Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are basically taking a wrecking ball to the traditional career map.

• Speaker #1

  We really are.

• Speaker #0

  For decades, you know, the career path was this: this straight line, always climbing up, fixed. Our grandparents, they stayed put for decades.

• Speaker #1

  Right. And our parents maybe aimed for what 10-15 years in one place?

• Speaker #0

  Exactly. And for my generation, Gen X, maybe three to five years, felt like solid mobility. But for Generation Z, That whole linear model is just, it's obsolete.

• Speaker #1

  It's more than obsolete. I'd say it's culturally irrelevant to them. Our source material, it calls this the life circle of work. And it shows that the Gen Z career cycle is, well, it's completely compressed.

• Speaker #0

  Compressed into what?

• Speaker #1

  Into a series of these really intense emotionally charged sprints. We're talking maybe a year and a half, two years before that big question hits them. What's next? What meaningful thing am I going to do next? Exactly.

• Speaker #0

  And that compression, it changes everything. everything for employers. Which is our mission today, right? To really unpack this life circle of work because every single stage in that loop from attraction, recruitment, all the way to exit, it's become what the sources call a moment of truth. It's just a nonstop test of coherence.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly. And the key insight here is that Gen Z is so, so attuned to misalignment. If a company promises purpose and flexibility on its website.

• Speaker #0

  But the day-to-day is just stifling bureaucracy.

• Speaker #1

  The relationship ends and it ends quickly. You know, engagement isn't something you gradually earn anymore. It has to be earned at every single touch point in real time.

• Speaker #0

  OK, so let's unpack this. We should start at the very beginning of the cycle attraction because the days of the glossy corporate approved employer brand, those are definitely over.

• Speaker #1

  Oh, they absolutely are, because attraction, it's not just a marketing exercise anymore. It's a it's fundamentally a credibility test. Gen Z has developed what our sources call the new literacy of trust.

• Speaker #0

  A literacy of trust. What does that mean in practice?

• Speaker #1

  It means they can sniff out fake enthusiasm, staged content, inauthentic messaging.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Almost instantly.

• Speaker #0

  And it's fascinating where this credibility test is actually happening. It's not really LinkedIn anymore, is it? We're seeing this huge shift to platforms like YouTube, Discord and especially TikTok.

• Speaker #1

  Yes.

• Speaker #0

  Why are those traditional platforms losing their influence here?

• Speaker #1

  Because the goal has shifted. It's not about broadcasting a polished message anymore. It's about observing an actual culture. These platforms, particularly TikTok, they let organizations show reality, not stage it.

• Speaker #0

  So they're watching the culture before they even click apply.

• Speaker #1

  Think of it this way. They're studying the facial expressions of employees in these candid unscripted videos before they ever bothered to read the formal mission statement.

• Speaker #0

  That makes perfect sense. I mean, if you can see the unscripted reality, a polished slogan means absolutely nothing. Do we have any data that shows this raw, authentic content actually works?

• Speaker #1

  We do. A Glassdoor Europe study found that 68% of young candidates are way more likely to apply after seeing authentic employee-generated content.

• Speaker #0

  68%

• Speaker #1

  Wow And building on that, an EY index showed that 72% trust organizations that share unscripted video testimonies more than the official corporate stuff. They don't want perfection. They want proof.

• Speaker #0

  Proof, that's the word. And I love the GreenStitch example here. It's this ethical fashion company, right? They could have spent a fortune on ads, but instead they did something truly radical. They just gave the microphone to their young employees for this TikTok series, a day at GreenStitch.

• Speaker #1

  And that move, that strategic vulnerability, it paid off big time. Applications from Gen Z grads went up by 40%, and maybe even more importantly... importantly, retention among those new hires climbed by 25%.

• Speaker #0

  Wait, hold on. A 25% retention climb just by showing reality on TikTok?

• Speaker #1

  That's it. They didn't change their salary or their 401 match. They just changed their voice and their medium.

• Speaker #0

  That is the real magic here. It suggests the perception of culture is now just as valuable as the compensation package.

• Speaker #1

  Absolutely. The takeaway for leaders in this first phase is, look, it's crystal clear you have to replace that corporate performance with a genuine cultural presence. Stop telling Gen Z what you are. Start showing them who you are, through your people.

• Speaker #0

  Okay, that sets us up perfectly for the next step: recruitment. If attraction is the credibility test, then the recruitment process is where you test if the company can handle a real human dialogue. It's not a strict one-way audition anymore.

• Speaker #1

  The power dynamic has completely shifted. When Gen Z walks in, they expect reciprocity. I mean, They're interviewing the employer just as much as the employer is interviewing them.

• Speaker #0

  And they're not just looking for a high salary.

• Speaker #1

  No. The decisive factors are transparency, fairness and just... warmth in the process itself.

• Speaker #0

  This is where we hit that tricky dynamic, right? The paradox of ghosting. Our sources say if the process is confusing or just lacks basic respect, Gen Z candidates will just vanish.

• Speaker #1

  They will. And they see ghosting the employer as a kind of defense when the process doesn't feel human.

• Speaker #0

  And that silence, it should be screaming at companies.

• Speaker #1

  It should.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  And we see evidence of this breakdown everywhere. A job teaser study found that a staggering 74% of young candidates believe the recruitment experience is a direct reflection of the internal culture.

• Speaker #0

  So if the process is cold, they just assume the job will be colder.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly. And another study found 59% dropped out of a process, not because of salary, but just from a lack of clear communication. That's a huge loss for the organization.

• Speaker #0

  It is. So how do you fix that? How do you inject humanity into what is often this super rigid administrative process?

• Speaker #1

  Well, Bright Tech, a health AI company, gives us a great blueprint. They cut their interviews from five rounds down to two. They created a totally transparent candidate guide. But the real game changer was how they handled rejection.

• Speaker #0

  Oh, I remember this detail. They sent a personal 30-second audio note with honest feedback, not a form email.

• Speaker #1

  That's it. That simple, emotionally resonant change showed respect. It acknowledged the person's effort. And the result, Gen Z applications rose 32% and their drop-offs fell by almost half. It just proves that recruitment has to be treated as emotion. As a dialogue, not just administration. You have to earn their belief that the culture behind the offer is trustworthy before they even think about signing.

• Speaker #0

  Okay, so once they've signed, we're in that critical first impression phase, onboarding. We think of it as the final stretch, but for too many companies, it's just a digital checklist. Passwords, security modules. The source material calls that approach isolation.

• Speaker #1

  And isolation in that critical first week is just deadly for retention. When a new hire is thinking, do I belong here? A digital maze sends a chilling message.

• Speaker #0

  It is.

• Speaker #1

  You're already on your own. For Gen Z, that first week is an absolute deal breaker.

• Speaker #0

  But this is where the investment really pays off, right? Personalized, human-first onboarding. It's not just about reducing stress. Workday reported that 70% of Gen Z employees who get that kind of onboarding commit to staying at least two years.

• Speaker #1

  Just think about that. You can earn up to two extra years of loyalty just by nailing that first week. It's an insane return on investment from just prioritizing connection over compliance.

• Speaker #0

  So what does nailing it look like in practice?

• Speaker #1

  Look at a company like NextGen Consulting. They redesigned their onboarding to be fundamentally human. They immediately pair a newcomer with a buddy from the same generation.

• Speaker #0

  Someone who gets it.

• Speaker #1

  Someone who gets it. They host informal lunches, and this is crucial. They hold an honest two-way feedback chat before Friday.

• Speaker #0

  So they're proactively dealing with... Any friction before the weekend, before those thoughts can turn into maybe I should quit.

• Speaker #1

  Precisely. They achieve real belonging, not just silent integration. Onboarding has to be seen as this huge cultural statement. If it's not human, the culture immediately says we don't really care about you.

• Speaker #0

  Let's pivot to phase four, learn and grow. So they're onboarded, but for Gen Z, growth isn't something for the annual training budget. It's a non-negotiable daily expectation.

• Speaker #1

  It is. If they aren't learning and growing, they move on. Quickly, they don't separate learning from the act of working. And it goes beyond just formal job training. They demand that the employer value the whole person.

• Speaker #0

  Meaning what? Recognizing skills outside their formal role.

• Speaker #1

  Yes. The analyst who codes by day but is a brilliant video editor at night. You have to give them permission to explore, to show that you see them as a person with interests, not just a resource filling a function.

• Speaker #0

  And the data supports this.

• Speaker #1

  It does. Yes. PwC data shows 65% of young employees feel way more engaged when their employer recognizes skills beyond their immediate job description. It taps into that inherent need for exploration.

• Speaker #0

  I love the Bright Minds example. This creative agency, they built their culture around these Friday afternoon masterclasses hosted by peers.

• Speaker #1

  Right. Teaching everything from photography to creative coding.

• Speaker #0

  But here's the kicker. The thing that sends the ultimate signal. The CEO routinely joined those workshops as a student.

• Speaker #1

  That one action says so much, doesn't it? It says the hierarchy of knowledge is flat. Everyone, no matter their title, is expected to be a curious, humble learner. The learning culture has to be reciprocal.

• Speaker #0

  And if they're constantly learning, they need constant feedback to navigate. Which brings us to phase five, performance and feedback. I mean, the annual view was already a dinosaur, but for Gen Z, waiting months for a judgment just feels absurd.

• Speaker #1

  That's the word the sources use. They grew up in a loop of real-time reflection. Post, react, respond. It's immediate. So waiting months creates doubt, distance, disengagement.

• Speaker #0

  So silence for management isn't seen as trust. It's...

• Speaker #1

  It's noise. It's a signal of indifference. What they crave isn't just applause. They want direction. They need frequent, honest, human feedback to adjust their course.

• Speaker #0

  And the data on this is urgent. Gallup found 72% cite frequent feedback as the number one key factor in their engagement.

• Speaker #1

  And the retention stats are undeniable. Companies practicing continuous feedback have literally doubled the retention rate for employees under 28%. This isn't just a preference. It's a structural necessity now.

• Speaker #0

  Tech Innovate turned this into a brilliant system. They got rid of traditional reviews and started a weekly ritual. Three questions, five minutes. Employees send short voice notes on Slack answering, What are you proud of? What blocked you? What do you want to learn?

• Speaker #1

  Managers reply in kind, often with voice notes themselves, which keeps that human connection. It's immediate, it's honest, and it's brief.

• Speaker #0

  The metrics are just stunning. Staggering. A 40% engagement increase, a 30% drop in turnover. It shows that feedback isn't a formal system anymore. It's a living rhythm of micro-conversations that builds trust.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly. They didn't change the software. They changed the frequency and the tone. They replaced judgment with coaching.

• Speaker #0

  And that trust leads us right to phase six. Engage and retain. Retention for Gen Z isn't about golden handcuffs. It's about earning the loyalty of coherence. They stay when the culture actually matches the promises.

• Speaker #1

  But that resonance is fragile. They spot the gap between promise and reality instantly. Disconnection, it starts quietly the moment that gap widens. Their loyalty is attached to emotional connection and alignment, not just salary.

• Speaker #0

  The sources identify three pillars of belonging that keep them engaged. Recognition, autonomy, and inclusion.

• Speaker #1

  Right. Recognition is those small daily gestures. Autonomy is trust, the freedom to propose and test things. And inclusion is a climate where you can speak up without having to conform.

• Speaker #0

  And we see companies designing their cultures around this, like Echo, that's Swedish scale-up. They have employees join quarterly workshops to review company priorities.

• Speaker #1

  Which ensures younger voices actually influence the direction, the result. An 89% retention rate among their under

• Speaker #0

  30s. Then there's Loop Studio, which addresses stagnation with role rotation. Employees shift between creative, strategic and operational roles every six months. They're choosing to evolve within the company, not away from it.

• Speaker #1

  The fundamental insight is you don't retain Gen Z because they feel obligated. If they stay, it's because the company gives them space and they feel like this still feels like me.

• Speaker #0

  That commitment to personal evolution, even if it leads them away, brings us to the final and maybe the most defining part of this loop, the circular career. Leaving isn't a betrayal anymore, is it? It's a transition.

• Speaker #1

  It's a strategic development step. The relationship evolves. It doesn't just terminate, which means that final impression, the offboarding matters just as much as the first. It can't be a sterile questionnaire like ellipsis,

• Speaker #0

  which uses an exit circle, a conversation where the person leaving shares what they learned.

• Speaker #1

  It ensures a dignified closure and it keeps the bridge intact for their return. We grow a Danish company built this incredibly active alumni community. Their alumni actually join onboarding sessions to share stories with new hires.

• Speaker #0

  And that leads directly to the boomerang generation. WeGrow saw 27% of its former employees return within three years.

• Speaker #1

  Right, and returning isn't seen as failure anymore. It's a conscious, mature decision to bring an external perspective and renewed purpose back to the organization.

• Speaker #0

  Alteryx even has a dedicated welcome back path for them. They're deployed as mirror mentors who can point out the company's blind spots.

• Speaker #1

  They turn an exit into a competitive advantage.

• Speaker #0

  So what does this whole loop tell us? The fundamental insight seems to be that Gen Z is forcing organizations to be radically coherent, right, across the entire loop.

• Speaker #1

  From the first TikTok video to the final exit circle, the focus has to be on trust, transparency and growth.

• Speaker #0

  And the provocative thought for every leader to mull over is this. In the era of the circular career, how you manage the exit, the quality of your goodbye is now completely tied to your ability to attract new talent. You're hello.

• Speaker #1

  If careers are loops and not straight lines, the ultimate question is, how does your organization make sure that bridge stays intact? What does your company's see you soon really sound like?

• Speaker #0

  Something to explore until our next deep dive. Thanks for listening.