Born in the turn of the century, Gen Zedders are starting to knock on labour market’s door. With the determination that comes with youth, those who came into the world between 1995 and 2010 are very sure about what they demand from a company.
They’ve grown up watching a smartphone screen, and when they raised their eyes they observed previous generations trying to overcome a big recession. That has made them aware that that job for life their grandparents talked about has already become nothing but a fantasy.
This circumstance has made pragmatic individuals of them and they’ve proved so when choosing their studies, placing job opportunities before vocation. So says a report by Accenture Strategy conducted around Gen-zedder students in Spain. They prefer professional sectors where they can get a job quickly, so they bet on science, technology, engineering or math.
What do they look for in a company?
Now that the members of this generation are searching for their first job, they see it as a stepping stone to get a better one, and they believe that they won’t stay there more than three years. That’s why they place particular value on the public reputation of a company and the image it conveys. They get busy researching its website, apps and social media. They use mainly the internet when searching for a job. They want a company to share their ethical standards, have a positive impact on the community, take care of corporate responsibility and have no negative repercussions on the environment. They also give importance to the existence of a policy of fair salaries and promotions.
One of the main ways to attract this generation’s talent is to assure them the opportunity to keep learning and growing professionally. For them, continuous training is essential, and 89% of them hope to have it available in their future company. That is related to the importance they place on innovation when defining their ideal job. Stepping outside their comfort zone is not an issue for them; on the contrary, they see it as a challenge.
What do Gen Zedders expect from a job position?
Gen Zedders are people of high aspirations and they have their professional goals clear, according to a report elaborated by Job Today based on several studies. The ideal job position for them has to provide labour flexibility, both geographical and in terms of working hours. Habituated to have internet access on the palm of their hand, they see anywhere in the world as a potential office. This way they can reconcile with other aspects of their life, which they give also special relevance.
When having to report back, they prefer a mentor or leader whom they can also learn from. In this figure, they look for somebody they can speak to, who takes their ideas into account, respectful, supportive, honest and transparent. In their notion of continuous improvement lies their preference for receiving quality feedback regularly, at least once a week or when finishing a particular task.
How do they manage in work environments?
When arriving to a company, Gen Zedders expect to find a participatory working atmosphere, where open communication is encouraged. In this regard, their preference for face-to-face interactions when having to solve an issue is noteworthy.
With respect to their colleagues, they distrust those who challenge them since they prefer collaboration to competitiveness. They tend to be demanding towards their team members, and they believe that since they have acquired multiple skills that make them good, they deserve that the others live up to them. In fact, a high level of self-confidence is one of the features of Generation Z, as well as self-reliance when carrying out their work and the ability to perform multiple duties.
Another trait of their nature is impatience, developed in them after being brought up in the culture of immediacy. This helps them to be prompt when making decisions or providing a response to a particular issue. In contrast, said impatience can be the cause of labour problems when managing a project or working as a part of a team.
The arrival of Gen Zedders to a company may entail making certain changes that, in principle, do not correspond to the philosophy of the company up to that point. But little by little that interaction, which will make young people become aware of the differences between the notions in their head when they’re fresh out of their formative stage and the real world they live in, can turn into a great opportunity for a company to keep developing and be at the forefront of talent attraction.
Sources: Accenture Strategy, Job Today, Forbes, ABC