Gen Z, the youngest segment of the workforce, is already making an impact, and its influence will only increase in the future. Global insurance giant Zurich reported in April that people born between 1997 and 2012 are expected to make up 27% of the workforce by 2025. Those numbers are getting employers’ attention, making it all the more important to understand how to attract young people to the world of work and what they need to thrive.
Looking at What Gen Z Values
In March, Symplicity, a maker of software for universities to manage student experiences, surveyed over 3,700 college students nearing the point where they will be looking for jobs. More than 90% of the students rated job stability, salary, and work-life balance as most important. The results were consistent with the company’s 2022 survey on what students value the most in a job.
What was not important to them? Brand name of a company. That, too, was consistent with Symplicity’s 2022 research.
But not all results were consistent with the prior year’s findings. This year’s results show that flexible schedules and remote work have slipped on students’ priority list—from 75% saying flexible and remote work were important or very important to just 42% saying hybrid/remote work options are important or very important to them.
Those about to enter the workforce also highly value traditional benefits. Health insurance and substantial vacation and/or paid time off (PTO) were cited as the two most important benefits.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) also is on the mind of Gen Z, and the Symplicity survey found that students ranked pay transparency as the most important DEI initiative. Other DEI efforts important to survey respondents were inclusive benefits, the diversity of the team they would be working on, and the diversity of the leadership team.
One respondent leaving a comment wanted to see specifics about an employer’s DEI efforts “not just the pasted legal disclaimer, but conscious movements within the company.”
How Gen Z Approaches the Job Search
Besides knowing what’s important to Gen Z candidates, employers need to understand how Gen Z tackles the job search. The Symplicity research shows employers would be wise to examine their own websites since 49% of students said the employer’s website was helpful or very helpful to their job search.
The students also found career centers and independent online research important. What’s least helpful? Survey respondents cited social media and employer info sessions or other employer-sponsored informal events.
The Symplicity data also show the importance of job descriptions to Gen Zers looking for jobs. “Our data show that students are unsatisfied with the way job descriptions are approached as they either feel completely unattainable or the information is too vague for them to want to invest time in the application process,” the survey report says.
Complaints include job descriptions that lack clarity, those that set the bar too high, and those with missing salary ranges. Feedback from survey respondents shows that Gen Zers want realistic job requirements, not just a wish list.
The young people also wanted job descriptions with practical information such as work hours, internship start and end dates, and details about day-to-day activities instead of just the job title or description.
Another respondent called for an actual description of the work environment “instead of using cliches such as ‘dynamic and fast-paced environment.’”
Tips for Employers
A May 2022 entry on LinkedIn’s talent blog makes suggestions for employers trying to attract Gen Z candidates. One suggestion: Examine the experience requirements included in job postings.
For example, jobs labeled “entry-level” often require more than three years of experience. The blog explains that LinkedIn analyzed data from nearly 4 million postings between December 2017 and August 2021 and found that a minimum of three years’ experience was included on 35% of their entry-level postings.
“While it might feel nice to swing for the fences on every entry-level hire, you could wind up missing out on a top prospect simply because they didn’t check every box,” the blog says.
The LinkedIn blog notes that Gen Z is the most multicultural generation in U.S. history and therefore expects employers to value diversity, equity, and inclusion. It also notes that Gen Zers are “good at sniffing out inauthenticity.”
The LinkedIn blog also urges employers to “onboard like you mean it.” How? “Beyond a warm welcome and some fun company swag, you’ll want to get technology into a new hire’s hands immediately, set them up with an onboarding buddy, dive into the company’s culture and values, create opportunities for them to meet and connect with teammates, and give them lots and lots of time with their direct manager,” the blog says.
Tammy Binford is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.