Employers Avoid Hiring Gen Z

Employees at the online supermarket Picnic are seen at their desks in their office in Duivendrecht, northern Netherlands on June 28, 2021, after advice to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic expired after a new round of relaxation regulations were announced. Four in 10 hiring managers admitted to age bias against Gen Z candidates in a new survey.

While Generation Z might be entering the workforce en masse, hiring managers are not so eager to welcome the younger generation into their companies.

Forty percent of hiring managers had an age bias against Gen Z candidates, and many employers are worried about how hirable an applicant is based on their age, according to a report from ResumeBuilder.com.

In the survey of 1,000 hiring managers, 42 percent admitted to considering age when reviewing applications. On both sides of the equation, being Gen Z or being a senior could cause your resume to be thrown into the trash.

While 40 percent of hiring managers said they were biased against Gen Z, 33 percent said the same about senior candidates.

“By scrutinizing education and work history timelines, employers may inadvertently introduce bias based on age, rather than focusing on the candidate’s qualifications and suitability for the role,” Resume Builder’s chief career adviser Stacie Haller said.

Haller said ageism continues to be a prevalent issue in the workforce, and it affects both job seekers in the beginning and end of their careers.

“Regrettably, many hiring managers continue to rely on age as a determining factor in their recruitment decisions. This practice presents a significant disadvantage, as one’s age should never dictate their potential for success in a role, provided they possess the requisite skills and experience,” Haller added.

Gen Zers, who are between the ages of 12 and 27, often don’t have many ways around this obstacle.

While 41 percent of hiring managers said job seekers shouldn’t indicate their graduation year on their resume, it can still be obvious what age you are based on the number of years of experience you list.

There were many reasons hiring managers listed for their apprehension about Gen Z candidates, but experts said these stereotypes often aren’t rooted in reality.

Nearly 80 percent of hiring managers said they worried about Gen Z’s lack of experience as a younger generation. The survey also found 58 percent were worried about the generation’s unprofessional attitude, and 63 percent expressed concern that they were known to job hop.

And roughly one in two hiring managers also had doubts about Gen Z’s reliability and work ethic.

Of the group of hiring managers that had age bias against Gen Z, a whopping 46 percent said it’s actually beneficial to the company to avoid hiring Gen Z candidates.

Pandemic disruption

Haller said some of this sentiment is exacerbated by the fact that Gen Z entered the workforce roughly during the pandemic, which completely disrupted candidates’ abilities to learn how to be successful in the workplace.

“Unlike previous generations, Gen Zers may not have had the same opportunities to acquire foundational skills through on-the-job learning due to remote work arrangements,” Haller said.

“Many companies and managers were unprepared to provide the necessary training and onboarding support tailored to this unique group, further exacerbating negative biases.”

Still, other HR leaders, like consultant Bryan Driscoll, say it’s “short-sighted” and “harmful to work” to avoid Gen Z candidates.

“The notion that Gen Z’s expectations, behaviors, or priorities are inherently problematic overlooks the fresh perspective younger employees bring and the changing world they’re navigating,” Driscoll told Newsweek.

He said Gen Z’s technology adeptness, focus on social and environmental issues as well as their larger desire for meaningful work can all end up enhancing a company’s culture and innovation.

“Dismissing an entire generation based on stereotypes is a missed opportunity and borders on discriminatory practices,” Driscoll said.

Managers are failing

While it is true that Gen Z might be more likely to push for fair compensation, this reflects the rapidly changing world and workplace they’ve grown up in, he added.

“The societal promises made to prior generations of workers half a century ago don’t exist today,” Driscoll said. “It’s a failure of hiring managers and business leaders to interpret these traits in a vacuum as entitlement rather than advocacy for just workplace practices.”

If businesses continue implementing age bias in the hiring process, there could be severe ramifications. It could lead to a generation stunted by underutilized skills or even deter them from pursuing certain career paths at all, Driscoll said.

But beyond that, there are implications for the companies themselves.

“Employers clinging to outdated stereotypes and expectations will find themselves at a disadvantage, struggling to attract and retain talent,” Driscoll said. “A shift in mindset is necessary. Understanding that the old ways of work simply don’t apply anymore is key for hiring managers and business leaders alike.”

Better way

Ultimately, as Gen Z is set to become roughly 30 percent of the global workforce by 2025, managers might need to adapt to Gen Z, not the other way around.

“They want to automate things,” recruiter and Integrity Resource Management president Keith Sims told Newsweek. “It’s not that manual tasks are below them. They just know there is a better way.”

While Sims acknowledged that Gen Z’s skepticism can lead to managerial frustration, he encourages managers to be open to new ideas and approaches.

“As they have experienced data sets being provided to them, most Gen Z have become discerning, realizing that not all information is equally valuable and some of it is downright misleading. They are skeptics.”

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