You are looking to recruit young talent.

But you may have noticed that the rules have changed. Candidates no longer ask only for a salary and a position: they want purpose, mobility, and a way of working that suits them.

It’s Generation Z (14-29 year olds today) that is entering the job market. And it is reinventing international mobility.

Here is what you need to understand to attract, recruit and retain these new profiles.

The myth to forget: “Gen Z just travels for Instagram”

This is the #1 mistake recruiters make with this generation.

Yes, Gen Z shares its trips on social media. But behind the image, there is a deeply new relationship with work, mobility and professional engagement.

According to the annual Deloitte Gen Z and Millennial Survey, international mobility ranks among the top employer-choice criteria for under-30s, just after the meaning given to work.

In short: if you don’t think mobility, you lose access to this talent pool.

1. A generation born mobile

Gen Z grew up with Erasmus, low-cost flights, Skype and then Zoom. For them, going abroad is no longer exotic: it’s a normal step in the journey.

Concretely:

• A majority of European students consider an internship or job abroad during their studies
• Cultural borders have disappeared (series, music, gaming)
• Languages are learned through digital immersion, not just in class

For you, this means: your candidates arrive already mentally international. Your role? To offer them an experience that lives up to it.

2. The end of the “9-to-5 in one country” model

Gen Z no longer asks “can I work remotely?”.

It asks “from where?”.

Remote work, eSIMs, cloud tools (Notion, Slack, Linear) make work possible from anywhere. And Gen Z has clearly understood this.

Concretely, it expects from your company:

• Real geographic flexibility
• Modern collaborative tools (not a 15-year-old VPN)
• The freedom to combine internships, missions, projects, freelance and travel

Refusing this flexibility? It means depriving yourself of the best candidates.

3. Slow travel and climate awareness: the new standard

Contrary to popular belief, Gen Z rejects fast tourism.

It prefers:

• Staying several months in the same country (versus the weekend city-break)
• Choosing the train over the plane whenever possible
• Selecting employers committed to climate action

As highlighted by the Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum, environmental sustainability is now a central employer-choice criterion among young talents.

For you: highlight your CSR commitments, offer long internships rather than ultra-short missions, and provide alternatives to all-air travel.

4. Digital nomadism and its global infrastructure

Digital nomadism is no longer a niche.

A real global infrastructure has emerged:

• Special nomad visas: Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Malta, Croatia, Italy…
• Coliving spaces (Selina, Outsite, Roam) in all major cities
• 24/7 coworking spaces integrated into tourist hubs
• Discord and Slack expat communities by destination

Gen Z no longer invents expatriation, it optimizes it. And it expects its employers to be compatible with this lifestyle.

5. International soft skills are worth more than the diploma

This is probably the deepest change.

For Gen Z, what counts on a CV is no longer just the school, it’s:

• Cultural adaptability
• Operational mastery of English
• Experience in multicultural teams
• Autonomy proven by an internship abroad
• The ability to collaborate remotely across multiple time zones

According to McKinsey, the skills most valued by recruiters are precisely those developed by a concrete international experience.

Conclusion: a candidate with 6 months of internship in Barcelona, Malta or Berlin immediately stands out from a profile with purely academic credentials.

6. The internship abroad as a springboard (not a parenthesis)

For previous generations, the internship abroad was a separate experience.

For Gen Z, it is the starting point of their career.

The typical path:

• Internship abroad during studies
• First permanent contract in another country
• Temporary return to France
• Freelance mission or long-term expatriation
• Creation of their own international business

What to remember: offering an internship abroad to a young talent today means planting a seed in their journey. They will remember. They will talk about it. They will recommend you.

What this changes concretely for your recruitments

Here are the 5 levers to activate right now to attract Gen Z:

• ✅ Offer international missions as early as the internship or first position
• ✅ Provide real geographic flexibility (remote work from abroad)
• ✅ Highlight your CSR commitments in your job offers
• ✅ Modernize your collaborative tools (cloud, async, modern stack)
• ✅ Work with a partner specialized in international mobility

🤝 Why partner with Stud&Globe?

Because we know this generation. We place international interns across Europe and we see, every month, what attracts them and what drives them away.

Concretely, we help you:

• Recruit interns who are already mobile and already international
• Build an attractive offer for Gen Z
• Secure administrative procedures (agreement, visa, housing)
• Retain your young talents by offering them a career project, not just an assignment
• Strengthen your employer brand with a demanding audience

Ready to attract tomorrow’s talent?

Generation Z is entering the job market. It is mobile, demanding, and formidably talented.

Companies that know how to speak its language will have a decisive head start.

The others will struggle to recruit.

It’s your turn to take the lead.