit. Many others are being bankrolled by parents and are buying first homes. They gravitate to their peers for help in those efforts.

Recruit at the college level – Register with your local colleges and universities and be a strong presence on their job boards. Offer to hold career nights for graduates to entice them. Friendship is such a strong motivator for them that Gen Y will choose a job just to be with their friends. A Boston-based moving company once hired an entire athletic team. "It looked like a great work environment with people that understand each other," said one of the recruits.

Keep your dealings short and to-the-point – If you bore them, they'll leave. So if your sales meetings take 90 minutes and they could take 35 minutes, shorten them. Show that you will stir their imagination with innovative business practices and help them grow professionally.

Now that you've attracted them, what can you offer them?

Flex space – Gen Y does not have the same attachment to an "office" that earlier generations do. They work anywhere they can get an Internet connection. They don't need or want traditional office space and don't want to pay for it.

Freedom – They want the freedom to come and go as they please, which makes them an excellent fit for the real estate industry.

Technology – They have grown up using the latest technology, and they expect to continue that in their careers. Give them the tech tools they need and watch them soar.

Belonging – Supply them with your brand, and give them a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves, to something they can believe in.

The right compensation – Add to all of that a compensation plan that is "lean and mean" where they pay for what they need but not for things they don't value, and where they have the potential to earn a lot of money.

Ultimately, understanding Gen Y is not only important for managers, but for older associates too. Anyone over 30, that is. They need to know how to adapt to the values and demands of their newest colleagues. Before too long, they will be the bosses.