With acute staff challenges across the hospitality industry as a result of Brexit and the pandemic our founder and Managing Director, Will Gennard shares his thoughts on why now is the time to be tackling the hot topic of recruiting Gen Z aka Zoomers.
I have been working in hospitality recruitment for the past 17 years, 10 of which have been as business owner of Talent Hive, and I’ve witnessed a monumental shift in candidates’ expectations of the workplace. Gen Z are entering the workplace market with a very different set of expectations of their employer
17 years ago, potential candidates would be faxing across their CVs, now candidates DM us on Instagram. This is part of the reason the advice we’ve shared with clients over the last decade and a half on how to attract and retain staff is changing significantly. We’re now engaging with a generation who haven’t had it easy, they’ve experienced a pandemic, are facing the effects of climate change, are bombarded with social media and seeing daily the impact of European wars as well as political decisions such as Brexit.
However rather than negatively impacting ‘Zoomers’ we have a whole generation who have built resilience, but not at the cost of doing what is right.
Zoomers have no problem with calling out rights and wrongs and want to see justice. They will apply this to both themselves as well as those around them, this can only be a good thing for team camaraderie.
This generation is aware of radical and social issues and aren’t afraid to call it out, these are not Snowflakes, but confident individuals who say it as they see it, and if they disagree, they’ll let you know. Personally, I’d rather know if a member of my team was unhappy about something than keep quiet and just leave.
Adaptable, able to leverage technology with ease and well versed in the ability to self -educate, Zoomers have a lot to offer hospitality, it’s our job to demonstrate what hospitality has to offer them!
As well as interviewing up to 300 candidates a week at Talent Hive, we recently surveyed 70 CAM students at UCB to understand what it is that Gen Z really want from today’s employers.”
- 72% said it was a business that puts its employee first, offers good salaries and a work-life balance.
- Over 50% said “Frequent opportunities to work on something new” would tempt them into a new role
- Flexible working hours also scored highly among the students with 76% citing it as important.
- This generation is also clearly ambitious with 52% wanting a clear training and development plan in place.
What is clear is that pre-pandemic perks such as free drinks and yoga sessions that may have previously tempted Millennials are bottom of a list of what makes an employer attractive for GenZ.
Today’s recruitment drive needs to be a team effort, simply posting a job advert isn’t going to attract Gen Z. HR & Marketing should work together to really sell the opportunity, the workplace and its culture.
Every member of our Talent Hive team has first-hand experience of the Hospitality industry so if you’d like our support in recruiting new talent, please visit www.talenthive.co.uk or get in touch by calling +44 (0)121 448 2260.