St. Louis-Based Company Attracts Gen. Y Grads — and Used Car Customers

Shopping for a used car in St. Louis, I came across a locally-based company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, that seems to be doing the right things to attract the new generation of employees — “Gen Y” — including creating an appealing, interactive, and information-packed career website.

What Gen Y Wants

Recently, Gen Y and its workplace wants, needs, and expectations have been hot topics in the HR and recruiting communities. Among other characteristics, Gen Y employees are said to be entrepreneurial, to desire challenging work and much responsibility, and to be learning-oriented.

They want to work for a company that gives back to the community, is a good steward of the environment, and provides many training and growth opportunities.

They want managers who treat them like colleagues rather than subordinates, and give them frequent feedback.

Achievement-oriented and tech-savvy, the Millennials are eager for feedback and impatient to make an impact on their new organizations and on society at large. Networked in a way previous generations were not, thanks in large part to Internet phenomena MySpace and Facebook, they come equipped with many of the skills required by big employers, such as computer fluency and a knack for teamwork.

But the same social networking skills and consumer smarts that make them valuable employees also make them acutely discerning job seekers.

Confronted with this demanding generation . . . , companies are scrambling to attract and retain the most talented among them. Some executives say they are offering entry-level employees more variety and challenges, providing senior-level mentoring, and even giving them opportunities to work for causes they believe in.

(Business Week: The Best Places To Launch A Career)

More Posts About Gen Y

• What Millennials (Generation Y) Want Out of Work
• What Millenials Want Out of Work: A Baby Boomer Rejoinder
• Are Generation Y’s Parents Too Involved?

Car Rental a Cool Business?

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is not necessarily a company you would expect would be highly ranked in the employment world. The car-rental business itself isn’t one that would come to mind as particularly fun, challenging, or exciting.

But word is getting out among Gen Y college graduates that Enterprise is a company with its employee’s futures and personal and career growth in mind, not just its own profits.

Bottom line: Enterprise is aligning and marketing itself very well to entry-level job seekers, setting an example for other companies to emulate.

Accolades for Enterprise

Enterprise has received repeated recognition for employment programs that appeal well to the sensibilities of Gen Y workers:

• Business Week — #5 on the 2006 list of “best places to launch a career” (“Enterprise provides a clear road to the top…with a unique training opportunity to entry-level hires. After a year, promotions nearly always follow.”)
• Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine –- #1 in diversity recruiting. (“national businesses and firms that appeared to . . . be doing the most effective job at recruiting students and graduates of color.”)
• The Princeton Review — Featured in “Best Entry-Level Jobs: 2007 Edition” (“[T]he chance for advancement and a solid, well-nurtured sense of community combine to make Enterprise a great place to begin your working life and build a career.”)
• Dept. of Defense — One of 15 employers chosen for 2005 “Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.” (Enterprise shows true loyalty to employees who serve in Guard and Reserve by extending full salary and benefits for entire length of mobilization; also sends care packages and maintains constant contact with family members back home.)

An Outstanding Career Website

A key part of Enterprise’s successful branding as a top employer is the website.

The Gen. Y college grads are very tech-savvy. They have never known a time without the Internet and have always had a cell phone in their pocket. They have come to expect instant gratification, instant personalization, and an instant community. They certainly expect to be impressed by a company’s website when looking for a job.

The otherwise-utilitarian Enterprise website caters to these new college grads and works very hard to start these excited young adults on a career path to the top.

The company seems to know, without saying, that the rental and used-car business isn’t the most glamorous or sought after. One might even expect it to appear cheesy and very un-hip to young grads.

But Enterprise’s website moves past this to the reality that it’s a business providing meaningful jobs — and not just jobs, but careers that include a near-certainty of promotion with hard work, as well as ongoing support for the newly trained employee and manager.

As soon as you enter the career section of the website, you are hit with the fact that Enterprise is up-to-speed with the technology age and trying to create excitement.

The color scheme shifts from a staid green to a vibrant orange. You are presented with a scrolling central graphic like a filmstrip, from which you can easily navigate to key pages — as well as a more-complete standard navigation bar at the top. Pull-downs from the top tabs indicate the career site has great depth.

From the start, the Gen Y visitor to the site is included in the Enterprise community when they choose to take a poll. The question is changed frequently, but some poll results are strikingly on track with what is being said about Gen Y:

• Only 20% say autonomy at work is not important (56% like to call the shots)
• 89% say having friends at work is important or extremely important.
• 46% want some fun, a lot of fun, or an even balance of fun and seriousness at work (53% like things serious).
• 36% say company culture (8%) or career path (28%) are most important to them. (Only 64% chose salary or benefit information.)

The polls also indicate the site’s “stickiness”:

• 26% had visited the site multiple times (12% two or more times before).

From the central filmstrip menu, you have an opportunity to watch a large selection of video clips on subjects including diversity, culture, work environment, and company values — as well as a video message from the Chairman and CEO, Andy Taylor.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car was started on by one man, Jack Taylor, who knew his rental car business would be a success. Now, almost 40 years later, it is inspiring and training the new, fresh, and bright Gen Y graduates. Through the Enterprise website, the founder’s son, Andy Taylor, is able to tell his story of working up through the ranks, to reach out to these young adults and inspire them to reach higher.

The Enterprise website communicates that they are wanted, will find the job and career they are looking for, can do it their way at their speed, and will become part of a friendly workplace family.

The website portrays a training and promotion path that is appealing to Gen Y, starting with “management trainee” and reaching VP/Gen Manager in eight steps.

It also shows off its community involvement and environmental consciousness, both of which are important to this generation.

A “Work Hard/Play Hard” link opens a photo scrapbook of employees sharing good times with coworkers, appealing to the prospects who value work-based friendships and having fun, as indicated by the above polls.

As I mentioned, my interest in writing about this company came about because of my recent experience as a used-car shopper, culminating in my purchase of a very lightly-used Pontiac Grand Prix, like the one in the photo above.

Generally, shopping is not my thing. Car shopping is especially unpleasant for me, because of the magnitude of the decision and multitude of choices. Then there’s what I call the “negotiation mystique” — the idea that shrewd negotiators save thousands of dollars on cars — and the fear of being one of the suckers who doesn’t.

Enterprise has discovered that lots of people feel the same way, and offers “no-haggle pricing.” Their cars may not have all the options, having been originally purchased for use in a rental or corporate fleet, but this history is reassuring to a buyer concerned about past care and maintenance. They offer further reassurance with several warranty options.

I had previously heard Enterprise was a popular entry-level employer for reasons discussed above. What I discovered was that this enables the company to employ excellent, motivated, and very customer-service-oriented individuals. My purchase was extremely painless and efficient, thanks to fine service by Sales Manager Bryan Williams, and Diane Francis and Grace Klaas of his staff, who worked as a seamless team.

I talked to Bryan about his career. Now in his mid-30s, he’s been with the company since college, had about six promotions, and manages a large used-car department. The last time I saw him, he was moving on to another location, where he will manage the entire operation. Brian’s story exemplifies the career path the company promotes on the website.

In closing, if you’re looking for an entry-level job or a good deal on a used car — in St. Louis or elsewhere — go to Enterprise. Tell them I sent you . . . .

ADDENDUM/UPDATE

On New Years Day, I ran across this post on the Brand Autopsy blog: Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s Book of Lists.

It lists the following insightful lists from Exceeding Customer Expectations: What Enterprise, America’s #1 car rental company, can teach you about creating lifetime customers:

• 12 Steps to Building Relationships with Customers
• 8 Steps to Dealing with Angry Customers
• Eight Core Values
• Top Reasons Employees Choose to Work at Enterprise