Gen Z At Work: Recruiting Gen Z (Part 2 of 3)
There are three things to consider when developing a recruiting strategy for Gen Z. They are the three M’s: media, money and meaning.
Media
Gen Z lives online. Specifically they live on social media. Ads on TikTok or Instagram will catch them before the listings you may be accustomed to placing on recruiting sites. They respond best to short videos. They are experts at determining what they will spend their attention on in just a few seconds so lead with your best hook which should be related to meaning. It makes sense to have someone on your recruiting team who is social media savvy. This may need to be your primary Gen Z employee to ensure that you can reach the rest of them.
Money
The number one reason Gen Z (and Millennials) will leave a job is for more money. That also means that money is the number one reason they may be attracted to a position with your company. Although this may sound as if an employer will have to keep upping the ante, it isn’t as bad as it sounds. Fair and equitable wages will do. The key is creating the trust that the pay you are offering is fair. There are three key questions you must ask to ensure fair pay on an ongoing basis.
· How much would you pay to keep the employee if you knew they were planning to leave?
· How much would you have to pay to replace them?
· How much can they get somewhere else?
If you set a procedure in place to review these three questions and adjust their pay according to the answers at least annually, you and the employee can be sure that they are making a fair wage. Since money is the number one reason an employee leaves, whether they be Gen Z or Millennial, it will take that constant question off the table for both of you. Making this policy clear in your recruiting message will go a long way with Gen Z.
Meaning
To jump into the lead in attracting young talent you’ll have to go beyond these steps beginning with putting an emphasis on your message to convey the deeper meaning and value to the world that your company creates. Nearly two out of five of Gen Z and Millennials have turned down a job because it didn’t fit their values. And of those in leadership positions that statistic rises to almost half. (Deloitte Global, 2022)
The US military have been the front runners in the effort to attract Gen Z. After millions of dollars in research most of the branches are still struggling to fill their recruitment and retention quotas. They have made some brilliant moves and have fallen short on others.
First, they meet these young people where they live, online. I personally don’t find these ads in my feeds, undoubtedly because they’ve got me pegged as too old. However my granddaughter has expressed frustration at the number of military ads popping up in her feeds. And that makes sense. She’s a senior in high school; just the right age. So you would think that the ads are solving the problem, and that teenagers would be falling over each other to sign up, right? Wrong. Even with thousands of dollars in signing bonuses most branches haven’t been able to meet their quotas. The biggest problem is that they are missing the mark with their message. Aside from Space Force, which just sounds cool, only the Marine Corp has met both their recruitment and retention quotas. Their message contains phrases like “discover the purpose and the belonging”, “a life of great worth” and “marking a path for the next generation”. The idea behind their message is that serving in the Marines not only provides purpose while serving, but carries over to the kind of person one becomes by serving. They stress being of service and contributing to society long after active service has ended.
At risk of shamelessly promoting CPI, I will share our mission. I do this because I think it’s a great example of conveying meaning.
CPI Mission Statement
We are a team committed to making the greatest contribution possible with our time. Our clients are creating the built-world that we will inevitably leave to future generations. It’s our mission to help them build the world better.
Our singular goal is to create a more efficient, more robust, and more sustainable future by leveraging technology. These are important challenges. We are tackling them now and we are tackling them together.
Every generation wants to be a part of something bigger and more meaningful; however Gen Z has put that at the forefront. Drafting a message with meaning and actually living by that purpose may be the biggest step any organization can take to ensure staffing now and in the future.
Watch for the next post in this series for how to retain Gen Z talent once you’ve brought them on board.
Works Cited
Deloitte Global. (2022). The Deloitte Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/genzmillennialsurvey.html
