Gen Z: Personal development more important than high salary

We've gathered data on what young talents look for in their potential employers after graduation. The elusive Generation Z audience is at the very core of our user base, which means we have a lot of valuable stats on what drives engagement with the aforementioned group of young professionals. 

A large part of Generation Z is just about to enter the labour market, but the group has already had time to define clear preferences for what they see in their future employer. 

So, what do employers need to consider when recruiting Generation Z, and how do young people behave when looking for their first job? With the help of our perks features, we've analysed what generates the most engagement in Orbi Career, an Orbi tool that matches students with employers.

Generation Z appreciates remote work possibilities.

Since our launch of Orbi Career in the spring of 2022, the Career pages have seen 60,000 students log in to check up on opportunities from businesses. Some businesses have managed to garner more attention than others.

"The key insight is that perks regarding organisational culture and personal development trump fancy job titles and high salaries any day. We've used these insights to help the professionals we partner with make the right decisions in positioning themselves to students," says Orbi CEO and co-founder David Maars.

To become more attractive, companies must understand job seekers' priorities. The Orbi Career function has received approximately 1 million impressions since a year ago, where the perks section has generated about 30,000 clicks to date. 

We ranked all the possible interactions, and the following observations stood out to us when we checked the rankings:

In the first place, at 14.1 per cent of the total: Personal development gets the most interactions. It is such an essential benefit that Personal development received almost ten times more interactions than Extra vacation weeks and more than twice as many as Salary development.

Second place, at 13.9 per cent of the total: Remote possibilities, which come just below Personal development as an appreciated perk, tell us that hybrid work is a must after the pandemic.

In sixth place, at 6 per cent of the total, comes Competitive pay, at about half as many interactions as Personal development. This comes in at a surprisingly low position (at least to us millennials!).

In tenth and twelfth place come Employee stock options and Bonus systems. Now, this might be because young professionals just out of university might not imagine themselves on a level where they'd be eligible for a bonus or a stock payout yet.

In the fifteenth position comes Healthcare insurance, which might not be as relevant in the Nordics due to public health care – nevertheless, it's a commonly touted benefit amongst many tech companies.

Here's the complete list of what gets the attention, with a percentage of total clicks attached to each position:

1. Personal development – 14.1 %
2. Remote possibilities – 13.9 %
3. Health benefits – 13 %
4. Flexible working hours – 12 %
5. Great coffee – 8 %
6. Competitive pay – 6 %
7. Work abroad – 6 %
8. Equipment of choice –  6 %
9. Collective agreement – 4 %
10. Employee stock options – 4 %
11. Food benefits – 4 %
12. Bonus system – 3 %
13. Annual retreats – 2 %
14. Extra vacation – 2 %
15. Healthcare insurance – 1 %
16. Relocation assitance – 1 %

ABOUT ORBI

Orbi is a Swedish company founded in 2020 in Gothenburg. Orbi provides an application that connects university students with student associations and businesses. The student app is available as a free download on the App Store and Google Play Store and provides students with digital access to campus events and career opportunities. For more information about Orbi, visit: www.orbiapp.io