As an advanced engineering company, you know that your work – your products, your projects, your reputation – should speak for itself to your customers and staff, in fact to everyone that you rely on for your business to operate efficiently and grow.
But to grow your workforce and attract the best team, you need to ensure that your company stands out against the competition. In this blog, we focus on one part of your workforce – those at the start of their careers, such as students and apprentices. We look at how social media is the most critical part of your recruitment strategy when futureproofing your workforce with young talent.
Meet your audience
True digital natives, Gen Z will make up 30% of the workforce by 2030. In this context, the way you represent your company through social media – the stories you tell, and how and where you tell them – is crucial to attracting the best young people who fit with your company’s ethos, aims, and ambitions.
Most importantly, your content – whichever channels you use – needs to resonate with this audience, engaging with their priorities. And this is an audience who do their research. You need to ensure all your brand content reflects and demonstrates this same message and ethos. This is a group who will do a deep dive across all your social media when considering a career or submitting a job application.
Showcasing real people
One way of showing who is behind the company is to share day-in-the-life stories, behind-the-scenes content, employee Q&As, and other people-based videos. Your employees’ voices will resonate more strongly with prospective candidates than any corporate mission statement. Authenticity is your most highly valued social asset, alongside transparency. Offer an honest view of your company – after all, prospective employees can, and will, look to sites like Glassdoor or Reddit for real employee reviews.
This approach and content will make your company relatable and show that engineering isn’t just about machines and calculations but about building character and opening opportunities. Working with an agency that can help capture these stories can be a great starting point.
Stressing the purpose and impact
Studies show that younger generations are highly motivated by purpose-driven work, as well as commitments to sustainability, and diversity, equality and inclusion. According to Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial survey, 86% of Gen Z find having a sense of purpose very important to their overall job satisfaction. This means that they are much more motivated when they can see the end goal and the impact they will make. For example, a post on social media that explains how “our new renewable energy project powers 10,000 homes sustainably” will encourage young people to get involved and to apply.
It’s also important to explain why something is being done, as young people today are more curious and questioning. When they understand the reasoning, they’re more likely to engage meaningfully and think critically, while offering new and fresh insights into corporate culture and day-to-day workflow.
Beyond the job
Alongside purpose, today’s candidates are looking for personality. To really showcase your company’s culture, highlight team-building events and community involvement via social media. For example, at GKN Aerospace they post celebration days, engineering opportunities and insights into the engineering process. This gives young people an authentic glimpse into what it’s like to be part of your workplace and helps them picture themselves fitting in. And, of course, company pets can’t hurt your brand profile!
Platform choice matters
Think like a job-hunter: there’s no one single platform that Gen Z and Gen Alpha will be looking to, but there are standouts in the social world.
LinkedIn is probably the biggest social media platforms for business-to-business professionals and companies, with 1.77 billion monthly visits and 86% of B2B marketers using it. LinkedIn has professional credibility and is ideal for posting:
- Career journeys (e.g. “from intern to project manager in 5 years”)
- Articles ranging from new employees explaining the induction process to experienced managers sharing lessons and tips of “things they wished they knew starting out”
- Job postings to reach a younger audience
Having an up-to-date LinkedIn is vital: it is the first-place people look after hearing about a company, and many of your target audience will have job alerts set up there. Therefore, a well-maintained presence will make your company look forward-thinking and trustworthy. And any serious potential candidate will dive deeper into your employees’ associated LinkedIn profiles.
X is great for communicating with potential candidates around a specific job role. It offers the immediate engagement that candidates are increasingly looking for and is perfect for sharing company news and industry updates, which helps keep your business looking both current and forward-thinking.
But Instagram and TikTok can be equally valuable, depending on the role and the parameters you set when creating KPIs for social media recruitment initiatives. Instagram can be ideal for sharing workplace events and culture. TikTok can reach a broader range of your younger target demographic to generate interest in opportunities and to promote your company culture.
Ultimately, it’s about leveraging the right platform or platforms for your company and for your recruitment needs. The main takeaways? Ensure your company socials are up-to-date and effective; ensure you’re engaging with an authentic voice, and tailor your content to your audience.
Bruno, our Chief Barketing Officer, says: “When it comes to humanising your engineering company, it’s all about barking in the right direction to attract young people and knowing what is best to help them on their journey to success.”
If you’d like to explore how Aro could help increase understanding of your products and services, develop your communications and messaging, or simply to have an informal chat about generating opportunities to grow your business, drop us an email at info@aroprandmarketing.co.uk or call 0117 379 0008.
