How (and Why) You Should Make ‘Job Security’ Part of Your Recruitment Marketing

This year’s graduates face challenges they never could have imagined when they entered college. The unexpected emergence of COVID-19 led to decreased employment rates, changes to work environments (largely a shift to remote work), and new hiring practices. Now, with the end of the school year just around the corner, juniors and seniors continue to face an uncertain academic and professional future.

RippleMatch research has found that job security is important for entry-level candidates under “normal” circumstances, but has become even more top-of-mind in the wake of COVID-19. This article will offer an overview of students’ changing perceptions of job security, highlight how some groups of students prioritize job security more than others during the job search, and provide some tips for employers on how to convey job security during the recruitment process.

Before COVID-19, job security was ranked as a “very important” attribute during the job search.

Over the past three years (June 2017–June 2020), RippleMatch surveyed 100,000 college students across more than 1,000 schools to find what entry-level candidates care about the most in their early careers. While professional development was rated as the top priority overall (with a rating of 4.32 out of 5 on a Likert scale), job security was only a bit further behind with a rating of 3.97 out of 5, indicating that it is “very important” to most candidates. Among all students surveyed, job security outranked factors such as work-life balance, compensation, social impact, and company prestige.

Women, first-gen students, and underrepresented minorities are the most likely groups to prioritize job security.

At a more granular level, some student demographics were more likely than others to prioritize job security when exploring different careers. More specifically, RippleMatch data shows that underrepresented minorities (URM), low-income students, and first-generation students ranked job stability as the second most important factor in the job search, after professional development. Women were also likely to rate job security as “extremely important.” By contrast, men and non-URM candidates were the least likely to be concerned about job stability when searching for a job, prioritizing other factors like upward mobility and sense of community instead.

COVID-19 has increased the importance of job security for entry-level candidates.

Not surprisingly, students’ attitude toward job security has evolved as a result of COVID-19. In a RippleMatch survey conducted in mid-April 2020, job security was rated as the second-most important factor in the job search (4.0 out of 5), this time only slightly behind professional development (4.1 out of 5). Similar to the previous research about candidate priorities during the job search, women and URM were more likely than men and non-URM candidates to rate job security as “extremely important.”  

By August 2020, six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance college juniors and seniors placed on job security was even more pronounced. In a survey RippleMatch conducted for The Gen Z Job Seeker Report, 51% of graduating seniors cited job security as one of the primary factors that would impact how they evaluated a job offer. That’s a significant increase from the 22% of graduating seniors in the class of 2019 who listed job security as a major factor in their decision making process. Even more striking, was the percentage of seniors concerned specifically with companies’ stability in the wake of COVID-19. Almost three quarters – 74% – of seniors cited that as a factor in their job search.

Showcase your dedication to job security in your recruitment materials.

So with the importance of job security gaining more traction, how should recruiters adapt their marketing and outreach this fall? A good place to start is refreshing recruitment materials. You may consider creating a social media series or writing blog posts to underscore how you supported both current and incoming employees during COVID-19. For example, if your new entry-level positions and summer internships transitioned to remote rather than in-person, share what that process was like. If you made changes to the company structure in order to keep all your employees on the payroll, be upfront about that, too. Candidates want an honest look at what job security looks like at your company, and it’s something they will ask about!

If you’re in a traditionally stable industry, make sure to highlight that fact in your recruiting efforts. Participate in educational panels or share articles on your career page to educate candidates who may not be familiar with your industry. Some traditionally stable industries, like insurance, may have previously been overlooked by candidates who were more interested in what they felt were more exciting industries, like media or technology. Leverage the increased focus on stability and seek out opportunities to highlight your industry. 

Be prepared to answer questions about job security, especially during COVID-19, in interviews.

Qualitative data from the RippleMatch survey in April found that even after the economy stabilizes and the pandemic passes, this generation will make a point of asking future employers about their response to the coronavirus.  Recruiters should be prepared to answer how the company supported its employees during COVID-19 and adapted its operations (such as going remote). To further highlight job security, recruiters can share what types of contingency plans the company has in place to adapt to uncertain times. For example, has the company adopted a flexible work policy that will continue once employees return to the office? 

Would the company pause certain perks in order to keep costs down? Or is the company experiencing growth that would likely not be curtailed by extended periods of remote work? Be as detailed as you can with candidates in order to build trust and set yourself above your competition.

There’s a lot to consider when targeting your recruitment marketing efforts to Gen Z, but it’s clear that highlighting job stability should be a part of your plan. With shifting priorities and continued concerns about the job market, focusing on the stability of your company or industry will help you stand out to candidates. 

For more insight into what college juniors and graduating seniors are looking for in their job search, check out the full Gen Z Job Seeker Report.