An Open Letter to Gen Z and Those Who Employ Them

Dear GenZ:

I see you in the headlines. They’re saying that you’re “challenging” and “difficult” to work with. They say you’re lazy and don’t take direction well. You lack work ethic, and you have attitudes, And you’re getting fired at a rate higher than your counterparts from other generations. 

I looked at the survey and read the report that all the media are referencing now as they engage in GenZ character assassination. According to the study, these are things that would make a hiring manager want to hire a recent grad:

Here’s the problem I have with these “results.” Apart from work experience, technical skills, and internship experience, these hiring criteria are entirely subjective. Even technical skills—hiring managers want them to be “solid.” What does that mean? How do you define “strong work ethic” or “adaptability”? How do you measure any of this??? Companies and their managers frequently bemoan the lack of competence of younger people they hire. They like to point the blame at higher education, saying that colleges and universities are not preparing students for the world of (white-collar) work. Here’s the problem: It is not the job of universities to train future employees for employers. It is the job of universities to educate young people. What is the difference between education and training, you ask? Education is a long-term process that is focused on acquiring and interpreting information. A well-rounded education includes reading comprehension, critical thinking, clear writing, and analysis-based decision-making. Training is the process of acquiring specific skills, abilities, competencies, and behaviors required to do a particular profession or activity. Although few companies have formal training programs anymore, the onus of training and developing employees is still on the hiring companies. Hiring managers often lament the so-called “skills gap” while simultaneously cutting funding for training and development initiatives. The irony is palpable. 

The core of the problem is that Gen Z is different from all the other generations (as each generation is!) They have grown up in a digital world; they lived through the Great Recession and the COVID-19 restrictions (in many cases, they attended school virtually), and, as a whole, the Gen Z that is entering the workforce is more ethnically and racially diverse than any other generation that came before it. 

This means that you, Gen Z, are not like the status quo. And that makes people uncomfortable. But discomfort is neither fact nor data. Discomfort is a feeling. And good managers don’t make hiring decisions based on “the feels” or the “vibes.” They make logical decisions rooted in facts. Unfortunately, most managers are not trained (there we go again with the lack of workforce training) in interviewing skills and managing their implicit biases. 

The older generations ALWAYS malign the new entrants in the marketplace. They assign monikers such as “slacker,” “entitled,” and “unmanageable.” This is exactly how my generation was described by those in power when we entered the workforce. They said we were cynical and disaffected, didn’t want to pay our dues, and required special handholding from our management. Does that sound familiar, my Gen Z friends? They’ll get over it. They will adapt to your style of working, or they will fail. This is mostly a “their” problem, not your problem.

All my best,

Gen X