Do your words appeal to Gen Z?

May 16, 2018

Senior Director of Communications and Data Insights

If you’re like many of our customers, university recruiting is a key part of your recruiting strategy. We’ve heard from Procter & Gamble, NVIDIA, Chicago Trading Company, and many others about the importance of university recruiting. These companies know how much building a great relationship with someone out of college can lead to a great employee for life.

In the last few years there has been a generational shift in people graduating from college. For years millennials have been the focus of numerous thinkpieces about the future of the workplace. Now those millennials are deep in the office, busy becoming managers, and munching on avocado toast on their lunch hour. Since 2016, the university graduating class has shifted to a new generation, known as Gen Z.

The other day I was speaking with Jessica De Maria, Recruiting Coordinator at Chicago Trading Company, and she told me how important Textio is to her on-campus recruiting. “As generations change at the university level, there is a mindset shift in what the students are looking for. It is critical we write our job descriptions to appeal to them. One of the big things we’ve found with Textio is the predictive engine surfaces guidance to help us speak to Gen Z. When we write our job posts in Textio, the students can see themselves in jobs before they get here. Since we started using Textio it is easier for us to continuously improve our job descriptions and keep talent engaged.”

Jessica’s observations apply to Gen Z and beyond. What the data currently shows in Textio is that when you’re looking for a job, reading a job post is the first and most important way to experience what it will be like to work for a company. As a hiring manager writing a job post, it’s your responsibility to make sure the mental picture someone conjures when they read your listing is somewhere they will belong.

Imagine the questions that run through a job seeker’s head before making the jump: Will I learn? Will I enjoy the culture? Am I going to be challenged and grow? Will I like my day-to-day responsibilities?

Textio consistently finds that the most successful job listings answer these questions by directly addressing candidates with both “you” and “we” statements. In fact, listings that use formal or indirect phrasing like “the ideal candidate” cause roles to fill more slowly on average.

In order to really appeal to a Gen Z candidate, try to strike a balance between:

Telling job seekers what they’ll be doing in the role, and
Telling them how their work will fit to your company’s goals

An example from a Chicago Trading Company university job post:

“The Quant Intern position offers you an introduction to quantitative analysis at our firm. As an intern, you will work closely with employees in Quant, Software Engineering and Trading groups. You will experience an environment that supports teamwork and collaboration every single day throughout the business. You will also have the opportunity to present your work to the Quant and Trading Team .Our Quants are embedded on the Trading desks, so you will be working close to the “tip of the spear” in a dynamic environment with other hard-working teammates. We maintain an environment of collaborative innovation and intellectual curiosity while continually challenging ourselves to stretch the limits of our creativity.”

The description is very clear about what the potential candidate will have the opportunity to do and learn at Chicago Trading Company.

Many people will spend the majority of their waking hours at work. If they can’t picture themselves accomplishing something meaningful during their time with your company, why would they bother even applying?