Don’t Recruit Like It’s 2010: Modern Ways to Reach Gen Z

1.    Turn Insights Into Impact.

In today’s rapidly changing admissions landscape, success requires leveraging data and insights to create student-centered and personalized messages that resonate with their interests. Students don’t want more generic messages. They want messages that feel like they were written for them. Data help you do that at scale, turning broad outreach into individualized impact.

The Traditional Way: 
Casting a wide net, sending the same generic message to a large pool of students in hopes that the one-size-fits-all outreach will lead to more inquiries. 

What Gen Z Expects: 
Personal and meaningful messages. Students are surrounded by tailored content everywhere they go, content driven by algorithms that anticipate their interests. Why should their college search be any different?

The Modern Move: 
First, maximize the information you receive from your data sources. Many teams overlook fields in their enrollment data files that provide essential information you could be using to understand student preferences better. 

Second, in addition to leveraging the data from your output file, you can also build your own insight pipeline through intentional points of interaction and on your inquiry form. Ask students about their learning environment or campus culture preferences. 

Your CRM is only as smart as the data you feed it. The more student information you capture and leverage, the more relevant your workflows, emails, and outreach become.

2.    Lead with Outcomes, Not Offerings. 

Students aren’t searching for a catalog of majors; they’re searching for proof. Because the cost of postsecondary education is rising and public confidence is declining, students and families want to know what they’ll gain from their investment.

The Associated Press recently noted the following: “For a generation of young Americans, choosing where to go to college─or whether to go at all─has become a complex calculation of costs and benefits that often revolves around a single question: Is the degree worth its price?”

The Traditional Way: 
Leading student conversations with credits, requirements, and program descriptions. While these details are important, they shouldn’t be the headline. 

What Gen Z Expects: 
A fast, clear understanding of the possibilities your institution creates and how you’ll uniquely give them the outcomes they want. 

The Modern Move: 
Lead with the outcomes. 

• Showcase alumni doing meaningful work in their fields, and call out names of celebrated alumni.
• Make career pipelines visible (e.g., internships, mentorship programs, and undergraduate research opportunities).
• Highlight real metrics (e.g., job placement rates, grad school acceptances, median earnings, and long-term career outcomes).

Today’s higher ed marketplace doesn’t just reward transparency. It demands it. Demonstrating clear outcomes is essential for building trust, supporting institutional accountability, and differentiating your school among a crowded field of competitors.

3.    Build Trust Through Authentic Voices. 

In a world where students value authenticity over polish, transparency isn’t just appreciated. It’s expected. 

The Traditional Way: 
Overly polished messaging and scripted presentations.

What Gen Z Expects: 
Stories from students living the experience right now. Current students are your most powerful storytellers because they’re honest, relatable, and real. The most credible voices you have aren’t just on your recruitment team; they’re on your campus.

The Modern Move: 
Invite current students to speak at events, contribute to blogs, host virtual panels, and offer direct connections through your website and social networks. Ditch the scripts, and let students speak in their own words. Authentic voices build trust faster than any marketing campaign ever could.

4.    Show Up Where They Scroll.

Students spend much of their lives online, and that’s where your story should meet them. If your content isn’t where they already spend their time, you’re missing key moments to reach them.

The Traditional Way: 
Expecting students to organically search for your institution.

What Gen Z Expects: 
A digital-first experience that fits seamlessly into their world. According to Pew Research, over half of teens visit YouTube and TikTok daily—how are you engaging them there?

The Modern Move: 
Create reels and YouTube shorts that feature real students: a “day-in-the-life” on campus, student "Instagram takeover days," a first internship, or a new graduate thriving in their career. These moments display authenticity (Tip 3), make outcomes visible (Tip 2), and use data to deliver content in the right place, at the right time (Tip 1).