Remember when “Bring Your Child to Work Day” was all the rage? Now that those children who were brought to work are in the workforce themselves, they are turning around and extending the favor to their parents. The Wall Street Journal writer Ron Alsop reports in his book The Trophy Kids Grow Up that today organizations are taking
the opportunity to create a new classic, “Bring Your Parents to Work Day.”
Choosing a new company to work for has become a meta-level, and meta-meta-level decision-making process, or said another way, it’s complicated, and yes, it will involve Millennials and, like it or not, their parents. The bonus factor is if you work with the parents, they can be part of the sticky factor in your favor when their Millennial calls home for advice when the going gets tough. Let’s look at an example:
Millennial Nick was frustrated with his boss, office politics, and being “low man on the totem pole.” He called home to vent and get support for his decision to quit. Nick was surprised to hear his mom stand up for his boss. Nick says, “She pointed out how some of the things my boss had shared during orientation were similar to what I was mad about. I decided to give it another try.”
Businesses who want to recruit top talent have to understand how to follow what private high schools and universities have already done to compete for the top student who has high expectations and standards for custom communication. Schools have dedicated follow-up channels and specific promotional materials, including brochures, website pages, and blogs to address exclusively the questions, concerns, and activities of parents.

Remember the Gamers’ mentality? Gen Xers and Millenials are looking for a strategy to help them
figure out the game of business and how to get to the final goal or win the game the quickest. They look for leaders who will provide a meta-map of the organization and strategic thinking on how to plan their careers to be successful as fast as possible. When you are seeking to recruit and attract people to your organization, make sure you use the multiple channels your prospective talent is using. When Xers and Millennials investigate an organization, the first thing they research are the public, visual, digital, and social media discourse about that organization. Make sure that yours is impressive and accurately represents what your organization is all about.