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How can the influencer generation help your business?

It’s well known that the millennial generation spans a huge percentage of today’s workforce, but they’re quickly being caught up by Generation Z and that means another shift is coming our way. Generation Z are now entering the workforce and are a group who can’t remember a time before the existence of the internet since they were born from around 1997 onwards. They’re noted as spending around 10 hours a day online but despite this ultra-connectivity, they prefer face-to-face interactions in the workplace more than their predecessors the millennials, but what does this mean for employers?

Generation Z are the group who will be looked to for being most connected to technology as they’ve grown up with it firmly fixed in their daily life. So they, like millennials are digitally savvy. They’ve used it from education to their personal lives, many even learning coding from a young age so they’re more equipped for fast-moving technology than any generation before. A large number of Gen Z have used social media to create highly lucrative roles as influencers. Influencers help push online sales through their endorsement of brands, and the earning potential is huge. How can this be translated to skills in a traditional role though?

As a generation, they understand branding and marketing because they’ve grown up around YouTube stars and influencers who’ve shown them the importance of a personal and business brand and how they use it to attract business. Their creative thinking is innate when it comes to online presence creating a group of employees who are more engaged with wider company culture and brand appearance. They also have some surprising traits such as a preference for face-to-face interaction in the workplace showing that despite some common misconceptions, technology hasn’t eroded their people skills. They’re also more flexible in their adaptation to working environments and are more likely to embrace newer working styles such as flexible working than previous workers while showing company loyalty instead of job-hopping.

 They’re fast becoming one of the most diverse generations and rank racial equality as one of their top issues. Valuing equality so highly suggests that their methods of working will be people-orientated. As a highly practical group, they’ve certainly got a lot to offer and favour saving money and having stable jobs as key goals. Forbes comment that “they highly value success, with professional and academic achievement ranking as most important. Generation z is perhaps even more success-oriented than any other generation, due to the shifting demographics over the years. Baby boomers were more likely to cite family and religion as “central to their identity,” whereas generation z is all about that personal success”. If you’re looking for driven, collaborative graduates register today with GradLink for access to our database of international students and graduates from the top UK universities.