Like it or not, millennials are changing the face of recruitment as we know it. As the candidate talent pool becomes flooded with millennials (people born after 1980), traditional recruitment methods are falling flat.

Millennials now make up between 47 and 50% of the world's working population. And in the space of a decade, this will increase to a full 75%. They’re taking over the job market. And guess what? They won’t be recruited through outmoded methods.

This group of digitally savvy job hunters expect to be treated differently than older generations during the recruitment process. They’re accustomed to speed, to personalised service, to innovative technology. So, how do you attract this ever-expanding section of society into your company?

1. Play their social game

This doesn’t mean posting a link to a vacancies page every now and then. Nor does it mean firing out job after job on every channel you own. You’ll have to work harder than that.

Millennials can be a tough group to engage. Remember, they’ve grown up around clever marketing campaigns and lived through every stage of the social media explosion. To interact successfully with a millennial on social media, you’ll need to be smart, interesting and funny. You need to show your personality.

Yes, you can share jobs on social media sites – just make sure that you’re doing so in an engaging way. To create a buzz around the job you’re hiring for, why not post a “day in the life of…” video on YouTube? It’s effective, inexpensive and will pique candidate interest. How about a relevant puzzle that requires a solution before candidates can apply for the role?  You’ll generate a sense of competition and inject some fun. Or you could create a social media competition that only interviews the candidates who come up with the most creative answer to a question you pose. It will cost you nothing and draw in a huge amount of interest.

And don’t forget, you won’t attract millennials by sharing jobs alone. Mix it up! Show off your company culture, post pictures, hot news, funny or interesting industry insights. Millennials will check your social channels before they consider working for your company. Make sure they like what they see.

2. Step into the digital arena

Millennials won’t waste their time searching through lengthy, tedious copy in your company “About me” section to get a feel for the business. They expect information at their fingertips and across a variety of platforms.

Does your careers section really showcase how innovative and rewarding a job within your company is? To entice millennial talent, you should have an impressive careers section within your website that packs a punch, quickly. Show what’s great about your business and why candidates should want to work there, and do it using interactive technology wherever possible.

Millennials are changing the way in which information is being consumed. This year, for example,0.9 billion job-searches were made through mobile devices and 67 million were made on YouTube. 39% of the global population now has internet access, and this figure is soaring higher year on year.

Recruiters need to respond to the new generation of employees by stepping into the digital arena and getting their brand consistent across all platforms. Mobile is key. Would your business be able to stay competitive in a world without keyboards? If not, turn your attention to optimising your mobile profile as soon as you can.

3. Show your difference

Millennials respond to creativity. In an international poll of 7,800 millennials, 78% reported that company innovation was a major influencer in the application process. Millennials don’t want to work in businesses with tired old practices, they want to see flexibility, flair and fun.

They also want to see development opportunities. This group of people are accustomed to a fast pace and they want to know that they’ll have the room to grow within a company. Show off the leadership opportunities you offer.  Almost 1 in 4 millennials are asking for a chance to demonstrate their leadership skills, and half want to see their company doing more to develop future leaders.

Millennials also want to work at a company that makes a difference socially. Charitable activities are no longer occasional side projects but instead a major tool in recruiting and retention. Over 50% of millennials said that a company's involvement in various causes influenced whether or not they accepted a job offer. If you have a strong social mission, you’re that bit more exceptional and therefore that bit more attractive to millennials.

To draw in millennial talent, show off all those points of difference and make sure that you stand out from the average business.

Millennials are a generation brimming with energy and vitality. Born into a digitally developed world, they possess unique values and character traits that need to be considered during the recruitment process. To attract future talent to your business, be social, be switched on, and be something out of the ordinary.