Fifty years ago, young job seekers often determined their career paths by looking at what their family members did, said Chisa Egbelu, the cofounder of the diversity-recruiting platform PeduL.
Today, Gen Z job seekers learn about potential careers from "Uncle TikTok," he said.
TikTok, a short-form video platform, is a dominant player in the social media landscape — with Insider previously reporting that users spend an average of 94 minutes a day on the site. In addition to comedy bits and snippets of mischievous pets, candidates and companies are posting networking opportunities, career advice, and job opportunities. The hashtags #careertiktok and #careertok have 1.6 billion and 797.6 million views, respectively.
It would be unwise for small-business owners not to take advantage of this booming community, said Egbelu and Kayla Michele, PeduL's other cofounder. That's because today's young talent isn't looking on LinkedIn or Facebook to learn about a company and its culture, Michele added.
Here are three reasons business owners need to use TikTok to attract Gen Z talent, according to founders and human-resource leaders.
Meet Gen Z job seekers where they are
The sources Insider interviewed agreed that small-business owners need to meet Gen Z workers where they are.
There are two candidate pools that business owners would be wise to target on TikTok: college students looking for internships or post-graduation opportunities and early-career talent searching for new challenges, Bridgitt Haarsgaard, founder and CEO of the management-consulting firm GAARD Group, said in a written statement to Insider.
One way to ensure your content lands on the right users' feeds is by using hashtags, according to Kayla Klein, the social media director at the electronic-manufacturing company Nanit, and Emma Djemil, the founder of a career-development network for women in HR called Be Unstoppable.
Hashtags like "techworkers" and "techjobs," which have 1.5 million and 151.5 million views, respectively, give users unique and honest insight into the technology industry. One video, by user @resasue, shared information on the highest-paying non-coding tech jobs under the hashtag "techjobs."
"Recruitment is a marketing activity, and knowing where your audience is looking, what they're interested in, and tailoring your activity to match this is going to have the biggest impact," Djemil said.
TikTok is the place to be authentic
A TikTok video won't go viral if it's inauthentic, and it can actually damage a brand's reputation if it is, Insider previously reported. TikTok is the perfect place to authentically show off your company culture, but hashtags and trending audio that don't match your brand won't take you far, said Elke Osadnik, the director of talent acquisition at EnvoyGlobal.
If a Gen Z job seeker sees a company's video and the office looks one way, but when they show up to the office it looks different, they're going to feel misled, Osadnik said. Being honest on the platform is the only way to reap the benefits of using it, Klein added.
"It's the perfect environment for matchmade employment prospects," Klein said, adding that it's easy for both employees and employers to tell if they have shared interests and values. "The algorithm is so curated to a user's specific interests, so sticking to certain themes and topics can be helpful when targeting a niche audience."
If your company's culture is healthy and exciting, it will show in your videos, said Parks Blackwell, the vice president of marketing and client development at the digital-marketing agency PMG.
For example, PMG hosts a company movie night in a rented theater, with a bounce house and cotton candy for employees and their guests. While the event wasn't intended to be content, employees shared videos from the event on social media.
Businesses can post a variety of content
Company TikTok accounts should have a range of videos, from employee testimonials to interview tips, Djemil said.
"Tell your company story on TikTok," Haarsgaard said. "Showcasing the organizational culture, opportunities for growth, and hearing from current employees are great ways to engage with candidates and future employees."
The video still needs to be entertaining, Michele added. A video that does well on LinkedIn, such as a sit-down interview with the CEO, isn't going to do as well on TikTok, she said. Content on TikTok needs to be active and engaging. For example, Michele filmed a client company's CEO playing basketball while being interviewed for TikTok, she said.
"Ultimately, people are looking to be entertained," Djemil said. "It's really easy to create videos to show a day in the life of your business, and the more entertaining you can make that, the better."