This week in our Class of 2010 Speaks…So Listen Up! blog series, we begin our focus on retention and what employers can do to retain their top performing Millennial employees. For recruiting best practices and takeaways from the Class of 2010 Survey, check out the previous posts, To recruit top talent think like a marketer and Build your online employer brand.

Give Millennials more than a paycheck. Give them a path.

One of the key takeaways from the Class of 2010 Survey was the importance of providing career advancement opportunities. In fact, 38% of survey respondents ranked career advancement as one of the top three factors they consider when deciding where work.

Your employees (especially your young employees) are more likely to stay if they can envision a path for themselves at your organization. So, what are great companies doing to help their young employees plan their careers and set them up for success? We spoke with Amanda Williamson, People Development Manager for CARA, about CARA’s successful Leadership Development Program.

CARA’s Leadership Development Program

CARA is the leading operator of full service restaurants in Canada such as Swiss Chalet, Kelsey’s, Montana’s & Milestones. They understand that in order to retain top young talent, you have to give them more than a paycheck. You have to give them a path.

Amanda Williamson spearheads CARA’s campus recruiting efforts and the development of young talent. She says, “One of the biggest differentiators with this generation is their desire to develop a personalized roadmap of their career with us. They want to know ‘what’s next?’ and the specific benchmarks they need to achieve in order to move up within our organization. We have embraced this wholeheartedly, understanding that investing in the top performing students now will benefit us in the future when they are leading our business.”

CARA has created a Leadership Development Program – a roadmap for select university students which CARA offers in the summer months and carries through until after they graduate. This program was created in 2006 by Don Robinson, President and CEO of CARA and CARA’s People Development Team. This Leadership Development plan gives students a way to explore their interests within the company while they are in school, and engage them in the Cara culture to see if there is a fit when they graduate.

As a result, many students are asked to return each summer, participating in a development plan that, for some, spans their entire post-secondary education. “We encourage these students to try different roles and departments each summer to see where their interests with CARA lie,” says Amanda. For example, one year they may be on our Menu Evolution Team, and the next year they will work within Marketing.”

The program has been a true success with great retention of young talent. In fact, it has been such a success that the 3 year plan originally provided to students is now being expanded to a 10 year outlook.

We want to hear from you!

What career development programs do you run for your employees? Share it with our community by posting a comment below.

Next week in the Class of 2010 Speaks…So Listen Up! blog series we recognize the importance of recognition. How do you recognize your Millennial employees? How do they want to be recognized?