Staying sharp in a feisty market

In a candidate’s market, hiring managers must sharpen their skills The pool of candidates gets younger, more digitally savvy and more discerning every day. Staying on top of current trends and events is a great start to being competitive in the hiring arena.

In this month’s newsletter, how to attract the up-and-coming Gen Z talent, why you need to simplify your hiring process and the importance of workplace happiness.?

Your Workplace Needs to Change to Attract Gen Z Talent

If you’ve spent the past decade making sure your work environment is ideal for Millennials, I have bad news: Gen Z is now on their way in your door.

This younger generation just entering the workforce has different expectations, and those expectations have, of course, been influenced by the last few years. Here are some of the ways that Inc. defines Gen Z generational workplace expectations:

1. They’re into hybrid work, but they want it to be structured — For instance, specific days when they’re supposed to be in the office, and specific times set for collaborative meetings.
2. They don’t want to be overloaded with technology —?This might seems surprising, but Gen Z grew up with tech and they’re a savvy group who know the limits of their ability to process digital content.
3. They value their mental health —?They’ve grown up with a lexicon around mental health, and they expect to have support in terms of not burning out.?

This last area is one in which a lot of companies have a lot of work to do, but in my interactions with client companies in my role as Executive Recruiter, there’s certainly a lot of awareness about better supporting the mental health and other expectations of generations just entering the workforce.?

You Need to Simplify Your Hiring Process

The hiring process at many companies is far too complicated, and I get why. You want to make sure you’re hiring the right people. Onboarding new hires is expensive, after all.

But the fear of making a mistake in hiring has overly complicated the process for so many companies today.

For instance, in cross-functional organizations where a new hire will work with many different teams, it’s become common for multiple rounds of interviews to give each stakeholder a shot at interviewing every potential hire. It’s dizzying for job seekers, and inefficient for companies.?

Harvard Business Review calls it “recruitment bureaucracy.” I call it madness.

Particularly for companies that work with recruiters like those of us at Johnson Recruiting Group, letting an outside firm first vet appropriate candidates grants peace of mind so that the actual interviewing process can be less intense.?

This Month’s Must-Reads

• On Glassdoor: Read the room before launching your return to office plan
• On the Wall Street Journal: Workers Are Coming Back, and Coming Out, at the Office
• From McKinsey: Americans are embracing flexible work—and they want more of it

Workplace Happiness Is a Top Factor in Attracting Talent

The current secret to attracting and retaining talent? Across the board, as I talk to companies and job seekers in my work as a Executive Recruiter at Johnson Recruiting Group, I hear a common refrain:

Make workplace happiness top priority.

What this means depends on your exact crew. It might mean, yes, remote, hybrid, or flexible work options. There are lots of other factors, too, including workplace culture, software tools and compensation (of course).

I’ll say it again: In a candidate’s market, hiring managers must sharpen their skills —?and lean into their resources.?

To get the right alignment between your company culture and candidates looking for new roles, talk to a recruiter like me.

James C. Johnson

Ask about our Quantum Hires System

Johnson Recruiting Group, LLC