Office Space Design – Your Secret Weapon to Attracting Ideal Candidates

Posted on July 11, 2014 Updated on August 21, 2014

It is no secret – the interview process between companies and candidates is actually a two-way process. Not only is the interviewing company aiming to hire “good fits” to join their team, but the potentially “good fits” are also deciding if the interviewing company is right them. What does this have to do with office space design? A lot, considering companies can increase the probability of hooking their ideal candidates through their office space design.

It is happening in Europe and in different parts of the United States – -Companies are revamping their office space design to fit the mentality (and thus attract the top talents) of the young and up and coming workforce, namely the Generation Y and Z populations.

What exactly does that mean?

It means companies looking to attract the top talents of the Generation Y and generation Z populations (i.e. those born after 1979) are creating office environments that encourage creativity, collaboration and meet tech savvy needs. For some companies, that means trading traditional high-walled cubicles for lower-walled ergonomic workstations clustered in small groups. For other companies, it means trading the traditional boardroom table and chairs of a meeting room for either soft leather couches and coffee tables to create a relaxed “living room” styled social area, or with high cafe tables and bar stools to create a “café” styled office space design–all to encourage collaboration and teamwork. Open ceilings and bright bold primary colours accent the new office space design to encourage the concept of “no limits” on creativity.

Besides being collaborative and creative, both Gen Y’ers and Gen Z’ers are very comfortable with technology. In fact, most are tech savvy. So, if companies want to hook their ideal candidates from these generations, they will need to consider adding additional usb and other connection ports throughout their office space design or add a tech –heavy social networking meeting areas so that people can connect their laptops, IPads/tablets or other technical devices while meeting with their colleagues or clients in person or online. This will become more and more of a need once the younger Generation Z population enters the work force.

So what about clear-walled offices and meeting areas? Will they become a thing of the past? I would suggest no because they will help meet one more need of the Gen Z’ers—the need to on occasion work alone and only collaborate with others through online methods.

References:
About.Com Legal Careers, Generation Y, http://legalcareers.about.com/od/practicetips/a/GenerationY.htm
Blogger, JuJu Blog Site, Characteristics of Generation Z, http://characteristicsofgenerationz-juju.blogspot.ca/