The Secret to Attracting Gen-Z Apprentices

What is the key to attracting the newest generation of young people onto your apprenticeship programmes?

A question that is becoming more and more relevant as the years march on.

It is plain to see how different Gen-Z is to generations gone by, with changes to the way they consume and respond to marketing.?

Traditionally, companies have relied on careers fairs as a staple, some local school activity or even the off radio and TV advert.

When you spend enough time on LinkedIn you come across a lot of incredible people who are now pioneering the learner attraction market and teaching us millennials and upwards, how to reach their peers.?

One of the superstars in this department is Holly Hobbs, founder of Apprentivia, which is connecting employers with young people.?

Holly & I sat down for a talk last week, I even managed to get her Top 3 tips to making a successful TikTok!?

Read on to find out…

Holly started out on an apprenticeship programme with Microsoft, within Sales Excellence. It was here she started using TikTok to document her experiences as an apprentice, documenting her journey. As time went on she started to resonate, and built an audience of people going through the same thing.

At some point the lightbulb moment hit and she decided to use this audience to build Apprentivia, and start helping employers connect with Gen-Z.

One thing I am yet to get my head around is TikTok. I know how to doom scroll on the app, but when it comes to creating content I am miles off. So I asked Holly, if its important that businesses get onboard with the TikTok trend, she said:

“Employers should 100% use TikTok to educate young people on what working at their company is like.”

She goes on to say that they don't have to do a crash course in being a creator, they can utilise the influencers in the market already or agencies like Apprentivia who can support with their ready made audience who can support a full attraction campaign.

62% of 18-24 year olds use Tik Tok as a search engine.?

So you can’t rely on Google SEO anymore, your audience is searching elsewhere, if you are not on it in some way, then you lose out. Setting up and maintaining your own TikTok will take a huge investment, so you may need to look at creative ways to reach your audience.

Let’s start at the beginning, I asked Holly what employers are currently doing wrong in their attraction campaigns, her key points were:

• Being too Reactive not Proactive
• Too corporate
• Providing a poor applicant journey

The modern young person is looking for much more than a corporate advert with a diverse cast shaking hands and smiling from ear-to-ear. They see straight through it, and it is a waste of money.

Take a look at any of the new era of Gen-Z marketers and it is all about transparency, being descriptive and trends. TikToks like “A Day in the Life” and “Come to Work with Me” go viral because of those core principles.

The applicants want to know what they are signing up for, especially in an age when their options are more open.

This leads me to one of the big fall downs by large employers, the applicant journey. I appreciate it is difficult to update every learner, but you will lose the good faith of your applicant if you subject them to a lengthy application followed by 6 months of silence.?

Holly refers to this as the “trust timer” and this can be reset by doing simple things like updating? a dashboard with your stage in the recruitment process or by providing timelines of when they should expect to hear something and sticking to it. If you don’t, you lose their trust, and possibly a good candidate.

If words don't do it for you, maybe stats will. Recently Holly ran a campaign for British Gas on Tik Tok.

She increased female applicants to their programmes by a massive 300%!

In fact Apprentivia accounted for ~20% of Britsh Gas' new cohort (45 in total, 27 of which were female)

It is so important for people to see these voices promote your roles, specifically from those areas under-represented in your industry.

Now I promised to reveal Holly’s top 3 tips to make a successful TikToks, and as you have read all this way, or skipped because you couldn't wait, here you are:

1. Create a compelling hook at the beginning, centered around health, wealth or relationships to give the viewer a reason to watch.
2. Give the viewer a reason to watch to the end, by using a story arc or by promising to reveal something at the end.
3. Don’t gatekeep information. You want people to share your video, provide some information that will trigger a response like sharing the salary.?

In speaking to Holly, I realised how much psychology there is behind TikTok marketing. It is truly impressive.

If you want to follow Holly and hear more from her then you're in luck as she has recently launched her Future Talent Talks podcast with Shoshanna Davis which promises to share many more secrets to help employers connect with the next generation of talent, it's unmissable.

Other ways to reach Holly include:

• LinkedIn: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/holly--hobbs/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@apprentivia
• Website: www.apprentivia.com

Thanks for reading