91% of Millennial professionals say career progression is a top priority

Millennial professionals regard the potential for career progression a top priority when choosing a new job, with 91% saying they consider it important.

The data, gathered from an original survey by Robert Walters also revealed that 53% of Millenials have been disappointed by a lack of personal development training when starting a new job. Despite this, just 15% of employers felt that personalised training programs were a priority for keeping employees engaged.

“Many Millennial professionals entered the workforce during the height of the recession. As a result, they have found their careers slow to take off, remaining in less senior roles," said Sally Martin, Director at Robert Walters.

"Now that circumstances are improving there is an emphasis on rapid progression among these professionals."  

“Career progression is a high priority for Millennials and they expect their employer to support them in this." 

In addition to pay and benefits Millennial professionals expect their employer to be able to outline how their career with the company can develop and specific skills and experience their employer can help them attain

Millennial professionals want regular feedback

In addition to rapid progression and formal plans for their career development, the research also revealed that Millenials value regular formal feedback from their employer.

60% of Millennials surveyed said that they would like to receive formal feedback every one to three months, but 38% reported that they only actually received feedback once a year, or even less frequently.

“While Millennial’s desire for frequent feedback may be seen as a desire for constant affirmation, this may have more to do with a generational divide on how ‘formal’ workplace conversations need to be." Sally Martin continued.

“For Millennials, feedback from their manager doesn’t need to be a formal review session; a casual conversation on their progress and areas where they are performing well or need to improve is often far more valuable to them.”