Building Your Pipeline: How AEC Firms Can Win the Battle for Early-Career Talent

I’m Gen X. When I landed my first job out of college, I hadn’t researched company culture or asked about work-life balance; I was just thrilled someone hired me. I took what was offered, showed up early, stayed late and didn’t question much.

Fast-forward to today, and Gen Z has rewritten that script. According to Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey of nearly 23,000 workers, 44% of Gen Z are willing to turn down employers if some aspect of the offer or the workplace doesn’t align with their values. And honestly? Good for them.

AEC firms are facing a choice: adapt to how this generation approaches work, or watch them go elsewhere. Younger professionals research your company across multiple platforms before they ever apply. They check reviews, look at your social media and study your website. They want to know if you’ll actually help them progress in their careers or if “we invest in our people” is just an empty promise in the job posting. For AEC firms competing for talent, understanding these expectations is table stakes.

Understanding What Gen Z Values in an Employer

Gen Z’s worldview was shaped by economic instability — from the 2008 financial crisis through pandemic-era layoffs. They grew up watching workplaces show limited loyalty to employees during recessions and reorganizations. They saw parents being laid off, older siblings struggling to find jobs and entire industries shrinking overnight.

Gen Z doesn’t want that to happen to them. They expect employers to demonstrate authentic values and treat employees as whole people. They’re not naive — they understand business realities — but they’re also unwilling to sacrifice their well-being or compromise their ethics for a job that treats them as replaceable. AEC firms that don’t adapt to this reality risk losing top early-career talent to competitors that do.

Where Gen Z Researches Internships and Jobs

You may have a great internship program and fulfilling entry-level job openings, but that doesn’t matter if they’re not catching Gen Z’s attention. College students and recent grads research potential employers across multiple platforms — both sources you control and third-party sites where your reputation precedes you. Here’s where they’re looking and how to show up strategically.

Sources You Control: Shaping Your Story

Social Media

According to a 2024 study by Forbes Advisor and Talker Research, 46% of Gen Z prefer social media to search engines when looking for information. For AEC firms, this means your LinkedIn, Instagram and even TikTok presence is more important than you might think.

The most effective social media strategies share a few common elements. First, timing is key. Post during spring semester when students are actively researching summer internship opportunities. 

Second, prioritize authentic, employee-generated content over polished corporate messaging. A project engineer sharing what they learned on a jobsite resonates more than a polished video about “building the future.”  

Third, ensure your posts reflect actual values, not aspirational ones. Gen Z can immediately spot the disconnect when a firm posts about work-life balance while employees regularly work 60-hour weeks, or claims to value diversity without backing it up with real inclusion policies. They’ve grown up watching companies post black squares during social movements without changing anything internally. They look for consistency between what you say publicly and what employees actually experience.

Your Website

Your website can’t rely on vague corporate language to attract Gen Z. Get specific.

Include comprehensive internship program information: What will interns actually do? What’s the structure? What percentage of interns are hired for full-time roles? Back these details up with real employee testimonials that address specific concerns like career development, mentorship quality and work-life balance.

The same applies to entry-level positions. Don’t just list job requirements — explain what the first year looks like. What training will new hires receive? Who will mentor them? What does career progression look like? If your firm promotes from within, say so explicitly with examples. If you have structured professional development programs, detail what they include. Generic promises about “opportunities for growth” mean nothing without specifics.

Sources You Influence: Get on the Lists

Gen Z doesn’t stop at your website and social media. They search for what others think of you through career sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, Zippia and Vault. You can’t control what appears on these platforms, but you can influence your presence strategically.

Start by auditing where your firm appears. What shows up when someone searches “[your firm name] internship”? What’s your Glassdoor rating? Do you have enough reviews to establish credibility, or are there just two outdated comments from 2019? Encourage satisfied employees and departing interns to leave reviews — not fake glowing testimonials, but honest assessments of their experience. And when negative feedback appears, address the underlying concerns. Ignoring criticism doesn’t make it disappear; it just signals to prospects that you don’t listen.

Awards, lists and rankings such as Best Places to Work recognitions also provide positive social proof that your firm is highly regarded by its employees.

The trick is knowing these sites exist and actively managing your presence — not hoping your reputation speaks for itself.

And here’s a bonus: strong presence on these third-party platforms makes you more likely to appear when Gen Z uses AI-powered search tools and large language models like AI Overviews, ChatGPT or Perplexity to research “best [your field] internships.” AI pulls from the same sources Gen Z trusts, which means your Vault ranking or Glassdoor reviews can influence whether you show up in AI-generated recommendations.

Show Up Where It Matters

Even the strongest internship programs or entry-level positions won’t attract Gen Z if they can’t find evidence of them where they’re looking. If your programs don’t show up on best-of lists, if your Glassdoor reviews contradict what you claim on your website, if your social media is corporate fluff instead of authentic employee voices — Gen Z will move on to a competitor who shows up more convincingly.

The firms that win early-career talent are strategic about where they show up and intentional about what shows up there. Start by identifying where your target talent researches employers, audit your current presence on those platforms and build the visibility that turns research into applications.