How to Attract Gen Z Candidates

Attracting Gen Z candidates is becoming a growing priority for many organisations. To do so, you must not only grab their attention, but also convince them to stick around. So how do get potential Gen Z employees to choose your company over another? And how do you get them to want to stay? 

Before we go into the detail, some key stats about the GenZ 

• Research has shown that if they are not actively engaged inside 8 seconds of seeing something they won’t continue. This doesn’t mean they have a short attention span 
• At work, they’re motivated by flexibility, by freedom, communication, collaboration, work environment, and by working for a company that they feel reflects their views on social justice and sense of purpose. 
• One study did find that 71% of Gen Z would look for a new role if they were forced to go into an office full-time.  
• For Gen Z, flexibility is key. 

How do you attract & engage with the GenZ population? 

Company Brand  

Keep your content clear and concise, and use some of the great tools out there to get your working right. 

Don’t make your website overly clicky; there’s nothing more frustrating for this audience than having to spend ages trying to discern your company values. Always remember that 8 second rule! 

Invest time and effort into your digital media and use social media where possible. GenZ don’t use Facebook – that’s what their parents use! It’s all Snapchat and TikTok these days so consider these channels. YouTube, however, remains one of the places where they will go to look at companies so great video content is also key. 

And of course, as Gen Z enter the professional world, more and more in that age group are using LinkedIn.  

Company Values 

You should all have them, they should align to your vision and mission statement, and they may look a little like this: 

• Integrity 
• Honesty 
• Fairness 
• Accountability 
• Promise to Customers 
• Diversity and Inclusion 
• Learning 
• Teamwork 

The framework of the “Irresistible Org” is a great way to work out what your values should be. Developed by Josh Bersin, it is a set of channels that are designed to get you to think about your employees, and company, and the types of values that make a company irresistible to work for. 

This is what the GenZ’rs will most likely want to understand before applying for a role with your company.  

Make these easily accessible on your website or careers landing page. 

Job Descriptions 

With ED&I here to stay and GenZ being the most diverse workforce we have ever seen, it seems obvious that your job descriptions should be worded to attract the right talent. But don’t forget the 8 second rule! Try to keep the listing short and snappy as well. 

The contact after application 

A simple “thanks for applying” email isn’t going to cut it anymore. Think bigger and bolder, and not just a clickable link inside an email (research shows that people tend not to click on a link in an email these days for fear of malicious malware and spam). 

Embed your content into the email instead, like video introductions “CEO of XCD here – thanks for your interest in one of our roles…….” is far better than “Thanks for applying, your sincerely, HR”.

Keep them updated 

This goes for anyone that applies for a role, but keeping them up to date with where they are in the process and allow them to interact when they need to, from video interviews to the onboarding process, will show that you take their application seriously 

Mobile! 

This generation are the first to want the freedom to do everything on their phone so interviewing, signing contracts, filling in timesheets, applying for roles all should be digital to keep them engaged. 

I can’t imagine anyone these days wanting to find a printer, print off the contract, find a pen, sign it, scan it back in and then send by email. That’s a lot more than 8 seconds! 

Keep the mobile application process as smooth as possible. Don’t overload with a ton of questions up front, 20% of candidates drop off the radar at this point. Utilize the job boards and aggregators to assist using quick apply or direct apply functions. They will take care of the mobile challenges as well.