Insights

What motivates a new graduate to accept a job offer? With levels of student debt and the cost-of-living in major cities climbing, one might think that money would be the main motivator for young people starting out their careers. However, today’s top graduates are making their professional decisions based on factors like career growth opportunities and company culture, rather than compensation alone.

While many graduating seniors still worry about hearing back from the company of their dreams and standing out from other applicants, today’s entry-level candidates are enjoying a strong job market that allows them to be more selective about where they apply and ultimately work.

When some people think of a company’s sense of “community,” they picture employees socializing at company happy hours, engaging in friendly tabletop games, or talking in swanky communal areas. Data from our recent State of the Gen Z Job Search report shows that company culture and community is important to Gen Z – and it’s especially important to Gen Z women. But community is about more than ping pong tables and kombucha on tap. It’s about facilitating genuine connections among employees. When bringing on new hires at the entry-level, try some of these ideas to foster a stronger sense of community and use community-building as a selling point in your recruitment outreach.

As colleges have welcomed students back to campus, graduating seniors are already gearing up for their job search. In fact, our recent State of the Gen Z Job Search report found that 51% of Gen Z students begin looking for entry-level jobs in or prior to the October before they graduate. With Gen Z candidates already job-hunting, employers who want to attract top talent will not only need to get started early, but also maintain a positive experience throughout every aspect of the candidate journey, from the information-gathering stage, the application process, the job interview and the final offer. While there are standard components of any great candidate experience, data collected for our report Understanding the Gen Z Candidate Experience reveals some important information about creating a positive hiring experience for today’s entry-level job seekers. Whether it’s your first time recruiting Gen Z candidates or you are looking to get ahead of your competition, here are some actionable steps you can take during this year’s hiring season to create a Gen Z -friendly candidate experience.

If a picture's worth a thousand words, a video is worth well more than that. And when it comes to engaging with a new generation of talent, using video to showcase your company's culture and value propositions can be a smart way to inform prospective employees about what makes your company great. While there are a ton of awesome recruitment marketing videos out there, some companies have developed a standout strategy to use video to their advantage. These companies have embraced video, effectively incorporating it into their careers page and other platforms. Looking for some inspiration on how to use video to your advantage? Here are some of our favorite approaches:

For companies located in a big city or companies that recruit from local colleges, hosting an onsite recruitment event can be a great way to get candidates excited about the office and offer the opportunity to meet potential future coworkers. A well-organized event can propel your company to the top of college graduates’ preferred list of employers. Conversely, a poorly-run event can backfire for an employer’s brand and keep the best candidates away. So how can your company put together a successful onsite recruitment event, from planning, to marketing, to execution? Follow these important steps.

Even with the thriving job market, sensible Gen Z’ers aren’t procrastinating when it comes to their job search. In our recent survey of over 1,100 graduates* from the class of 2019, 51% of our Class of 2019 respondents began their job search in or prior to October 2018, with the bulk of respondents selecting “August 2018” as the start of their job search. There’s a small spike of candidates that begin their search in January, and overall, 20% of Gen Z’ers began their search between January 2019 and March 2019. 20% of respondents waited until April, May or June to begin their job search.

Hiring any new team member is an investment. But hiring entry-level employees who often require additional training and adjustment periods is its own category, and there are specific entry-level hiring metrics that every talent team should be tracking.

Negotiating for a higher salary can make even the most seasoned professionals feel uncomfortable. So it’s no wonder that most entry-level candidates feel unprepared to negotiate for a better compensation package when evaluating a job offer.