Take it from today's young hipsters: Retail, construction and manufacturing are way not cool. And the same goes for insurance.
That's what research into millennial industry preferences released by The Hartford revealed. And at least based upon the results of the company's 2015 Millennial Leadership Survey, there's almost no chance those industries will attract millennials any time soon.
Only 7% of those millennials who participated in the study said they were interested in careers in those three industries. Other industries are also failing to attract these young leaders of the future, including insurance (4%) and wholesaling and utilities (3% each).
Leadership disaster waiting to happen
That, say the study's authors, is a leadership disaster waiting to happen.
“The results reveal a quiet crisis — a generation of leaders who aren't interested in many businesses that drive our nation's economy,” said The Hartford's Millennial Workplace Expert Lindsey Pollak. “Millennials can help close this leadership gap by widening their career searches and exploring jobs, salaries and benefits before writing off whole sectors of the U.S. job market.”
Of course, laying the solution on those who already said they aren't interested may not help. As Hartford noted, it's up to those laggard industries to market themselves to this younger generation, touting career opportunities, income, benefits, flexible work schedules and other attributes that may not be currently well communicated to potential employees.
Where do millennials want to work?
No big surprises here. Arts and entertainment received the highest markets (40%) with education and tech close being at 36%. And the best way to lure them to their less preferred industries, 46% of the respondents said, was to offer them a variety of career opportunities instead of simply a job.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
