It is clear that work has the potential to change lives. It’s why it has never been more important when recruiting early careers talent that employers don’t just focus on recruiting talent from the top universities and those with the best exam results.. In an earlier article, we posed the question, would you recruit the Gen Z you? In practical terms, the challenge is that many of us (senior executives in their Forties and Fifties) would not have got a job today if we applied with the qualifications that we had at the age of 16, 18 or 21. As we know not everyone is at their best in terms of their employment potential at these ages. This also raises the wider topic of how narrow talent recruitment approaches have become in recent years.
The detrimental impact of narrow talent recruitment is significant, not only to the potential talent, who are often from underrepresented minorities and Gen Z, who miss out on potential roles but also to the organisations that miss out on the unique skills and perspective that they can bring into the workplace.
The Investment Portfolio Approach To Gen Z Recruiting
In order to reach the widest possible pool of talent for roles, a different and innovative approach to recruitment is required. At his last private banking role at Merrill Lynch (many years ago), our founder Derek placed great emphasis on managing investment risk by having a diversified portfolio of assets according to client’s risk tolerance and profile. Adopting this approach to Gen Z recruiting could be a novel way to access unpresented talent and wider the talent pool.
In many sectors, a significant proportion of firms have moved towards being risk averse when it comes to talent, which is resulting in them missing talent that does not meet a very set list of criteria. This seems to be especially true in the highly competitive market for apprentices, which many firms view as an integral part of their social mobility strategy.
Many degree apprenticeship schemes are attracting ever increasingly talented academic students, who are opting to study for a funded degree while gaining real work experience and thus avoiding the significant level of debt that is linked to going to university. While this is of course positive for students destined for university, what is the impact on young people that seek a different pathway into the workplace?
Excluding Gen Z Students Without Academic Success
The academic world is not for everyone and many young people either prefer a more practical approach to work or simply develop at a later age and may perhaps pursue higher education later in life. It is likely that some people that you know will have followed this exact route and are now thriving in rewarding careers as a result of it.
So, what about the many young people who have not been academic successes at the early ages of 16, 18 and 21? Who provides them with the chance to showcase their talents, demonstrate the value that they bring into the workplace and most importantly, give them an opportunity to work? Unfortunately, in many cases, it is a small minority of firms that do, and these organisations can benefit hugely from it. This is of course, very beneficial to these firms when it comes to Gen Z recruitment, but much less beneficial to the Gen Z generation as whole, as there are fewer opportunities overall.
Is your organisation overflowing with graduates and apprentices all with stellar qualifications and therefore not reaching out to a wider talent pool? Or do you leave room for those, including Gen Z students and young people who require a more novel approach but have much to offer your business?
Taking An Investment Portfolio Approach To Gen Z Recruiting
At Entrepreneurs In Action, we believe that business leaders should challenge their HR teams to adopt an investment portfolio approach to recruitment. This involves considering people allocation at the early careers stage and opening up recruitment processes to provide access to underrepresented talent including Gen Z. In practical terms, this involves a HR approach that is similar to asset allocation across a portfolio.
This could become your ‘emerging markets’ allocation, or should we say ‘emerging talent’ allocation, with a higher risk profile. As in investment management, just because an investment has a higher risk profile does not mean that it should be avoided completely. It just requires a different approach and careful management. Investments with a higher risk profile can offer significantly higher returns than those with lower risk profiles and this is also true with an emerging talent allocation. What talent with unique skills and perspectives is your organisation missing out on if it does not consider emerging talent?
In order to start the process of unlocking underrepresented talent, could you allocate just 5% of your early careers budget and roles to building a talent pool from underrepresented groups? Adopting a recruitment approach that recognises young people’s talent and potential rather than just their qualifications can widen your overall talent pool significantly and result in access to candidates with unique skillsets. You might just find a few great performers in your cohort of recruits that traditional recruitment approaches will have overlooked.
Taking an investment portfolio approach to Gen Z recruiting will essentially help create opportunities for a wider and more inclusive talent pool that can join your business. What talent could your company and industry be missing out on due to narrow talent recruitment? It might just be the Gen Z you too!
We Can Help You Transform Your Gen Z Recruiting
We have all the required experience and expertise to transform your organisation’s approach to Gen Z recruiting. Entrepreneurs In Action can help you to deliver an innovative recruitment process that will help you access the very best talent from the widest pool of candidates including young people and Gen Z. As a trusted partner for global brands including INEOS, AON, Salesforce, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity International, Unicef and UEFA to name but a few, we know how to help organisations connect with and engage Gen Z. We created the UK’s first CV-less assessment and recruitment programme for Fidelity International. The successful programme provided a new model to access candidates and resulted in the recruitment of 15 apprentices and three employees.
EIA has partnered with many businesses to provide invaluable insights and intelligent solutions to pressing business challenges in areas including recruitment, operations and marketing. Why not find out how we can help your organisation with talent pipelining and developing a compelling employee value proposition that appeals to Gen Z? Get in touch with us to find out more about our solutions.
