As companies seek to bring new talent into their workforce, it is crucial that they stay ahead of the curve in how they appeal to the latest generation of workers. Previously, this conversation has centred around millennials, but now a new generation are breaking into the workforce. Generation Z, a demographic of young people born roughly between 1995 and 2010, are set to mark a cultural shift in how companies on-board fresh talent.

With this in mind, the best companies are facilitating the integration of Generation Z in a way which taps into the true potential of these individuals. Here at TIPi Group, we do this through TIPi Academy. TIPi Academy is a recruitment and training initiative which takes ambitious young individuals, ready to start their first role in the industry, through a two-week course exposing them to the hard and soft skills of digital marketing and the wider advertising landscape. I was lucky enough to participate in the most recent edition of the TIPi Academy (January 2019) and found, as you’ll see below, that the Academy offers a modern and more appealing method of recruitment and learning, that is more beneficial for both the individual and the business.

TIPi Academy allows you to express your personality

From the very first introductions, it was immediately obvious that there was a diverse collection of degrees amongst all the Academy students. By having such varied studying specialties, I realised that everyone would approach the Academy from different perspectives and with unique sets of skills and interests. (Although requirements for our next Academy (August 2019) will no longer ask for a degree qualification, for my intake, it was the case that you had to have attended university to apply.)

The propensity of Gen Zers to come from a wide range of different degrees to work in the same industry is highlighted by David and Jonah Stillman in their book ‘Gen Z @ work’. They suggest that, if companies are to find the candidates who can integrate fully into the company, they should look not at the candidates degree but rather get to know them to understand how they’ll fit into the company culture.

From my point of view, this is exactly what TIPi Academy does. After familiarising ourselves with the different disciplines within the company, we were tasked with practice interviews, workshops with entry-level role employees and to cap it all off, a pitch to the senior members of the company. Each part gave us a unique chance to show, not what we could write about ourselves on a piece of paper, but to show who we really are – what motivates us, what challenges us and what drives us.

TIPi Academy promotes a culture of collaboration

When you wade through the multitude of job adverts and company websites, you become accustomed to a series of buzzwords, which are continuously laid out by companies looking to sell themselves. It is not often though, that you get the chance to look behind the buzzword and see how a company backs up their rhetoric.

Genuine and authentic, ‘collaboration’ resonates with Generation Z. A study by ‘CIO’ found that Gen Zers cited ‘workers who like to collaborate’ as the type of employer who helps them to do their best work.

In the second week of the Academy, the company’s strong propensity towards collaboration became apparent. An example of this is when we were split into teams towards the end of the course, so that we could collate all the information we had learned, and work as a team to present it back to senior staff, just like a real agency pitch situation. The attitude of those running the Academy, and how supportive they were to aiding and developing the Academy students, was another example of how collaboration shone through in the agency. For instance, in our interview training,  each Academy student was given an honest analysis of their own strengths and weaknesses in order to promote self-improvement. With different employees switching on and off the interview panel, young staff members sharing their passion and advice, senior staff members giving feedback on our pitching and presentation techniques, a collaborative culture was clearly evident and portrayed the company as one which was interested in the development of their staff.

TIPi Academy rewards curiosity and a willingness to learn

A two-week course full of lectures and workshops on all facets of digital marketing works best when it is presented to people with an insatiable appetite for learning and skill development. It is fitting then, that Gen Zers are a generation of curious and voracious learners, who crave new development opportunities and a career of life-long learning as outlined in a Robert Half Study.

TIPi Academy provided the perfect environment for exploring new subjects of interest. Members across the company were receptive in sharing their expertise in all manner of subjects. Subjects such as strategy, data science and voice search could be taken as learning opportunities even if they didn’t directly relate to your next career job, giving us Gen Zers the widespread insights we need to navigate through our future careers.

Living in a world with constant technological developments and ever-changing social attitudes, it is inevitable that there will be a need to adapt to every generation. Through TIPi Academy, TIPi Group have uncovered an authentic and compelling way of connecting with a generation who are just beginning in the workplace. And, I have no doubt, that with constant adaptations, TIPi Academy will stay at the forefront of innovation in the way companies market themselves to ‘Generation Z’.

Sources

Stillman, D. and Stillman, J. (2019). 5 Things Your Company Should Do to Prepare for Gen Z. [online] Business.linkedin.com. Available here.

Florentine, S. (2019). Everything you need to know about Generation Z. [online] CIO. Available here.