Gen Z and hiring managers are at odds.
Zoomers’ core values in life and work don’t jive with the values that employers desire most in new recruits, research shows.
That suggests there’s “a fork in the road,” said Suzy Welch, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business who led a recent study behind the findings. “Gen Z has a set of values, and hiring managers are looking for a different set.”
At the top of employers’ wish lists are job applicants who want success that others recognize, the finding shows. But for Gen Z, that value ranks at No. 11. They place “eudemonia,” which encompasses self-care, pleasure, and recreation, at No. 1.
In second place for employers is scope, or the desire for action and stimulation, which includes learning and travel. That’s followed by “work-centrism,” or seeing work as central to one’s decision-making and behavior. Gen Z ranked those values at No. 10 and No. 9, and gave the No. 2 and No. 3 spots instead to voice, or authentic individuality, and the desire to have a life or career that involves helping others.
The overall disparity Welch found was huge: Only 2% of Zoomers align with the values employers most prize.
The findings are based in part on responses from 45,000 US participants — including more than 7,500 Gen Zers — to a scientifically validated, behaviorally based assessment tool called the Values Bridge, which Welch created with a team of experts. It ranks 16 values from answers to 100 behavioral questions.
Also taken into account are results from a survey of 2,100 US hiring managers over the age of 40 with at least five direct reports in white-collar roles, such as banking and consulting.
So, who is right?
Gen Z has entered the workforce amid widening political divides, mass shootings, and pandemic-era upheaval. Many are seeing their parents lose jobs or struggle financially, while at the same time, the artificial-intelligence boom is disrupting the workplace.
“Why should they sign up for the bargain their parents have?” said Welch, referring to what she often hears from her Gen Z students.
Yet for older professionals, having a “hustle” mentality” makes sense, because their values link “back to a style of working that they’ve seen actually produce results in a competitive marketplace,” she added. “They think these are the values that are going to allow us to remain profitable.”
Welch stressed that neither Gen Z nor their older counterparts are inherently wrong. Values are choices, not virtues. Yet both groups tend to point fingers at one another.
“We always are claiming we don’t judge, and then we judge, and it’s toxic,” said Welch.
Hiring woes for all
The values gap comes at a time when Gen Z is struggling to find work, in part because there are more job seekers than open positions.
In June, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates was 4.8%, compared with 4% for all workers, according to the latest figures available from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Another impediment for Gen Z is that many workers are staying put— a phenomenon some call “job hugging.” The Labor Department’s most recent data show the share of workers voluntarily leaving their jobs was just 1.9% in August.
Meanwhile, the values gap may be making it difficult for hiring managers to fill junior roles with the kind of talent they covet most. Welch and other workplace researchers say a lack of candid communication between the two cohorts may be at least partly to blame.
For example, Jeff LeBlanc, a management lecturer at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, said a former Gen Z student of his expected a promotion after three months on the job. The problem wasn’t entitlement, LeBlanc said, but that the student’s manager had never explained the company’s promotion process.
“The key is clarity and really being upfront in terms of what the job is going to look like,” he said.
Similarly, older workers might assume that Gen Z highly values fame, given the prominence of young social-media personalities. But Welch’s study shows that Gen Z ranks fame, which it refers to as “luminance,” dead last at No. 16.
“Employers fear that Gen Z wants a spotlight, but they don’t,” said Welch.
Bridging the gap
For Gen Z, bridging the gap with older generations starts with reframing the interview, said Jeremy Schifeling, an early-stage career advisor. Rather than emphasizing personal fulfillment, young job seekers should highlight how they can contribute to an employer’s goals.
“You don’t have to lie,” he said. “You just have to think about more than just yourself.”
This isn’t a trade-off, Schifeling added. “You’ll have a chance to have work-life balance and set your own hours and all that down the road,” he said. “But the way you get to that golden ticket is by starting with an orientation around others, not just the self.”
For their part, experienced hiring managers can continue to look for that tiny fraction of Gen Zers whose values align with theirs. Welch said the head of human resources for an investment bank told her that one method the bank uses is to narrow in on applicants who graduated from college with two majors, as this suggests that those individuals have a strong work ethic.
An alternative approach might be to adjust roles and norms to better meet the needs of that vast majority of Gen Z workers. Going that route may not align with business objectives, but sticking with the status quo could pose risks.
“You don’t want to hire the 98% and then slap your values on them and wonder why everybody’s miserable,” said Welch. Besides, she added, “There is absolutely a chance Gen Z is onto something.”
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