3 Tips for Hiring Millennials to Work in Customer Service

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Nextiva


hiring millennials

Can you get Millennial employees to work in customer service roles? If you’ve swallowed the conventional wisdom about this generation — that they’re entitled, spoiled and hard to work with — you may think there’s no way you could convince them to take a “lowly” entry-level customer service role. But the conventional wisdom about Millennial workers is far from true. Here are three things you really need to know about Millennials to attract more of them to customer service jobs.

Millennials Want Their Work to be Meaningful and Make a Difference

Focus on how customer service jobs fit into the larger goals of your company, such as improving the customer experience, making your business best-in-class, helping the company grow and helping people feel good about your products and services.

Financial Security is a big Concern for Millennial Employees

Perhaps because so many have seen friends and family struggle to find jobs in a rough economy, 70 percent of recent college grads in the latest Way to Work survey from Adecco Staffing USA say stability and security is what they want most from a job. In fact, stability is more important than high pay in selecting a first job, survey respondents say. Benefits, such as a 401(k) or other retirement savings plan, matter to this age group, too.

More Than Anything Else, Millennials are Looking for Career Advancement

You’ll have an advantage in hiring them if you can show that you promote from within and how entry-level customer service roles can lead to more responsibility, either in customer service or other roles. Since customer service is often seen as a short-term job, it’s important to explain that it actually has a career path and what it can lead to.

By keeping these tips in mind, you’ll have an edge in attracting these vital and energetic employees to your customer service positions.


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Rieva Lesonsky Rieva Lesonsky is a Columnist for Small Business Trends covering employment, retail trends and women in business. She is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Visit her blog, SmallBizDaily, to get the scoop on business trends and free TrendCast reports.

2 Reactions
  1. As a millennial, I can say that all of these are true. However, in my experience, we also want flexibility in terms of flex scheduling, telecommuting, and vacation options.

  2. If you want someone who is willing to work hard and get things done, look for that in their resume. See if they worked during college. How many hours? What course load did they carry while working? What was their GPA while doing so? There are some hard-working Millenials out there; you’ve just got to find them.