Employee recruiting and development was the focus of the final educational program at the 2019 Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN) Aftermarket Distribution Summit Tuesday in Banff, Alberta.
The session was led by author and trainer Bob Wendover of Common Sense Enterprises, who opened his presentation by addressing the hiring expectations of today’s newest generation in the workforce, Generation Z. Wendover says this group (less than 25 years old) is unique even in comparison to its millennial counterparts and has preferences and expectations when looking for and applying for jobs that must be met to draw any interest.
Wendover says Generation Z is the first generation in American history that has lived its entire life with Internet access and has been using smartphones since middle school. He says when these potential associates search for employment, they search on their phones and on the sites they prefer. That means not job boards but social media. Wendover says businesses who want to attract these candidates need to advertise their openings on the platforms these young people frequent and then share links where those same people can go to immediately apply for a job. Wendover says that focus on a link and not a phone number is important because Generation Z, like Millennials, do not like to use their phones to make calls.
But despite that similarity Wendover says there are some differences between the two young groups. Wendover says Generation Z “can be restless but does crave job security” — the career struggles of their older siblings during the Great Recession may have something to do with that — and when its members do join a business, they are eager to learn.
Wendover says they just want to learn on their terms, which means videos and educational materials they can use and refer back to until they retain what they are expected to know. He adds Generation Z doesn’t want to hear stories; a training session that begins with “In my day …” or “In 1985 …” is going to tune out a young person almost immediately.
That said, Wendover says Generation Z isn’t directly opposed to working with older associates. He says many young people value time around veteran colleagues, not so much to learn about their workplace responsibilities but instead the veteran’s career, such as how they entered the business and how they eventually rose into a position of authority.
Yet when it comes to employee retention and workplace productivity, Wendover says leaders should not focus all their time on their new associates. He says businesses also need to dedicate time to working with tenured employees to harvest their tribal knowledge and create information repositories accessible to all associates.
