By 2030, Gen Z will make up 30 per cent of the workforce, yet they don't have a professional network built around their form of communication: mobile video.
So how do you find roles, get to know companies in your sector of choice, and get an idea of who you might like to work for?
While those of us further along in our career trawl LinkedIn, take a look at a company's 'about us' section on their website, and maybe reach out to ome ex-employees and Glassdoor to get all the dirt.
But how do you tell what a company is really like, especially early in your career, when you have yet to build your professional networks?
Enter PLOY, a social-first video platform for early career talent to discover companies through video or discover job opportunities.
The platform allows creative talent to build a 'living, breathing portfolio' through video, network with peers, and stay on top of industry news and opportunities.
According to Tim Grimes, founder of PLOY, video-based platforms can reveal a company's values and personality, provide a sense of work-life balance, and demonstrate how responsive a company is to new trends and technologies.
Gen Z is looking for something better than LinkedIn
He shared:
"I'll always say to every 18-25 year old, you need to be on Linkedin, but there's a lot to be done to make it work the next-gen.
Having introduced PLOY to over 1,000 students over the past couple of months, one thing that's clear: they might be on LinkedIn, but they're failing to engage (or enjoy) with it."
Grimes asserts that Gen Z sees through the ego-driven self-promotion rather than a focus on the 'work', the lack of discoverability, and the " highly polished profiles and constant professional achievements/successes that make most students feel inadequate or out of place."
Further, the pressure to network and connect with professionals can be intimidating, especially for those just starting their careers.
Finding a place to fit
Company fit is becoming more important to potential employees when looking for a new role.
The idea for PLOY came from his background as a group strategy director, which included seven years at Vice and as marketing lead at The Economist.
Grimes shared:
"My whole experience from a recruitment point of view at The Economist was that I went into the interview, got put in a room next to the reception, had my interview, went away, and got off the job.
And that was basically the whole process.
I did not gain insight into the culture of the workplace teams, and I realised after six months that this place was not for me.
The culture fit was just completely wrong, it was way too corporate for me as an individual."
On the flipside, he spent nearly 7 years at VIce (before the office was shut down), and he experienced the polar opposite: "I met my boss in the pub for an interview."
Data suggests that 32 per cent of people quit their job within the first kind of three months.
Further, according to Grimes, the next generation doesn't care about football tables, early finish Fridays, and pizza lunches.
"They care more about whether people align with their values, especially their sustainability credentials. But also diversity and inclusiveness to ensure they have the ability to be on an equal playing field with other people."
Utilitywise, PLOY aims to offer the same UX as TikTok or Instagram Reels, but the feed is built from employer and employee-driven content.
"TikTok is primarily very individual-focused. Instagram is very more brand-focused, and you haven't got this blended world to give this kind of true, authentic lens as to what it's like to work at a company.
Our goal is to reinvent how talent discovers and engages with companies, by giving organisations a platform to communicate through video. This will allow talent to get an insight into their workplace, culture, teams and more, beyond their careers hub."
How authentic can workplace videos be?
As a Gen-Xer, I had questions. Do company videos offer authenticity or corporate spin?
I was a member at a co-working space here in Berlin for many years, and an African-American friend always used to say to me, "If you want to be in all the photos (or videos), stand next to me."
And given that we're in an environment now where there's a lot of companies laying people off, how many people speak freely and honestly about their employee experience
Further, many industries are fundamentally discriminatory against people over 40, so how do you avoid bias in videos?
Grimes contends that video actually brings bias front and centre straight away. rather than it appearing later in the recruitment process.
"Also, with a video experience, you can also find people that are like you, with your background or lived experience. You can see a lot more cues around identity or values."
The company currently has over 20 partners on the platform, some with 50 employees or less and others with over 10,000.
According to Grimes, smaller organisations are using PLOY to increase their talent pools, and share company culture, while it appeals to larger organisations that have no shortage with applicants, but face the challenge of attracting the right applicants.
The UX also reveals how discoverability is an issue for the next generation.
"At the moment there isn't a platform that you can readily go to, and discover organisations through a visual format or swipe through them. It just doesn't exist. LinkedIn doesn't allow you to do it because it's very individual focused. And again, the social platforms are very entertainment or individual based.
A lot of our users are really engaged with the ability to discover organisations that they aren't even aware of or would never have been aware of without a similar user experience of swiping with your forward engagement back."
On the flipside, the ability to search for specific organisations and industries through video is a big winner.
In the future PLOY may expand to offer videos as a visual instead of written CV with the ability to apply for role:
"The CV is incredibly outdated, especially for the early career subgroup where the only factors that might differ between you and others are your grades.
Whereas you can show your personality, your potential skills, your soft skills, and also other skills through a visual format, to complement your CV.
When we've actually shown the visual element to a lot of employers, they've said this is absolutely brilliant.
This allows us almost to see whether that person is right for that role pre-interview, saving the time of jumping on a call and discovering they are not the right person."
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