In 2024, Gen Z outnumbered baby boomers in the workplace for the very first time. This means a large proportion of the educators you’re looking to recruit right now and in the near future are digital natives who have very different expectations of employers and recruiters than previous generations.
But despite this shift, a lot of schools and colleges are still running traditional hiring processes that don’t bring the results they used to because they don’t cater to the next generations’s needs. Education hasn’t done enough to adapt the way we recruit to suit Gen Z, proactively sourcing on the platforms they spend time on or engaging them in the way they expect.
Here are a few important things colleges should know about this younger demographic of staff and how to recruit them.
How Gen Z educators find jobs
If you’re spending all your recruitment budget posting job ads on one single education job board, this is not the way to attract Gen Z candidates. To stand out from the crowd and catch their attention, you need to meet them where they actually are online. Here’s how these candidates look for jobs.
Using generative AI tools
A massive 88% of students and graduates now use AI tools regularly, and this means for job hunting too. According to a study by Datos, job site Indeed is one of the top 20 domains in the world that gets referral traffic from ChatGPT. Let that sink in for a moment: of all the millions of websites that exist, Indeed is up there with Amazon and Wikipedia!
But how do you get your vacancies in front of these candidates who are using AI to find jobs? Start by putting yourself in your their shoes and ask a generative AI tool like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to give you advice on how to find jobs in your college's area. Then, you can use this as a guide as to where you should be advertising your roles.
Here’s an example:
On your school website and career’s page
As digital natives, Gen Z are natural researchers. Before they’ll consider buying from a new brand, they’ll do due diligence, and won’t consider applying for a role at your college unless they can find out everything they want to know on your website first.
Which is one of the many reasons it’s so important to have a careers page on your website, with engaging employer branding content that gives candidates an insight into what it’s like to teach at your college as well as advertising your roles.
On social media
You won’t be surprised to hear that Gen Z use social media a lot on their job searches, but you may be surprised by just how well it works for them. One recent study found that a massive 73% of candidates aged 18-34 found their last job on a social media platform like Instagram and TikTok.
And Gen Z don’t just use social media for job hunting, but career advice too. A quick search of the #jobsearch and #CareerTok hashtags and you’ll see just how prolifically this platform is used by young people looking for support in how to progress at work. And with less competition from other colleges on these kinds of platforms, you’ll stand out easily to candidates and score brownie points for proactively meeting them on the platforms they use.
Through employee referrals
Does your college run a staff referral program? Asking current Gen Z staff at your college to refer their friends is a fail-proof recruitment strategy every college should be using. 60% of Gen Zers in one study said referrals from existing employees is their most trusted source for new job opportunities – more than any other source.
Not only is a referral program a great way to reach new candidates, but referred candidates are generally hired faster, cost less to recruit and are statistically retained longer than candidates hired in other ways.
How to recruit Gen Z educators
Finding Gen Z educators is one thing, but what can you do to stand out to them against other schools and other sectors?
- Use a multichannel strategy - With 45% of UK candidates being passive nowadays, you need to proactively meet candidates where they are. Posting a vacancy on a job board and waiting around for applications to flood in just isn’t the way to reach young teachers. To engage with them, you need to have a proactive multichannel recruitment strategy that involves using multiple platforms at once, using recruitment technology to manage all cross-platform work for you.
- Offer digital applications - Gen Z were born into the tech bubble, meaning they’re true digital natives that don’t have patience for analogue processes. When you consider this, you’ll understand how easy it is to lose them during the hiring process if you don’t offer online applications. One study found more than half (54%) of Gen Z candidates won’t complete a job application if the process feels outdated. So if you’re still making candidates use downloadable application forms, you need to modernise your process - such as by using an Online Application Form like FEjobs' - if you’re going to recruit younger educators.
- Use employee advocacy content - I’ve already mentioned how effective referrals are for recruiting Gen Z, and this is because they trust real employee recommendations and experiences. If a referral program isn’t possible at your college , another way you can emulate this trust is through sharing employee advocacy and company culture content on your careers page and social media channels. Create videos and profiles where current educators talk positively about their experiences working at your college and being part of your community. Sharing this sort of content is what Gen Z would call “a big green flag” – it’s a sign that you’re a good employer that cares how staff feel about working for you.
Modernise your hiring process for Gen Z teachers
Understanding the needs and preferences of Gen Z educators is key to recruiting and retaining this next generation of educators. As digital natives who value transparency, authenticity, and efficiency, these candidates require a modern approach to recruitment that aligns with how they search for and evaluate new job opportunities.
The future of education depends on our ability to attract the best new teaching talent—and that starts with meeting Gen Z where they are and making it easy and flawless for them to apply to your jobs.
To find out how FEjobs can support you with a digital-first, multichannel recruitment process that Gen Z loves, request a call today.
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