Retailers often state that their location is a more important determinant of their likely success than any other factor. Now it appears that the same may be true for employers.

A recent survey of 1,000 Gen Y recent graduates by the Segmentation Company indicates that 65 percent prefer to "look for a job in the place that I would like to live" rather than "look for the best job I can find, the place where it is located [being] secondary." For those of us who are Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers, that may come as quite a surprise as our generations were far more likely to look for the best possible job and then use factors such as location as tie breakers.

For employers, this means that to successfully recruit college students searching for internships or recent graduates hunting for entry level jobs and other career opportunities, you need to target those who are most interested in working in your geographic area and then target within that group those who have the skills needed for your opportunity. In other words, it is becoming even more important than ever to really understand the needs and wants of your candidates. They have more choices than previous generations and employers can either wish that wasn't the case and perhaps even act as if it wasn't or they can modify their recruiting practices and actually succeed in recruiting and retaining their next generation of star employees.