8 Things You Should Be Doing to Recruit Generation Z
Generation Z will shape your business and the wider workforce in the decades to come. Born between 1997 to 2010, Gen Z will make up 30 percent of the global workforce by 2030.
However, many businesses’ recruitment practices are firmly rooted in the preferences of older generations. The new cohort of Gen Z employees have a different ethos to those that came before them. This is due, in part, to the rapidly changing world in which they grew up in.
Therefore, to successfully recruit and retain Gen Z employees, you need to bridge the generation gap and know what they are like. In short, Gen Z is:
- Digital first: Gen Z has never known a world without the internet. The smartphone was invented when most of them were toddlers. Previous generations adapted, sometimes unwillingly, to innovations like social media, on-demand entertainment, and an ‘always-on’ lifestyle. On the other hand, Gen Z takes these for granted, with little to no memory of the pre-smartphone age.
- Socially conscious: Gen Z came of age amidst climate change, political polarization, and increasing social and economic inequality. It’s no surprise that this has shaped a progressive worldview, in which Gen Z feels like they have to make a difference through their choices. They want to be associated with brands and organizations that share their values.
- Financially pragmatic: The parents of Gen Z-ers were hit by the Great Recession, economizing on everything from daily necessities to housing costs. Many families never really recovered from the financial shock of 2007-2008, driving their Gen Z children to adopt a pragmatic, thrifty attitude towards money.
- Astute customers: When it comes to making decisions, Gen Z have a wealth of information at their fingertips. As tech savvy customers with access to social media, Gen Z can and do make more informed decisions than their older peers, in every aspect of life from purchasing to job seeking.
Here are eight things you need to be doing right now to hire Gen Z talent.
1. Be Authentic
Disillusioned by the ‘perfect’, curated images on social media, Gen Z craves the messy reality of authenticity, warts and all. This should be reflected in your employer brand.
If your company has any shortcomings, don’t try to sweep it under the rug – Gen Z will know about it from social media. Instead, own your mistakes and clearly communicate your plan to fix these mistakes. At the same time, encourage your people to be open and honest about their experiences at the company.
The same goes with your job listings. Don’t set unrealistic expectations for candidates, for example requiring an entry-level job to have three years of experience. While it’s important to weed out inexperienced jobseekers, you could also potentially miss out on younger, suitably qualified candidates.
2. Work Towards Something Bigger
Closely related to authenticity is the purpose of the company. Prospective Gen Z talents look for companies that align closely with their values – to do good, to make a difference, to make the world a better place. In short, they want to find meaning in their work.
Hence, your organization’s mission and values need to be spelled out clearly to attract Gen Z talent. HR also needs to talk about how these values are translated into the job scope and its day-to-day functions. Show your talent how their role – no matter how insignificant – can make a difference.
3. Emphasize Learning and Career Growth
Gen Z employees have a different set of career priorities compared to their older counterparts. In particular, they want opportunities to develop and grow. This does not just mean climbing the corporate ladder – instead they are looking for ways to learn new skills and new responsibilities.
Furthermore, Gen Z is infamous for job-hopping, but they’re not job-hopping out of spite. Career stagnation sets in much earlier for this cohort, especially when they see the options available to them on social media. Employers can take advantage of this restlessness by showing them internal pathways to development, encouraging them to job-hop internally instead. This gives them the chance to find what they like and chart a long-term career path – hopefully with your company.
4. Connect Face-to-Face
Despite their digital-first mindset, Gen Z jobseekers desire face-to-face contact with potential employers. They can feel overwhelmed by the massive amount of information online, and they need to talk to a real person to validate their choices.
Hence, physical events like job fairs and open days are still key to recruiting Gen Z talent. They get the chance to talk to a real representative of the company, while the business is able to ‘sell’ its employer brand to the younger generation of talent.
5. Encourage Referrals
Similarly, when searching for a job, Gen Z candidates value referrals from a company’s current employees more than any other option. Of course, online job boards and company careers pages are important sources of information, but nothing beats a personal testimonial from someone they know.
6. Be Fast
Gen Z is used to getting everything instantly. This translates to job offers as well. Not only do 17 percent of Gen Z jobseekers expect an offer less than a week after the interview, they also expect to receive more than one job offer.
When communicating with recruiters, they also expect replies to be instant, with information available at their fingertips. Companies will need to step up and streamline their hiring processes in order to compete for young talent.
7. Be Flexible
The pandemic let the flexible working genie out of the bottle, and there’s no way to put it back in. Flexibility in terms of where and when to work has emerged as one of the most alluring perks for employees during the Great Resignation. And it's even more crucial especially for the newest generation of talent.
Hybrid working will be the norm for Gen Z, and its all to do with work-life balance. For example, if your company emphasizes employee well-being, truly mean it by investing in employee benefits and giving flexible perks like remote working.
8. Communicate Openly
More than anything else, fairness and openness feature greatly in Gen Z values. Your company’s hiring process should also reflect that.
Subjecting candidates to paper applications, making them jump through multiple hoops, and ignoring their questions are surefire ways to turn off Gen Z talents. As they enter the workforce amidst the Great Resignation, Gen Z candidates have myriad job offers to choose from if the recruitment process is slow, cumbersome, or both.
What companies can do instead is to clearly communicate to Gen Z talents the interview process, e.g. how many interview rounds, any tests needed etc. During the hiring process, companies should also let interviewees know if they have passed the first interview round, second interview round, and so on in a timely manner. Even if they are rejected, letting them know with a simple rejection letter is much better than ghosting them.
Recruit Generation Z with BrioHR
With BrioHR’s digital solution, your company can keep up with Gen Z’s speed of thought. BrioHR’s recruitment module allows HR to collect and share feedback from candidate screening and interviews, boost collaboration between departments, and make faster and more robust hiring decisions.
This speed and openness will give your business the edge in hiring the next generation of talent.
With 9 powerful modules, BrioHR’s software covers the entire employee journey from recruitment to onboarding, payroll and claims, to performance and analytics, and more.
This enables business owners and HR teams to truly focus on what matters most – people.
Visit briohr.com and get a free demo now.
Generation Z will shape your business and the wider workforce in the decades to come. Born between 1997 to 2010, Gen Z will make up 30 percent of the global workforce by 2030.
However, many businesses’ recruitment practices are firmly rooted in the preferences of older generations. The new cohort of Gen Z employees have a different ethos to those that came before them. This is due, in part, to the rapidly changing world in which they grew up in.
Therefore, to successfully recruit and retain Gen Z employees, you need to bridge the generation gap and know what they are like. In short, Gen Z is:
- Digital first: Gen Z has never known a world without the internet. The smartphone was invented when most of them were toddlers. Previous generations adapted, sometimes unwillingly, to innovations like social media, on-demand entertainment, and an ‘always-on’ lifestyle. On the other hand, Gen Z takes these for granted, with little to no memory of the pre-smartphone age.
- Socially conscious: Gen Z came of age amidst climate change, political polarization, and increasing social and economic inequality. It’s no surprise that this has shaped a progressive worldview, in which Gen Z feels like they have to make a difference through their choices. They want to be associated with brands and organizations that share their values.
- Financially pragmatic: The parents of Gen Z-ers were hit by the Great Recession, economizing on everything from daily necessities to housing costs. Many families never really recovered from the financial shock of 2007-2008, driving their Gen Z children to adopt a pragmatic, thrifty attitude towards money.
- Astute customers: When it comes to making decisions, Gen Z have a wealth of information at their fingertips. As tech savvy customers with access to social media, Gen Z can and do make more informed decisions than their older peers, in every aspect of life from purchasing to job seeking.
Here are eight things you need to be doing right now to hire Gen Z talent.
1. Be Authentic
Disillusioned by the ‘perfect’, curated images on social media, Gen Z craves the messy reality of authenticity, warts and all. This should be reflected in your employer brand.
If your company has any shortcomings, don’t try to sweep it under the rug – Gen Z will know about it from social media. Instead, own your mistakes and clearly communicate your plan to fix these mistakes. At the same time, encourage your people to be open and honest about their experiences at the company.
The same goes with your job listings. Don’t set unrealistic expectations for candidates, for example requiring an entry-level job to have three years of experience. While it’s important to weed out inexperienced jobseekers, you could also potentially miss out on younger, suitably qualified candidates.
2. Work Towards Something Bigger
Closely related to authenticity is the purpose of the company. Prospective Gen Z talents look for companies that align closely with their values – to do good, to make a difference, to make the world a better place. In short, they want to find meaning in their work.
Hence, your organization’s mission and values need to be spelled out clearly to attract Gen Z talent. HR also needs to talk about how these values are translated into the job scope and its day-to-day functions. Show your talent how their role – no matter how insignificant – can make a difference.
3. Emphasize Learning and Career Growth
Gen Z employees have a different set of career priorities compared to their older counterparts. In particular, they want opportunities to develop and grow. This does not just mean climbing the corporate ladder – instead they are looking for ways to learn new skills and new responsibilities.
Furthermore, Gen Z is infamous for job-hopping, but they’re not job-hopping out of spite. Career stagnation sets in much earlier for this cohort, especially when they see the options available to them on social media. Employers can take advantage of this restlessness by showing them internal pathways to development, encouraging them to job-hop internally instead. This gives them the chance to find what they like and chart a long-term career path – hopefully with your company.
4. Connect Face-to-Face
Despite their digital-first mindset, Gen Z jobseekers desire face-to-face contact with potential employers. They can feel overwhelmed by the massive amount of information online, and they need to talk to a real person to validate their choices.
Hence, physical events like job fairs and open days are still key to recruiting Gen Z talent. They get the chance to talk to a real representative of the company, while the business is able to ‘sell’ its employer brand to the younger generation of talent.
5. Encourage Referrals
Similarly, when searching for a job, Gen Z candidates value referrals from a company’s current employees more than any other option. Of course, online job boards and company careers pages are important sources of information, but nothing beats a personal testimonial from someone they know.
6. Be Fast
Gen Z is used to getting everything instantly. This translates to job offers as well. Not only do 17 percent of Gen Z jobseekers expect an offer less than a week after the interview, they also expect to receive more than one job offer.
When communicating with recruiters, they also expect replies to be instant, with information available at their fingertips. Companies will need to step up and streamline their hiring processes in order to compete for young talent.
7. Be Flexible
The pandemic let the flexible working genie out of the bottle, and there’s no way to put it back in. Flexibility in terms of where and when to work has emerged as one of the most alluring perks for employees during the Great Resignation. And it’s even more crucial especially for the newest generation of talent.
Hybrid working will be the norm for Gen Z, and its all to do with work-life balance. For example, if your company emphasizes employee well-being, truly mean it by investing in employee benefits and giving flexible perks like remote working.
8. Communicate Openly
More than anything else, fairness and openness feature greatly in Gen Z values. Your company’s hiring process should also reflect that.
Subjecting candidates to paper applications, making them jump through multiple hoops, and ignoring their questions are surefire ways to turn off Gen Z talents. As they enter the workforce amidst the Great Resignation, Gen Z candidates have myriad job offers to choose from if the recruitment process is slow, cumbersome, or both.
What companies can do instead is to clearly communicate to Gen Z talents the interview process, e.g. how many interview rounds, any tests needed etc. During the hiring process, companies should also let interviewees know if they have passed the first interview round, second interview round, and so on in a timely manner. Even if they are rejected, letting them know with a simple rejection letter is much better than ghosting them.
Recruit Generation Z with BrioHR
With BrioHR’s digital solution, your company can keep up with Gen Z’s speed of thought. BrioHR’s recruitment module allows HR to collect and share feedback from candidate screening and interviews, boost collaboration between departments, and make faster and more robust hiring decisions.
This speed and openness will give your business the edge in hiring the next generation of talent.
With 9 powerful modules, BrioHR’s software covers the entire employee journey from recruitment to onboarding, payroll and claims, to performance and analytics, and more.
This enables business owners and HR teams to truly focus on what matters most – people.
Visit briohr.com and get a free demo now.
