Latest findings reveal that Millennials are the best at providing the key skills which businesses require to remain agile and innovative.

This was according to the 2015 Millenial Majority Workforce study , which was conducted by online workplace Elance-oDesk and Millennial Branding, and surveyed 1,039 individuals and 200 hiring managers responsible for recruitment or HR strategy within their business in the United States.

It highlighted nearly seven out of ten (68%) hiring managers believe Millennials have skills prior generations do not.

As many as 82% hiring managers also felt that Millennials are technologically adept, with 60% of hiring managers agreeing that these young professionals are quick learners.

However, the majority (53%) of hiring managers also reported difficulty finding and retaining Millennial talent.

This was more than three times the percentage of hiring managers who said it was easy to hire these young staff.

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The report added that retention rates were, in fact, lower among Millennials as compared to other generations.

More than half (58% )of Millennials stated they expect to stay in their jobs fewer than three years.

This was significantly shorter than previous generations – the report found Gen Xers stay with a company for around five years, while Baby Boomers leave in seven years on average.  

The report also delved on the various ways hiring managers are evolving their hiring strategies to suit the needs and preferences of this young generation.

Knowing that Millennials value flexibility, the ability to choose what they work on and control of their own destiny as top priorities at work, hiring managers stated they are increasingly hiring Millennials for freelance work.

In fact, 41% of hiring managers plan to hire more freelancers in the next five years.

Top benefits of hiring freelancers mentioned by hiring managers are the ability to start work immediately, access to specific skills and scaling as needs change.

“Technology has forever changed where, when and how we work. Millennials are already more adaptable and focused on flexibility than generations before them. Businesses need to move more in this direction as well.” said Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding.

As a result of this, hiring managers are also evolving their recruitment methods to hire these freelancers.

More than half 55% of the hiring managers said they are focus more on hard skills when hiring, versus only 21% who say they focus more on attitude or personality.

Plus, 45% of hiring managers also expect to become even more skills-focused in ten years.

In comparison, only 11% stated they expect to become more personality-focused.

This is a shift, given research as recent as 2013 found that soft skills were most important, followed by hard skills.

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