1 in 4 Executives Say They Won’t Hire Gen-Z: Here’s 6 Reasons Why

Over the past few years, there’s been significant growth in the job market. Yet, one generation always seems to get the short end of the stick.

According to a new General Assembly survey, 27% of executives say they wouldn’t hire entry-level folks for a job. This affects Gen Zers mostly. One of the major problems is they finished their education during the pandemic, when everything was on lockdown, and failed to learn the skills necessary to succeed in the workforce.

The report breaks down the areas of failure as follows.

1. They Cannot Communicate

Communication is such an essential skill regardless of whether you work from home or in the workplace. You need to be able to effectively relay the status of your work as well as any issues that come up.

Communication is also essential when you’re dealing with clients or customers, and an inability to get a message across could hinder business.

2. Lack of Adaptability

Things are always changing in the business world. Whether it’s learning new software, updating outdated processes, or changing the specifications of a role, you can expect to have to pivot at some time in your career. Yet, many Gen Zers lack this soft skill.

Failure to adapt typically means failure to thrive, which can stagnate career growth or even result in being terminated.

3. Inability to Collaborate

Collaboration is a major part of any workforce, whether it’s a small company of five employees or a large corporation. Each department has several teams who work with each other and those in other sectors.

An inability to collaborate can lead to not only a disengaged workforce, but also a lack of progress forward.

4. Have the Wrong Mindset or Attitude

Going into the workforce, you have to have a positive attitude and a mindset where you’re willing to soak up all of the information and learn how to do every aspect of your job.

Many Gen Zers are going in acting like they know the job at hand already, because they went to school. Yet, a lack of hands-on experience belies that confidence.

5. Lack of Technical Skills

Technical skills are needed to complete just about every job and going in with a lack of experience can hinder one’s growth in the field.

Managers also tend to feel that training on these types of skills is tedious and prefer to hire those with the knowledge and capabilities to accelerate their start in the position.

6. Unrealistic Workplace Expectations

One of the major issues we’ve seen highlighted with Gen Z is that going into the job force, they have unrealistic expectations of starting salaries.

Many also expect to climb the career ladder much faster than normal and get discouraged when they’re in a position for what they perceive to be a long time before receiving a promotion.

Wherein the Problem Lies

There’s a catch-22 with entry-level jobs and it’s been felt among all generations. In order to get a job, you need to have experience. Yet, without landing your first job, obtaining that experience is difficult.

This is where internships can be vital. But there’s a problem. Gen Z had limited opportunities for on-the-job training via internships where they would have had exposure to a working environment and learned the necessary soft skills to thrive, because everything was shut down. So now, they’re left in a very undesirable position of being last on the totem pole when executives look to hire.

Boosting Training in the Workforce

The General Assembly report highlighted the need for additional training in the workforce to help newer generations thrive. It also noted that many companies don’t use their budgets set aside for that very purpose.

Boosting training in the workplace could help bridge the gaps and fill more entry-level positions.

Source: General Assembly survey.