Millennial to million-dollar maker
Millennials have been in the professional services sphere for quite some time. However, most firms have failed to support them in reaching the top, not harnessing these talented youngsters and the new approaches and skills they contribute to the mix.
However, the fact is that millennial professionals have a lot more to offer than most leaders care to admit. By taking the lead and supporting your young, talented team members, you’ll create top talent that will not only work towards their and your firm’s success, but they will have fewer reasons to leave for another firm.
Why are millennials leaving their firms?
It’s already a known fact that today’s professionals tend to change firms more often than their counterparts from the past. In many cases, young professionals in professional services firms tend to stay fewer than three years in a single firm.
However, it’s a less known fact that firms can do a lot to get them to stay.
First, we need to realise why millennials are leaving their firms. Recent research suggests the following reasons:
- A wish to start working in-house
- Lack of financial growth opportunities
- Lack of advancement opportunities
- Poor firm culture
- Large amounts of overtime hours
- Lack of interesting work
- Reduced access to valuable mentors
As you can see, all of these (except the wish to go work in-house) have something to do with mentoring, guidance, and a feeling of belonging to a great firm.
What you need to do to help your millennial professionals to reach the skies
For the reasons we already mentioned, coaching and mentoring your young team members is the key. Millennials lack and crave guidance. They need mentors who will help them improve and advance, and they need firms that will value them by providing those mentors and opportunities for advancement. All of that makes them happy, and happy employees rarely want to leave their current place of employment.
Millennials need to be coached on how to grow into their specialisation and their firm. They need to develop their business development skills and marketing skills.
Furthermore, you need to allow your young professionals to do what their future versions would want them to do.
- They need to have a chance to know their clients directly
- They have to keep learning and improving constantly
- Networking needs to be a significant part of their young career
- Young professionals shouldn’t be overworked – personal care matters for their career and the quality of their work
- You have to find them a good mentor
- Provide them with interesting, worthwhile, and rewarding work
- They need to have a chance to advance in their career if they give good results
- They (as well as your entire firm) need to know the firm’s strategy and be informed when something changes
- They need to understand that they are expected to bring in new business, as most of them believe they are not required to at such an early stage in their career
Key takeaways
As you can see, a lot goes into helping millennials reach their potential. Even if it doesn’t seem worthwhile, it absolutely is, as they are the future of your firm. In only a year or two, the talent they develop early on will be invaluable to your business and will enable you to be a true thought leader of your industry.