The Class of 2017 has entered the workforce, whether having graduated from college or high school, and they have a list of expectations for their employment.
The Class of 2017 also includes an entirely new generation, as teenagers born in 2000 are often excluded from the loosely defined Millennial generation.
Their demands include things like a higher salary, with some of the first “Generation Z” graduates expecting more money than most of the previous generations. They’re also much more likely to work in a field not related to what they’d studied in school, with 81% stating they’d take a position not related to their degree.
Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer for iCIMS, believes this is a realistic outlook for the younger generation to have in today’s job market.
“Having a connection to the brand, paired with the reality that student loan debt is on the rise and students are eager to begin paying them off, is driving young candidates to seek employment opportunities in fields outside of their college major to get their foot in the door,” Vitale said.
On the salary side, 2017 college seniors expect to earn approximately $53,483 at their first job after graduation. This is according to an iCIMS study. More than half of those surveyed (54%) said they expect $50,000 or more, a 12% increase from 2016.
Despite these high hopes — or perhaps because of them — many employers are finding recruiting and retaining workers of all ages to be more and more difficult. In 2015, 2.7 million workers voluntarily quit their place of employment, a 25% increase from the year prior.
Not only that, but 1 in 4 Millennials say they’re willing, and even planning, on quitting in the next year.
Minicozzi, an analyst at an HR Software Vendor called Workday, believes that employers need to start thinking about how to approach the new generation on their terms.
“It’s the nature of the changing workforce. Millennials have a different mindset around careers: They tend to leave more quickly and are looking for a job as an opportunity to learn something new and acquire new skills, and because of that recruiters have to start thinking harder not just about looking for people on the outside but, how do we focus on our internal people and re-recruit them? Is it a recruiter’s job or a manager’s job — I think it’s both because recruiting is a team sport.”