The aim of Norfolk Chamber’s event, Tomorrow’s Talent was to inspire companies to shake up their recruitment strategies in order to attract their future workforce. With the aid of seven speakers and some thought provoking Q&A panels, the group addressed skills shortages; how to attract and retain young talent; and the best methods of reaching the ‘Millennial generation’. The breakfast event was held at the Mercure Hotel and was sponsored by Norse.
Hosted by Keiran Miles, serial entrepreneur and CEO of KakeCo, he highlighted how the Millennials were social minded, different thinkers, who instantly want to know how and what they can achieve.
Gill Banham from People Puzzle urged businesses to have a strong digital presence, as 62% of young people will visit the company’s website to find out about them. Eleanor Schader from Reed highlighted that ‘Millennials’ were looking for a strong company ethos, with training and a mentor, as well as clear progression paths. Both agreed that face to face communication was vital, but how the initial messages were delivered needed to be different.
Carlos Ramos, from EPOS Now, one of the fastest growing companies in our region, clearly demonstrated how companies need to be progressive and ‘sell themselves’ to the next generation workforce. He outlined how young people today want to be able to submit their job applications via social media channels and how rapidly advancing technology has levelled the playing field, allowing practically any business to compete against larger organisations.
Nova Fairbank, Public Affairs Manager for Norfolk Chamber said: Our aim is to bridge the gap between business and young people. To fill the skills gap, Norfolk businesses have to be able to attract, communicate and ultimately recruit and retain young people and they need to understand the best methods to do this. As part of this communication, we would encourage businesses to get involved with Young Chamber to help us engage with schools and develop young people’s employability skills and identify their possible future workforce.”
