There was an article in the newspaper saying that, with the retiring baby boomers, companies are now at a loss as to how to attract and retain young workers, who believe that they will never have job security.

Um, how about giving them job security.

Seriously.

If you can offer your new recruit a job for life (barring unforseen circumstances) with the possibility of advancement and a modest raise on a regular basis, you will have a huge advantage over most other employers.

And make the employee feel valued, right from the start of the hiring process. They'll be more likely to stick with a place where they are considered an asset instead of a liability.

More hints for employers, from the point of view of a recent job searcher who is now loyal to her employer:

- Do your own hiring. Agencies might be more convenient, but they are very annoying and tricky and employees are more likely to trust a company they can deal with directly.
- When interviewing a potential employee, act like you want to hire them and you think they'll be a great asset to the company. If they feel like you think the interview is a waste of time, and then you do end up hiring them, they probably won't take their resume off Workopolis. Besides, if you don't want to hire them and you don't think they'd be a great asset to the company, why did they get as far as the interview?
- Pay a reasonable salary - reasonable from the employee's perspective! Performance incentives are a great motivator, but the base salary before performance incentives should be perfectly reasonable itself.
- Provide enough benefits that they'll never have to worry. Drug, dental, disability, life insurance, pension, parental. This should be the minimum - anything above and beyond that is a true benefit.
- Team up new employees with a mentor who has been with the organization for a long time and can be their go-to person. The mentor-protege relationship should be confidential enough that the mentor can honestly answer questions such as "You know that thing where you get 3 hours off to vote? Do they really mean 3 hours or do they mean only as much time as you need?"
- "Fun" events like company picnics are cool, but the workplace environment should be such that no one's career would suffer if they never attended the company picnic.
- Only create contract positions if you truly foresee no possible need for someone in this position after the end of the contract term. If you will need someone in the position for the foreseeable future, make it a permanent position.