Attracting the Best and Brightest
(photo by dsb nola)
As the summer of 2008 is officially upon us, we see gas prices soaring to a whopping $4.00 a gallon, and an economy that is unpredictable at best. But even with all of the uncertainty in the world, one thing is for sure – very little seems to be stopping the new class of college graduates entering the workforce.
Millennials crave something different than their Boomer parents did when they entered the workforce some 30 years ago. In particular, a strong desire for a work life balance, increased financial stability (after all those student loans), and a longing to make a difference in the world.
And what’s more, companies are listening and adapting their recruitment practices accordingly. For example, at JPMorgan recruits are divided into teams and take part in what they call a Good Venture Competition, where the winning project team is awarded $25,000 for their cause. For executives at JPMorgan, this is a clever way to combine genuine philanthropy with a real-world test of leadership and teamwork for their potential recruits. For Millennials, it’s proof that the company is committed to giving back to the community.
In this weekend’s Washington Post magazine cover story, The Amazing Adventures of Supergrad,” Liza Mundy shows us how companies are falling over one another to vie for the talents of what some consider the most “sophisticated, accomplished, entitled graduates ever produced by American colleges.”
As Millennials, many of us have been pushed to learn new languages, we’ve studied abroad in multiple countries, we spend our summers in the halls of Capitol Hill and in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies. The JPMorgans and Googles of the world are focused on how to attract us to their companies, but what will it take for the nonprofit community to rise to the occasion and attract the same caliber of young people to the ranks of the local United Way or Boys and Girls Club? If this generation is so eager to make a difference in the world – how will the nonprofit sector keep up and attract the best and brightest?
Comments
I think you’re assuming that the models of for-profit and non-profit will stay static and stagnant to the future. If anything, I think the hybrids (for-profit enterprises which achieve social good) will attract the greatest amount of entrepreneurial spirit.
It’s what all of my friends are interested in.
Thanks for your comment Daniel, you’re absolutely right. The hybrid model is something that we’re seeing more and more of as companies are beginning to understand the importance of achieving a double bottom line or a social return on their investments. I agree it’s a trend that will help attract the entrepreneurial spirit inherent to this generation. I think that the private sector is figuring that out – but still question how NPO’s will find and adopt similar models that are equally attractive to this rising generation.
Don’t forget that Teach for America has been wildly successful at doing exactly what you’re talking about – recruiting the best and the brightest to public service (although not quite to NPOs). And they did it by co-opting the models that investment banks and consulting firms use to attract students.
Their recruiting network is incredible. Teams are headed by Teach for America alums, who are trained in how to inspire you with their stories, and complimented by undergraduate interns, who have a working knowledge of how information travels around the campus. I knew plenty of classmates last year who considered and applied to TFA even though public service had not been “on the radar” for them before that. I think it was just that TFA asked them, again and again, to consider it and sold it as a prestigious, rewarding opportunity.
I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to translate this to NPOs. I think one of the major problems is that NPOs are often smaller and don’t have the same kind of scale in terms of entry level positions as TFA, large banks, and gov’t agencies. Even the United Ways and Boys and Girls Club are run as independent regional affliates rather than national organizations. What seems more likely to me is an organization that brought something like the Princeton 55 Project (which places Princeton graduates in nonprofits with salaries paid by the organizations for 10-12 months) to scale. It would aggregate opportunities available to recent graduates, rather than trying to attract them to particular organizations, and recruit the best and brightest to fill them.
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