Millennials are an interesting bunch. They are the newest generation to enter the workforce and have a great deal to offer. At the same time, Millennials are rather mysterious to manage if you don’t know what you are dealing with. For human resources consultants and outplacement consulting companies, the generation born after 1980 have been given a reputation of being prone to job-hopping and not being interested in staying with one job for their entire career as their parents, grandparents, and certainly, their grandparents did.

While this reputation may have some merit, it is well worth looking into if you want to harness the undeniable talent, intelligence, and drive of this remarkable generation. To manage your Millennials effectively, you need to understand how they function and what separates them from previous generations.

They work well in groups

Crowdsourcing is a term that makes sense to many Millennials. It is not that they can’t work on their own; that is hardly the case. What it means is that they value the input of other people and can make better decisions when they get the expert opinions from those who know better than they do about certain issues. This is true of Generation X members as well, so teaming the young with the more experienced can yield some really great things.

They know their technology

One thing Millennials have grown up on is technology. A quality hr consultant knows that they have had computers their whole lives and they understand, almost instinctively, what technology can do and what it can’t do. They also understand how quickly technology can become obsolete, so they know not to rely too much on putting all of their eggs in one basket, so to speak.

In addition, and this is a little ironic, Millennials prefer person to person collaboration. For an HR consultant, keeping in touch with a Millennial on a regular basis is a better way to get to know and understand how they are performing. Just because technology is available does not mean they do not want to meet face to face to pitch ideas and discuss complicated issues.

Millennials respect diversity

Perhaps more than any other generation before them, Millennials believe that cultural and gender diversity is extremely important in the workplace. An HR consultant who understands this and hires a diverse workforce will see a dynamic shift in the kind of results a company will receive. According to a McKinsey research study, gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to out perform their competition. If a company is ethnically diverse, it is 35% more likely to outperform its peers.

Millennials look for feedback

This is not to say that Millennials can’t work on their own or need constant praise. It means that when an HR consultant or another manager acknowledges that they are heading in the right direction with a project, they will continue to push forward with confidence, creativity, and innovation. If a company will implement an employee recognition program, for example, they are likely to see growth. In fact, 86% of companies that have implemented such programs have seen an increase in worker happiness, and a happy worker is a productive worker.