General Mills using virtual technology to attract, recruit millennials

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Job recruitment using virtual reality is exactly what General Mills is doing with their new 3-D goggles. The technology was used at Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota to give potential new hires a tour of corporate headquarters on Tuesday.

This is a way for the Fortune 500 to engage and attract millennials, the largest growing section of the workforce.

Using just a pair of goggles and go-pro video, you’re transported to General Mill’s campus in Golden Valley.  The virtual reality headset is the company’s newest recruitment tool.

“We want to be a progressive company, we want to be a growing company, innovative company so we try to stay current with technology,” General Mills Information Technology Director Leo Timmons said.

The device will be used at college job fairs across the country as the company aims to recruit a generation hooked on technology and virtual reality.

“We hope it’s going to help us get a higher quality recruits, and a higher level of interest on campus,” Timmons said.

This year, millennials became the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, yet more than fifty percent of hiring managers still say it’s difficult to find and retain them.

“Probably forty to fifty percent of the people we’re placing now would be considered millennial,” Kurt Rakos, Sky Water Search Partners, said.

Rakos said millennials are looking for an innovative, collaborative and flexible work place, and companies need to adapt to their wants and needs.

“There is a candidate shortage, the job market is tight so companies are struggling to find people and if you’re not even thinking about how to accommodate the millennial, you’re losing out,” he said.

And experts say General Mills flexing their innovative muscle is just what these new recruits want to see. The company plans to use the virtual reality tour at three more schools in the coming weeks.