By 2025, 27% of the workforce will be comprised of Gen Z talent, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). To be able to successfully recruit and retain them, you need to know what they care about and what moves the needle for them! Gen Z candidates have a higher preference for face-to-face communication, and rank job fairs and hiring events as their favorite job sources. These candidates also place a higher premium on their relationship with the recruiter, which can influence their decision to accept or reject an offer. Therefore, hosting recruiting events is the strongest way to attract these candidates.
This year, URx and Symba conducted a benchmarking survey to understand how tech and non-tech companies are managing their internship programs given the economic climate. One of the questions on this survey was about successful intern recruiting events. The events listed below were highly valued by potential candidates and program leaders:
1. Speed Networking with Senior Leadership
Speed networking is an event where participants get to know each other over a succinct period of time. At these speed networking events, your company’s senior leadership could share their academic history, professional background, and life lessons learned over the years. They could also share resume writing tips, conduct mock interviews, and prepare candidates for a job search. Students can use these sessions to ask questions, seek advice, and explore opportunities while fostering important relationships with seasoned professionals. If done right, speed networking enables students to learn whether your company is the right fit for them, which can be critical in winning their hearts and minds at an early stage of their career.
2. Alumni Intern Led Workshops
There’s no better way to get a feel for a job or company than to speak to someone who has gone through the same journey. One of the most effective ways to recruit potential interns and new grads is to host workshops led by former interns.
Seek out your alumni interns who now work as full-time employees (FTEs) at your company and ask them to share their experiences working with your company. These alumni interns can help answer any common questions that prospective interns may have regarding the internship program, company culture, recruitment process, pay and benefits competitiveness, workplace policies, and more!
3. Competitions
Who doesn’t love some healthy competition? Organizing competitions to win free prizes can be a fantastic way to connect with college students. While they get to learn how much fun working at your firm can be, competitions can also assist you in selecting the best applicant for a certain position. Here are some competition ideas you can implement for your recruitment efforts:
- Pitching competition: Pitching is an essential skill for many professionals, such as marketers, founders, and sales pros. Give students the opportunity to market their ideas in a one-minute elevator pitch, or ask them to pitch about themselves. You can then wrap up the competition by sharing best practices. Pitching sharpens the candidate's skill set while providing you with a sneak peek of the candidate's key strengths, such as persuasion, presentation, and analytical abilities.
- Innovation competition: This event involves inviting students and new grads to find a solution to a business problem. The problem, real or hypothetical, enables you to assess the innovation of potential candidates. Give the competitors enough time and necessary resources to enable them to perform to their best ability.
- Business plan competition: A business plan competition allows students and new grads to show how to handle different areas of running a business, such as product development, prototyping, pricing, and fundraising. Your company can then engage with candidates that performed well, with the intention of moving them further along the recruitment process.
- Hackathons: If you are a tech company or a business that heavily relies on technology, hackathons may be an appropriate event for you. Hackathons enable you to identify top talent in domains such as computer programming, software development, and cybersecurity. You can offer the winners an internship or entry-level role, mentor them, and build a talent pool for the future.
4. Fireside Chats
A fireside chat is a semi-structured conversation between someone from your recruiting team and potential candidates around a particular topic. To make the event more inviting and casual, you can set up a lounge-style atmosphere and provide a curated list of treats and drinks.
Because of its informal nature, conducting fireside chats with students and new grads is a terrific way to showcase the human side of your organization. This kind of event can be more effective to attract Gen Zers applicants who, according to a Deloitte study, are craving new engagement tactics.
5. Food-Related Challenges
Food brings people together, so why not leverage it to tap talent for your company? Organizing food-related challenges for students can be an excellent way of getting students to escape from their normal campus grind and engage them about their careers. Here are food challenge ideas you can use for your recruitment efforts:
- Cake decoration: Organize cake decorating events on campuses to help you assess the students' creativity, collaboration, and other essential workplace soft skills. You can even have a panel of judges for this challenge! Some fun, healthy competition never hurts!
- Just desserts: Students love a treat, and what better way to make them feel sweet than organizing a desserts event? As they sample the tasty offers, your team can engage and identify the ideal applicants.
- Boba tea making class: Host a boba tea making class and invite potential candidates to discover the history of boba, its various varieties, and how to make this delectable beverage. Such an event enables students to learn new skills and connect with your employees as you evaluate the best fit candidates to join your team.
- Luncheon and dinner: Having identified students with the highest potential, you can then take them out for lunch or dinner. A two-hour interaction over a meal may enable you to create a positive connection with the candidates. You will also build a positive company image with the students and their friends on campuses and social media.
In a Nutshell
The competition for top talent is stiffer than ever due to Gen Z's greater demands for a quick time to hire, more face-to-face communication, and a high-tech hiring process. Meeting Gen Z where they are can be the difference between candidates accepting an offer or reneging. As competition becomes more intense, you need to do more to entice top talent. Designing unique recruiting events could prove to be a very effective way to attract and connect with potential employees!
