What's Important To Gen Z Candidates When Looking For A Job?
Generation Z job seekers are the newest demographic to join the working ranks. Employing this age group can bring fresh ideas and individuals with a hard-working and keen spirit. If your company takes care of its younger employees, there’s a higher chance they will stay working in your business for longer and avoid job hopping.
When thinking about attracting Gen Z talent, it’s important to emphasize career growth, professional development, and offering a work-life balance. Stability and career potential seem to be top of mind for Gen Z candidates. Including value propositions like educational stipends and professional development funds- even adding a short description of a typical advancement path for the role- in the actual job description as advertised can be a huge sell for candidates entering the workforce in these unprecedented times.
Offering this type of information upfront partnered with an organizational culture that emphasizes learning and long-term professional growth is key. Gen Z comes with its own set of workplace expectations and preferences no doubt Gen Z job seekers are the future of the workforce and they will surely make great employees and create happiness in the workplace.
In this article, I’m exploring ways in which business owners will understand what Gen Z (my generation) job seekers want.
Here are some of the most important things Gen Z candidates consider when looking for a job:
Dynamic and Innovative Company Culture
To attract Generation Z candidates, it’s important to offer a company culture that is both dynamic and innovative. Young people like me in the workforce today are focused on the future. In other words,
we may not be looking at the actual entry-level position, but setting our focus on the role we hope to obtain with a little more experience and training.
Too many Generation Z applicants have seen their parents trapped in jobs that they despise, swearing they will do better. And in today’s business environment, a lot of drive and the right company can help them to ensure just that.
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Create A Great Company Brand/Culture
So far, we have seen that Gen Z candidates value company culture and would decide whether or not they want to work for a company by looking at the company’s culture. As an employer, you take advantage of this to build a great company brand that would attract Gen Z job seekers to your organization. Create a strong social media presence and promote your company brand there. Do well to display your company’s values and culture.
Present Learning And Development Opportunities
If you are looking forward to attracting this new set of workforce, ensure you create an enabling environment that encourages employees to learn and develop their careers while they work for your organization. Let prospective employees see that you offer learning opportunities. These generations of people are open-minded so they always embrace learning opportunities. 70% of Gen Z believe that it is more important to be seen as having a curious and open mindset than a specific skill.
Give Continuous And Immediate Feedback
Gen Z employees are not afraid of hearing a “No!” from their superiors because they embrace failure and see it as an opportunity for growth. They have an open mind and also love to be rewarded for their efforts. If you want to hire Gen Z employees then you should be ready to give feedback rather than ignore them.
This workforce comes from a place where everything is immediate; instant texting, video calling on the go, etc. If it used to be your practice to ignore emails and messages, then you may be losing out on this generation of the workforce.
Offer Flexible Work Opportunities
The new generation of the workforce put their comfort in mind when searching for job opportunities. They would rather take a job that works around their lifestyle rather than fit their lifestyle around a job. This is why a majority of them would prefer to work from home rather than be in the office.
To attract Gen Z workers to your organization be ready to create a work environment that offers flexible work practices and work-life balance.
Offer A Competitive Salary
Offering a competitive salary is one of the ways you can attract Gen Z workers to your organization. Always make sure what you are offering for a particular position is fair enough, offering a salary that is below the skills needed to do the job will likely not work for a Gen Z worker.
Attracting and hiring Gen Z workers may not be an easy thing to do considering that they are a dynamic and diverse group workforce. It sure takes some form of recruitment experience and expertise to attract and keep the Gen Z workforce in your organization.
Be Tech-Savvy
One of the defining traits of Gen Z is technology. Just like the millennials, Gen Z members are driven by technology. Most of the knowledge they have is fostered by technology. Generation Z has been used to technology even from birth. This means that to recruit this generation, you must know what they know about “tech”.
Statistics released by Funders show that 91% of Gen Z workers say sophisticated technology would make them more interested in the workplace. If you want to attract the Gen Z workforce, then you may have to do away with some of your ancient desktops and printers and consider getting smart work tools that would make them work better.
Finally, Gen Z’s high-tech literacy will align seamlessly with future needs. Their social consciousness and commitment to values can help businesses further their own community-focused agendas. Organizations must attract Gen Z based on their values and needs, and leverage their talent and enthusiasm to grow and prosper.
Related:
All You Need To Know To Attract Millennial Candidates To Your Open Jobs
3 Ways To Determine If An Employer Supports Mental Health At Work
Meet The Writer!
Hi! I’m Christian James. I am a freelance writer, copywriter, and editor, with a data-driven and analytical mindset. I have experience writing on a wide range of topics in diverse fields. I have a B.Tech. in Computer science from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and Currently pursuing an Online Certificate in Data Science: Inference Modeling from Harvard University School of Professional and Lifelong learning. As a freelancer, I offer services such as blog writing, copywriting, web content writing, speechwriting, article writing SEO writing, creative writing, and editing. Feel free to explore my medium blog or connect with me on LinkedIn.
