When talk turns to the next generation of the workforce, it is invariably Millennials getting the attention. Aged between 19 and 35, the group has grown up alongside the development of digital technology, something that has shaped them dramatically.

From their comfort embracing technological change to adopting new working habits, they have become the recruitment industry’s primary target in recent years. However, there are now (quite literally) new kids on the block: Generation Z.

Generation Z consists of everyone born after 1995 and their major differentiation is that they are true children of the digital age. This generation has no memory of a time before the internet, smartphones, or social media. While Millennials were shaped by tech, Generation Z was born into it.

This unique perspective has forged a very different set of people with different expectations. With the group now on the cusp of entering the workforce, recruitment professionals must take notice.

If you thought Millenials were plugged in, get ready for a shock

How Generation Z Works

Although there is a large body of research concerning the working habits and expectations of Millennials is readily available, Generation Z remains largely mysterious. What do we know about them already?

Even though they are similar to Millennials in terms of their command of digital technology, recent research from Adecco found that members of Generation Z have different career goals and conduct their job searches differently. For instance, Generation Z’s are moving away from job boards, with only 27% using them compared to 34% of Millennials.

In addition, a study conducted by marketing firm Sparks and Honey found that 28% of Generation Z respondents focused more on personal and family connections than previous generations.

This is indicative of a social, independent talent pool that places growing importance on social networks and work-life balance. With this in mind, it is clear that recruiters must adapt their strategy to attract the best of the digital talent that Generation Z has to offer.

Showcase Your Brand

One of Generation Z’s key traits is that they make little distinction between life goals and career goals. Rather than money being a primary motivator when choosing a workplace, their aspirations are more closely aligned to the potential for professional development.

Alongside this, they desire to find work that fulfills them personally, rather than holding a job they dislike that would give them enough money to do as they please outside office hours.

Consequently, building a brand culture and communicating it effectively to potential employees has never been more important. Members of Generation Z are looking for a workplace that can provide career development and personal fulfilment, so recruiters must demonstrate this clearly.

An effective technique for achieving this is ensuring that a career page is fully customised and incorporates branded content such as videos that display company culture, training, and opportunity for progression. This is essential for showcasing the personality of your business, telling its authentic story, and avoiding being perceived as a generic corporate employer.

"Here's us, just chilling out doing some super-cool stuff"

Send a Consistent Message

As true digital natives, Generation Z views social media as an integral aspect of life, rather than a side channel, and, as such, is active across multiple platforms.

While your career website may be great, it is just one page. To engage this generation, you need to be using social channels effectively. The first step is to ensure you have a clear strategy for what you want to achieve on each network. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram all have different strengths.

For example, Twitter is useful for quick interaction and posts, something that can bring a conversational edge to a business. Instagram, on the other hand, is ideal for displaying visual and creative elements of your company. You do need to ensure that potential candidates experience your brand in the same way with a unified brand message across all of them.

The good news is that implementing a social media recruitment platform allows you to take the job postings and marketing materials that your site contains, and push them out across multiple platforms. This is vital because that’s where Generation Z lives.

Engaging with Generation Z

Once you have developed a pipeline that is full to the brim with talented potential employees, your focus as a recruiter should shift from grabbing candidates’ attention to building relationships with them.

Due to their strong engagement with digital platforms, members of Generation Z are inundated with information on a daily basis, so it is more important than ever to provide them with regular, relevant and riveting posts, as well as information on current vacancies and company news.

There's an awful lot of noise out there - how will you cut through?

Using the best social media recruitment software makes this process easy and quick because you can broadcast all this from one platform, rather than jumping between websites constantly. Full integration also allows you to view metrics of impressions and engagement with the messages you send out, so you can tweak your communication according to what receives the most positive results.

Effectively engaging with Generation Z is primarily a case of adapting recruitment strategies that have worked previously for optimal performance. This means it is more important than ever that recruiters ensure they have the technology in place to adapt their existing strategies, develop them, and implement them on a larger scale.

Matt Singer is vice president of marketing at Jobvite