Job candidates between the ages of 18 and 35 also prize learning opportunities over career advancement and salary, according to recent research.

By Andrew R. McIlvaine

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Millennials have been stereotyped as nonstop job-hoppers for quite a while now, but that stereotype is turning out to be false. A recent analysis of Labor Dept. data by the Pew Research Center shows that millennials (the generation born between 1981 and 1998) are no more likely to move from job to job than members of Generation X and in some cases are more likely to stay put. In Jan. of 2016, for example, 63 percent of employed millennials said they’d worked for their current employer for at least 13 months. By comparison, in Feb. of 2000 60 percent of workers between the ages of 18 to 35 (today’s Gen Xers) reported similar job tenure. Meanwhile, 22 percent of millennials said they’d been with the same employer for five years as of 2016, a number identical to that for Gen Xers.

A recent report from Yello, Fast, Mobile and Personal: Recruiting the Millennial and Gen Z Workforce (registration required) also finds that putting down roots is a priority for millennials and Gen Zers, with more than 50 percent of those who’ve accepted a full-time job planning to stay for at least three years. Yello’s study, based on feedback from 1,400 recent college graduates, also finds that employers can’t keep this generation waiting indefinitely for a job offer, with 74 percent saying they’d turned down a job offer because the company had taken too long to make a hiring decision.

Millennials also prize learning opportunities as the most important factor when deciding whether to accept a job, with career growth and salary ranking behind that. In fact, while 48 percent of respondents said learning opportunities were the most important factor, only 27 percent said salary was. Yello’s study also finds that millennials are intrigued by so-called “mass interviews” (conducted at job fairs or on-site at company facilities), with 79 percent saying the concept is competitive and exciting.

The study also finds that male millennials are far more likely to learn about an open position through a friend who works at the organization than female millennials are. Sixty-six percent of men who heard about a position through a referral said it was from a friend who works at the company compared to only 48 percent of the women. Forty-six percent of all respondents said corporate websites were the place where they learned about open positions, while 20 percent cited third-party sites and 16 percent cited referrals.

Millennials also have positive feelings about text recruiting, Yello’s study finds, with 86 percent saying they felt positively when text messages were used during the interview period. Video also scored strongly among millennials, with 76 percent saying they felt positively about video interviews.