Gen Z and Millennials - Some call them a storm, some call them periodic turbulence, and a few name them tumultuous life-sea, but to many, they appear to have been born to lead. The openness that we see in GenZ and millennials, the determination that they have to find mission-driven jobs attached with goals to achieve positive social change, and the stubbornness to stick to the best pay scale is undoubtedly creating a different boom among the job offers. Hiring and retaining them is a big challenge for companies that work on traditional thoughts. Several recruiters are grappling to find and fix a way to onboard them. So, is there any specific technique to follow to hire them? Are these frugal, professional do-gooders worth being recruited? Can they bring a drastic social change? Can they transform the way Corporate functions? So, how do companies plan to equip, encourage, and empower these next-generation folks today?
Interestingly, to attract, engage, and hire Gen Z and millennials, using well-featured applicant tracking software that can help in providing incredible candidate experiences becomes significant. Besides that, it also becomes important for recruiters to understand the world these cohorts have grown up in and play up their strengths accordingly.
This article aims to help you understand the expectations of Gen Z and millennials from their employers and tips on the best practices that companies can use to hire them successfully.
How to Attract and Recruit Millennials and Generation Z?
The first step to attracting and recruiting Gen Z and millennials within your organization would be to understand them. For that purpose, let's look at the characteristics and differences between these two generations in detail.
Millennials - Generation Y
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are individuals born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. They are known for their familiarity with technology, digital services, and the internet. This generation prefers explicitly communicating through a digital medium. It is a myth that millennials are not loyal to companies, which makes employers reluctant to hire them as an investment in hiring and training may not return.
But, the fact is - millennials are the largest group, with a population of 72.19 million in 2021, making it a huge portion of the workforce prevailing these days. Thus, understanding the millennials' preferences and tweaking hiring practices would prove profitable for businesses in the long run. Let's have a look at millennials' career choices in detail -
(Source: Yello Recruiting Study)
Zoomers - Generation Z
Generation Z, also known as Zoomers, are the people who are born from 1997 to 2012. Gen Zers had technology in their hands while growing up, which makes them digital natives. This generation is career driven and highly competitive. Gen Z is the third-largest generation group in the U.S., with an estimated population of 68.6 billion in 2021. This generation is in the beginning stages of their careers and is looking for entry-level jobs, as they either have finished their post-graduation degree or achieved a few milestones in their careers.
As more and more of these digital natives enter the workforce, it becomes significant to know their job and career preferences to attract and hire them.
(Source: Yello Recruiting Study)
Now that we know the job and career preferences of generation Z and millennials let's look at the unique characteristics that make them stand out differently, which can help you implement the right recruitment strategies.
Unique Characteristics of the Millennials
Tech Oriented
Millennials grew up hand in hand with technology. They rely on technology to perform their chores and bring excellent results to the workplace. From laptops, smartphones, and other gadgets, millennials are tuned in 24x7. This generation prefers communicating through emails, SMS, or any social media platform per se. With the globalized knowledge of tech, millennials offer a proactive approach and quick adaptability to workforce dynamics.
Work-life Balance
The hustle culture has lost its appeal among millennials. Today, individuals are willing to trade higher pay for flexible schedules and balance personal and professional life. This may be a need for more discipline or passion. But with the changing times, the idea of the workplace is evolving.
Creativity Brilliance
Millennials grew up when the generation experienced the transformation from traditional learning methods to the latest technology version. Due to this innovation, millennials have grasped the ability to think from a creative lens. If a problem arises in the workplace, they will observe and come up with innovative solutions.
Zeal for Learning
Millennials are confident, intelligent, and adaptive. An extraordinary characteristic of millennials is their zeal for learning. The generation has a deep sense of curiosity and the desire to take up new challenges at work. Millennials often urge to develop skills and improve their overall learning graph. Apart from exhibiting a passion for learning, this generation understands the value of setting and achieving goals for their personal and professional growth.
Constructive Feedback
Feedback and guidance always assist in performing the job better. Millennials are consistently looking out for room for improvement. Here's where constructive feedback comes to the rescue. Millennials appreciate feedback that benefits from their mentors, who can help in honing their skills. They need constant reassurance and praise for their work. For that purpose, companies with a majority of millennials in their workforce use performance management software and provide constructive feedback that will motivate them to deliver the best work.
Quality Over Time
Millennials aim to place a higher priority on quality. They emphasize the excellence of the end result rather than how many hours it will take to complete the task. This is a form of productivity in generating results or task-related output.
Job Hopping
Job hopping among millennials may come across as a downside for the workspace. If there's a better opportunity knocking at the door, then millennials will accept the offer. It's very uncommon for them to stay with the firm for two to three years.
However, millennials have worked with different firms and gathered various experiences. Unlike the previous generation, they will not hold jobs for a decade or more. Instead, these individuals would go out, invest, join a startup, or gather funds for their business.
Characteristics of the Generation Z
Mode of Communication
Although generation Z is growing up using social media platforms and digital communication methods, they still prefer face-to-face interactions. As per a recent survey, 63% of gen Z require in-person training from their employers compared to only 13% who prefer online training. This generation feels more comfortable, secure, and confident during personal interactions, so online interviews for them can prove ineffective.
Working Independently
People from Gen Z are good team players but like working independently. They prefer managing the project individually to showcase their skills and talent to prove themselves to employers. Being highly ambitious, this generation likes working independently, learning new skills, and exploring opportunities.
Financial Stability
Gen Z values and seeks financial stability. This generation looks out for a job that offers sustainability with a clearly defined compensation package. Moreover, they prefer working with companies providing attractive incentives and handsome salaries.
Expressive
Gen Z tends to adapt to changes quickly but is also quite vocal about their viewpoints. Their fresh perspective enables companies to follow new procedures that can lead to innovations in their deliverables. This generation is also open to new suggestions and consciously aware of how to make the most out of technology and their skills to achieve their goals.
Competitive Nature
Gen Z has been brought up in a competitive environment. The competitive nature reflects a strong recognition and leadership trait of their work. They are accustomed to receiving instant feedback for their performance. This often results in doubting their ability and comparing it with their peers.
These were the characteristics of millennials and generation Z that should be taken note of while recruiting people from these generations. Let's now have a look at their key hiring differences that can help you design successful recruitment strategies.
Millennials Vs. Generation Z: Key Hiring Differences
Thus, millennials in their 30s have been known as a job-hopping generation. When Gen Z enters the workforce, they face challenges. To attract millennials and Generation Z, recruiters need to understand what they want and how to offer it to them in building a valuable relationship.
Let's elaborate on this further by looking at some aspects that can help you attract this next generation of talent.
Factors to Consider While Recruiting Millennials and Generation Z
Deficiency in skill-building opportunities is the top-most reason cited by nearly 74% of the Millenial and Gen Z workers in the latest study initiated by Amazon with an external research firm. Upskilling stands as a priority for this group. Recruiters and Corporates should keep a watch on this.
Understanding Requirements
Millennials and Gen Z are young and tech-savvy individuals. Both generations grew up in different economic environments that shaped their outlook on the world differently.
Businesses planning to recruit these generations should understand the differences and similarities in their outlook, approach, and desires to attract and recruit them. So what do Gen Zers and Millennials look for while accepting a job offer?
Besides the good paycheck, gen Z expects companies to provide some benefits like medical insurance, retirement savings, and paid time off. Also, they are looking for training and student loan assistance for their future progress.
On the other hand, millennials look for companies that offer maternity and paternity leaves, bonus incentives, medical insurance, and paid leaves.
One common thing these two generations require from their companies is work-life balance, which includes five days in a weekly working model with a hybrid approach, which means they can work from the home, office, or any place during any time of the day.
By understanding these requirements, businesses can navigate their way in targeting the generations more appropriately with suitable messaging.
Building Brand Reputation
A company's reputation plays an essential role in hiring employees. In earlier times, when an individual wanted to apply for the company, they might consider checking in with friends and acquaintances to know the working environment. With the advent of technology and platforms like Yelp and Glassdoor, it's effortless to know a company's reputation. Businesses should seriously consider using reputation management software that can help them enhance the reputation of the brand and attract the best talents from these generations.
Offering Career Growth
While recruiting people from these generations, it becomes necessary to mention ways in which employees will be helping them to climb the corporate ladder, as well as professional development opportunities, mentorships, and training that will be offered to them. This can motivate them to join the company as people from these generations are highly ambitious and prefer companies that help them upskill.
Implementing Remote/Hybrid Working Model
The traditional working hours were 9-5. Individuals had to sacrifice their personal life and spent significant amounts of time meeting deadlines. This led to younger generations seeking flexible working hours and the benefits of working on their terms. But, at the same time, companies are worried about the productivity of their remote/hybrid working employees. In that case, you can use time-tracking software to track the projects and tasks your remote and hybrid employees are working on and stay updated on a real-time basis.
Open For New Ideas
Companies must be open to hearing fresh and new ideas from the candidates they interview. Candidates from these generations feel neglected and will likely find another alternative job opportunity if their ideas are not being listened to with interest. Consider taking their feedback seriously. Their ideas may need to be aligned with the company's goals or objectives. Here's where managers should learn to express those reasons constructively.
So, these are some tactics that can help you attract millennials and Gen Zers to your company and accept your job offers. Besides that, understanding the key strengths your company requires to hire people from these generations is also significant. Let's dive into the details.
Key Strengths Required To Hire Next-Generation Talent Successfully
Strong Communication Skills
Having a strong command over language and being vocal about the requirements is essential for hiring the right talent. With different channels available today, it is essential to hone your communication skills to write an effective job advertisement, social media posts, and correspondence to candidates through email, phone, or in person. The recruiters bridge the gap between the candidate and hiring managers. As a result, effectively communicating is essential for the candidates, co-workers, and audience.
Strong Networking
Strong networking is a core skill required for the recruitment process. It's a skill that assists in building industry connections and eventually converting them into great hires. After all, it's a people business. With many platforms available today, leveraging the candidates through your strong networking skills will bring valuable candidates to the company.
Empathy
A soft skill that recruiters should have is empathy. Job hunting is a stressful job that takes you on a roller coaster ride. Not finding a potential candidate for the job often leads to desperation and urgency. Here's where practicing empathy will help recruiters interview for a new job and perform all the tasks mindfully.
Listening Skills
Take time to listen to what the candidates, hiring managers, and colleagues say. Listening intently will ease the decision-making process. It will bring more clarity and let them know precisely what they want.
Furthermore, recruiters can use this information for advertisements and negotiation strategies.
Relatability
Recruiters are the primary source of contact between the individual and the hiring manager.
The former relies on you as a source for joining the company. The latter relies on you to fill the position with a suitable candidate for their team. Hence, offering reliability to both parties becomes pivotal.
To advocate reliability means:
- Representing accurate information
- Consistent follow-ups from both parties
- Finding the middle ground and making a win-win situation for both parties
Knowledgeable about the Company
Recruiters should have hands-on experience in marketing and selling the company to potential candidates. This means wearing the hat of a marketer and salesperson at once. Recruiters should learn advertising and analytics skills that help them in generating leads. It will aid in the following:
- Finding the best networking channels
- Writing compelling job descriptions
- Leveraging technology to reach wider audiences
Recruiters should sharpen their pitching skills and the benefits of working in their company. The better you promote your company, the more chances you will have to land the best candidates. The younger generation tends to have more questions about their job. Hence, bringing an adaptive persona will help in finding successful candidates.
Expert in Critical Thinking
Making an informed and fair decision is crucial in hiring suitable candidates. Here's where critical thinking comes into play. Critical thinking is based on facts rather than gut instincts. The recruiters need to take in all the information critically, sieve out what's essential for the company, and bring an unbiased conclusion about whom to hire. HR teams can use recruiting software to function critically and analytically and select candidates to fill up vacant positions quickly.
Strong Social Media Presence
Having a solid social media presence has become highly significant these days for hiring suitable candidates. The vast majority of platforms available will help recruiters in finding niche candidates. Hence, recruiters should incorporate social media in their staffing skills and reach out directly to the candidates.
Strong Negotiation Skills
Negotiation skills play a significant role in businesses, especially in talent acquisition. Offering a candidate what they want, even if the company has its limitations, is a big call for recruiters. Attractively presenting the points across the table requires exceptional negotiation skills.
Multitasking and Time Management
Recruiters often strive hard to fill the maximum number of vacant positions within a minimum time. Writing job descriptions, spreading the information, background checks, screening resumes, and many other tasks. Also, communicating with multiple candidates applying for the same job position and all the recruitment-related tasks becomes challenging. Companies need to employ well-trained recruiters capable of overcoming challenges and hiring the best talent available.
Now, let's look at leveraging a company's strengths to hire this next-generation talent successfully.
Top 3 Ways of Leveraging Company Strengths for Hiring Gen Z and Millennials in 2023
Offer Flexibility and Fulfillment
One of the best ways of leveraging company strengths in hiring millennials and generation Z is to offer flexibility and fulfillment. When the workplace is flexible and fulfilling, it translates employees to adaptable change, resilience, and versatility.
Cultivating flexibility and fulfillment within the team will reap sustainable outcomes. It becomes possible by creating a safe environment for contributing ideas, empowering to coach or mentor employees, and cultivating a purpose mindset so that the company and employees work together for a common goal.
Focus on Upskilling
To thrive in the current workplace, companies should focus on upskilling employees. Organizations that invest in upskilling professionals improve retention rates and feed employees' desire to learn and grow in their respective fields. To stay ahead of the industry standards, companies can accommodate different learning styles and workshops and empower employees to navigate their career progression.
Keeping up with the Technology
Technology has become integral to our lives and reshaping the organization’s functionality. With the latest advancements, companies can stay competitive and offer their employees and customers the best service. Organizations offering the latest technology communicate better and collaborate more effectively. Alongside this, it also influxes a sense of security and innovation among the employees in using the latest technology.
Bringing Up All Together
Millennials and gen Zers are hardworking, tech-savvy, loyal, and above all, have entrepreneurial skills. This talent pool would knock on the doors of companies with good cultures,employee-friendly policies, and polite and timely conversations that provide a positive candidate experience. So, to ensure that they find your company as the best fit and to make them easily fit into your company’s requirements, you need to move from conventional hiring policies to innovative and tech-based ones that suit these modern generations.
Pairing your company's strengths with the right technology is the key to hiring this next-generation talent within your organization. If you need help selecting the right tools for evaluating, shortlisting, managing, and communicating to make your recruitment process quicker, just go through this list of all-in-one HR software intricately curated by GoodFirms' experts.
