The stereotype “Generation Z doesn't want to work anymore” revolts young people: “And then we're surprised that the world doesn't feel like it anymore?”

Many young people complain about the stereotype that “Gen Z doesn't want to work anymore,” a perception they say has come to affect how they're treated in job interviews.

Young people at the beginning of their professional career. Source: Freepik.com

The idea that “Generation Z”, i.e. the young people born after 2000, “no longer wants to work” gives rise to many controversies, and some Romanians complain about its effects: young people are treated with superiority in job interviews, forgotten when they wait to receive an answer regarding their recruitment and considered unprepared or disinterested in jobs.

Stereotypes in employment

The message of a Romanian outraged by the few chances that would be given to young people from “Generation Z” on the labor market sparked a heated debate on social networks. He complained about the way in which the hiring processes are carried out, claiming that most companies refuse to give chances to those at the beginning of their careers, preferring to work with older people, whom they consider “experienced”.

“After hundreds of applications, you only receive automated rejection emails (if you receive). At the interview, you are asked for experience on technologies that appeared six months ago, for an entry-level position. You are given homework that requires ten hours of unpaid work, to see if you deserve an internship. At the end, the people from Human Resources tell you that they will call you, and you remain forever on hold. If you are unlucky, you get an interview with a manager who comes with an air and treats you as if you're asking them for a kidney, not a job. And then 0. Well, naturally, after 50 rejections and 10 interviews in which you're treated like the last person, you end up saying “I'd better do something on my own or try something else”. It's not laziness, it's self-defense. complains the young man, on Reddit.

Another young man declares himself equally disappointed after his first experiences on the labor market, which he had immediately after graduating from college. He managed to get a job with the help of a friend, but ended up in a logistics company, where his boss was perceived as a “dictator”, so he couldn't cope with the pressure.

“And now I'm unemployed, since November. I've had about 5-6 interviews so far, I have one more in two days, in the field I graduated from, but all this experience makes me regret that I stayed to study for four years at university. After the Baccalaureate, I should have become an electrician, not learn the resistance of materials, electronics, design, sensors, etc., so that I end up applying to supermarkets and they don't take me there either. I go to interviews in jeans, a shirt, short hair, washed, perfumed, I present my professional experience. But it is not enough. I regret that I did not become an electrician immediately after the Baccalaureate and that I went to the medical engineering school.”he complains.

Employers want more stability

Another young person is of the opinion that the problems encountered in the labor market by the young people of Generation Z are caused by the fact that they are less inclined to stability, but at the same time they have other priorities and many shortcomings that affect their productivity at work.

“If we look at the 25+ category, most people are more settled: they have families, maybe less “dramas”, one or two installments at the bank, like any other person. This often means more energy invested in the job and, implicitly, a better return”. he states.

The man says he managed a beauty salon where two young women worked, whom he eventually had to replace.

“They worked quite well, but one of them was not punctual, she was often late and asked for many days off because she was still studying at university and it was difficult for her to divide between the two. The other one had unpleasant situations: she was 23 years old and her boyfriends came to the salon to check on her, there were various scandals that scared the clients. In the end, I replaced them with two women, 28 and 32 years old, both with children and families. They were settled and quiet and I worked with them for years without any problem.” he reported.

Another claims that he tried to hire young people, but noticed that many of those who showed interest in his offer had gaps in their knowledge of the English language and even in using a computer, preferring to do everything on the phone. Also, he adds, they had difficulty keeping to the schedule and fulfilling their responsibilities.

“I have frequently encountered situations like “I missed two days, it's not a big deal” or an approach where work is not seen as a serious responsibility, but rather as something optional. I even had a case where, on the first day of work, someone went to buy cigarettes and did not return, considering it unnecessary to announce that he no longer wanted to continue. Of course, I do not generalize – not all of them are like that. There are also very involved and well-trained young people. But unfortunately that is the impression left by many of those I have interacted with.” he states.

Interviews, the first obstacle to employment

Another young person believes that almost no one really wants to work in a classic job because it brings too much hassle and too little benefit.

“Basically, you work just to be able to keep going to work. You often have to pretend to be a completely different person just to be able to work somewhere, that is, to be 'employable'. It's a theater. Nobody wants to work in the current work environment: corporation, fixed schedule, repetitive work, strange colleagues”he says.

Another Romanian, after several years spent in the West, complains about the way he was treated by Romanian employers.

“At job interviews they talk to you like they're giving you alms and you should kiss their soles”he concludes.

A young man recounts that, after completing a master's degree in Economic Sciences, he was called to three job interviews, the last of which he passed well. After the first interview, the company told him that they would call him, regardless of their decision, after they finished interviewing all the candidates, but they never did.

“The second recruitment process (for an internship) was at a marketing firm. After I passed the application stage, I was asked to fill out a questionnaire with general and technical questions. Then I was asked to make a PowerPoint presentation about two websites, analyze them and say what I would change about them. After I passed this step as well, I was told that we were not a good match and the recruitment process was stopped. The funny thing is that after a few days, some suggestions from my presentation were found on one of the sites. Never do a thing without getting paid for it (like I did)”. he concluded.

Another young man claims that after finishing college, he wanted to change his field and become a graphic designer. He applied for a year to various jobs, asking for a reasonable salary, but ran into disorganized interviews, dubious companies, and situations where he did free work to no avail.

“It seemed to me that, in most cases, the interviews were done on purpose without a clear process, just to make you quit. Or they were just for form, because they wouldn't hire you anyway. I had come to lose all hope that I would succeed in making the job change. At one company, after I took the technical test, they told me that I had passed the next stage and asked me to schedule a physical interview on the calendar. A few hours after confirming the interview, they canceled it and emailed me that the position was filled and that they were moving on with someone with more experience.” he complained.

Companies, assaulted with CVs

Someone tells of assisting an IT employer with interviews to hire early-career programmers and noticing the difficulties the company had in selection due to the large number of applicants – more than 300 for a single position.

“Based on the phone interview and the CV, about 30-40 candidates were called to the final interview. It sucks to look for work, but what could a small or medium-sized company do with such a large number of applicants? I was also talking to my colleagues about this: they are certainly very nice people whom I have not even seen in person, but how else could it be done? Probably, of the more than 200 who did not make it to the interview, many are cursing us now that we didn't even call them”he thinks.

Another, who has interviewed young people for a job in marketing, says he was amazed by the unrealistic expectations of many candidates.

“I have only found people who want a salary as high or higher than mine, even though they have no work experience. Others want a senior position, a team coordinator or even a manager. Others want an extra-flexible schedule – and I don't mean 8 hours worked anytime between 8 and 19, but whenever they feel like it, including weekends or evenings, even if the job is a standard one. And others have nothing in common with the field. It's not a problem, from my point of view view, the field studied, but when I told them that they needed 3-6 months to learn and get the hang of it and that until then they would be in a trial period, paid, of course, with approximately 3,000 RON + vouchers, they did not agree. They expected to send emails and reports “on the button”, without actual work”. he states.

Another internet user states that, in his experience, some young people (especially Generation Z) are very difficult to motivate at work.

“Some actually had to be pushed from behind to move something and you had to explain to them 100 times why they had to do that job. This was in the context where the job was casual and you just had to use your head a little. Oh, and the salary was over 6-7,000 lei, if you did some basic things. I'm not saying that all Gen Z are like that, but a lot of them are. They don't accept anything at the interview anymore, which is good, but besides that there is also quite a lot of laziness and unrealistic expectations”, believe this one.

Another says that in two years he received several thousand resumes after his marketing firm published job ads on platforms dedicated to the job market.

“Only 10 percent really wanted to work. The rest demanded salaries of thousands of euros, not lei, without even knowing the field”, he states.

However, he is contradicted by another employer who has formed a team of young people whom he considers friendly, direct and very hardworking.

Another Romanian recalls that each generation always said about the youngest that “doesn't want to work”.