I received an email a few months ago with the following subject line: “Compensation One of the Least Important Factors in Recruiting Millennials.” Well, the subject line served its purpose and enticed me to open the email. The body of the email contained the summary of a survey performed by renowned recruiter Korn Ferry where pay, selected by 18 percent of respondents, was well down the list of reasons those born between 1980 and 2000 chose one job over another.
On the other hand, other surveys I have seen indicated the exact opposite, that the generation that values compensation more than other generations is not the Baby Boomers or Generation X, but Millennials. The main evidence presented in these surveys is that student debt for most Millennials is well above that of previous generations – at about $20,000 per student.