Generation Z in the Workforce
Soon Generation Z will be arriving in your office and there’s more to them than meets the iPhone. These teens have resumes. Summer jobs like camp counselor and ice cream server are on the decline, but that doesn’t mean Gen Z is sleeping-in. “They’re coming into our Career Services offices from high school with resumes chock-full of work and volunteer experience, and advanced technology skills,” says Bless Vaidian, director of career counseling at Pace. “Gen Z has done more and has more on their resumes than students in the past.” Mind the communications gap. When it comes to communications, less isn’t always more. “I got a resume from a student. There was no message in the body of the e-mail, no note—nothing,” says Vaidian. “I thought ‘does she have an appointment with me?’ I went through my calendar. She finally e-mailed me back and said ‘Sorry, I don’t have a meeting. I wanted to apply to an internship.’” This is a common obstacle in the workplace, says Lindsey Pollak, who urges the importance of teaching students today that they need to be a “communication chameleon”.
ZURVEY SAYS
77% 28
of students would be interested in starting their own business
PACE MAGA ZINE - FALL 20 1 6
They are creating their own career paths. Landing a job at a Fortune 500 company isn’t for everyone, but studies show that Gen Z is more interested in entrepreneurship than previous generations. Why? Professor Bruce Bachenheimer, executive director of Pace’s Entrepreneurship Lab, says they’re skeptical, having grown up during the recession. “Gen Z has seen their parents work as loyal employees for a big company, come home every day at 6:00 p.m. for dinner, and take their annual two weeks of vacation,” he says. “But then they watched as their parents were laid off, lost their dignity, and had to take two menial jobs to support themselves and the family. They questioned this loyalty to big companies and thought, ‘Do I have more control over my destiny if I go the entrepreneurial route?’” Bosses will need to be flexible in terms of how they get from point A to point Z. “I talk to hiring managers who are perplexed by the Gen Z kids. Established employees can be troubled by the ever present multi-devices and multi-tasking, listening to Kendrick Lamar on headphones while they work on a complex piece of data analytics,” says Jonathan Hill, DPS, dean of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. “However, these kids are also highly accomplishmentoriented, so managers need to focus on the deliverables and be more tolerant as these young employees create a work environment where they feel productive.”
AND THE “Z”URVEY SAYS… STRONGEST CAREER OR WORK-RELATED SKILL: • Communication • Organization • Determination • Leadership • Interpersonal skills
HOW THEY DESCRIBE THEIR GENERATION IN ONE WORD:
• Ambitious • Innovative • Lit • Open-minded • Technological