Gen Z and Job Interviews

[Tropical Wilds]

The reason why they surprised me is I had what I'm now assuming is the erroneous assumption that the younger half of the generation was less inclined to be in the workforce than previous generations....and the majority of first jobs are either in college or after college....in which case a parent seems like an instant way to not get hired.

I didn't have any hard data for this assumption...it's just an amalgamation of things I did know about Gen Z like they're living with parents longer, getting driver's licenses later or not at all, and the collection of general attitudes towards work that seem to be most prevalent in what I've seen in the generation.

I can understand anyplace that doesn't allow anyone under 17 to work without parental permission bringing a parent....but barring that (and educational disabilities or issues as was described above) it seems like a completely surefire way to not get the job.



Parental help on a resume or application isn't attending the interview with the parent though. I'm not saying it is unusual for parental help. My father worked for the federal government before I ever applied to a job in the federal government and he gave me tips. I had a 50+ page series of forms to fill out, I had to list basically everyone who would call me a friend and ex girlfriends and anyone I lived with for the prior 10 years, I had a series of in person tests, doctors physical, fitness requirements, and a "high stress" 5 on 1 interview. It was a 9 month process lol. My father had no idea what I'd be asked....but he still knew what kind of interview it was so he gave me some good advice (if you find yourself in such an interview they aren't looking for genius, they aren't looking for bravery or boldness, they want to see if you can work through the problems logically with sound reasoning and once you give a clear answer.....they'll berate, mock, question, and use other techniques to get you to doubt your original answers and change your response aka mentally bully you). It's not a fun process and I don't recommend it lol...

But if I had shown up to any of this with a parent I would have been told the hiring process was over the next day lol.



It's not the getting help that surprised me....it's the bringing a parent to the job interview that surprised me.

It shouldn’t surprise you given that 50% of the generation is under 20 and more than 30% under the age of 18. How you can say a generation isn’t inclined to work or get licenses or leave the nest when the youngest of them aren’t even teens yet is beyond me. And the ones who are in their early 20s would have seen things like getting their licenses, first jobs, and moving out pushed back due to the pandemic. Established adults saw careers stall, the housing dry up, and even licenses expire and not get renewed because government offices closed. If established adults don’t know how to navigate it, why would young adults?

The oldest of the generation is 27. The youngest is 12. The older ones saw their launch hindered by the pandemic. The younger ones are still up to half a decade from launching. Nobody knows anything about the ethic of this generation because they haven’t been around long enough to establish one.

 

[ozso]

Since more than half of that generation is 20 and under, the youngest aren’t teenagers yet, and the oldest have only had college degrees for, at most, 2-3 years or are only now finishing post graduate degrees, I think lacking independence and self reliance puts them at where most people were at that age. Especially given for the 20+ crowd, they were raised to be prepared for pre-pandemic world, but got to be the ones to test-run the new post-pandemic one. My nephew who’s just graduating college and is Gen Z got an abbreviated version of all of the normal transitional milestones that come with being a Junior/Senior like job coaching, college prep, and employment/job/military fairs at school. Milestones he would have hit, like first job, were pushed back. His age per his birth certificate puts him at one place, but a world closed for 1.5-2 years and significantly limited for another 1.5-2 more has an impact.

The hand wringing at the autonomy of the generation on the launching pad and who more than half are still teenagers says more about the older generations than the younger. It means a whole new batch of people have crossed into the kids these days/back-in-my-day/old man yells at cloud territory. Where kids with their baggy pants and their rock music and their MySpace and their Tiks and their Toks are the thing that distracts us from the problems of our generation and the fear of getting older.

What does all that have to do with someone not being able to attend a job interview on their own?

 

[Tropical Wilds]

I don't know that they’re getting mixed messages so much as they aren't getting messages.

They are getting mixed messages.

The younger generation doesn’t want to work anymore. Younger generation goes to get help getting jobs, then it’s “what, you can’t do it with mommy and daddy?”

After being raised hearing that the most important indicator to adult success is an active, supportive, present family, now they’re being told to be a successful adult you shouldn’t see your parents as resources, you should know how to do it on your own.

It’s ok to have been thrown by the pandemic, we all were. But wait, those who reached age of majority benchmarks when the world was closed find themselves hitting benchmarks later? What’s wrong with them?

A big swath of Gen Z hasn’t even entered high school, the swath that has entered was pushed back by the pandemic, so why aren’t they self-reliant yet?

Gen Z over 20 and young millennials under 35 have the highest literacy, graduation rates, are the age with the lowest unemployment, the lowest average credit card debt, and (as of this year) are now the generation with the highest percentage of people helping their parents with bills and expenses. But why are they lazy? Why aren’t they self-sufficient?

Thats all super conflicting ideologies.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

What does all that have to do with someone not being able to attend a job interview on their own?

I literally addressed that in the post you quoted.

 

[Pommer]

What’s the Matter With Kids Today?—Bye Bye Birdie

 

[ThatRobGuy]

People of every generation have been supported by their parents, with some sad exceptions. It's just the current settled generations that imagine themselves to have made it "on their own" and to perpetuate that myth feel the need for the newer generations to live up to that impossible standard.

There's been various forms of either nepotism or "help" that prior generations had benefitted from. (in the form of either their parents giving tips on resume writing, or if the parent has older contacts that they can put in a good word with for their kids)

However, that's a far cry from the bottom 3 items listed on this chart

I was on the tail end of GenX, and even for my first job I got at a grocery store when I was 16 (but didn't quite have my license yet), while my mom drove me there, I made it a point to tell her to park far away because I didn't want it to be seen as "mommy is taking him to the interview" lol.

And for my first "professional" job that I got back when I was 21, I benefitted from the fact that the insurance company I was applying to for my first IT job, happened to be one where my dad knew a lot of people and was able to put in a good word with some people.

But, by no means would I have ever dreamed of asking him to come to the office with me, introducing themselves to the hiring manager, and it makes me cringe to even imagine having a parent answering questions for me in an interview.

Neither of my parents had ever even met any of my bosses throughout the years. The place I work at now I've been at for over 15 years. The extent of "co-workers"/"family worlds-colliding" meet-ups has been my one younger brother meeting a few of my co-workers when he came out to the brewery for pub trivia night once or twice.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Gen Z over 20 and young millennials under 35 have the highest literacy, graduation rates, are the age with the lowest unemployment, the lowest average credit card debt, and (as of this year) are now the generation with the highest percentage of people helping their parents with bills and expenses. But why are they lazy? Why aren’t they self-sufficient?

Thats all super conflicting ideologies.

What you describe here is combining a few different metrics (some are applicable to the discussion, some are not).

A couple of points:

Higher literacy and graduation rates are reflective of centralized efforts by society (both in the public and private realms) to improve those stats. They're simply the latest iteration on the already-existing trend. HS graduation rates have been trending in the right direction for quite some time.

The reason they have the lowest amount of credit card debt has less to do with their personal budgeting skills and discipline, and more to do with the fact that credit card companies have gotten stricter due to much-needed regulations around the industry that prevent people from "getting enough rope to hang themselves with" (figuratively speaking).

I touched on this in another thread a few months back:

85+ Stats on Gen Z Spending and Buying Habits (2025)

The latest data on how, when and where Gen Z spends their money.

explodingtopics.com

42 Statistics on Gen Z Spending Habits

So, what is Gen Z’s spending power, and how do they make their purchasing decisions? Let’s take a look at some stats.

ecocart.io

Stats like 46% spending more on fashion than other category, 30% spending more on beauty care products than any other category - more than any other generation, and being 2-3x more likely to buy clothing every week than any other generation, spending $2,000 a year on products for their pets, etc... aren't exactly the hallmarks of "budget savvy"

With spending habits like that, it calls into question whether or not they'd have the lowest credit card debt if the credit card companies were still playing as fast & loose with the approvals/pre-approvals and higher credit limits like some of them were when I was my early 20s. I can't be the only who remembers some of those days where they'd literally send you a "pre-approved" credit card in the mail (with your name already on it, ready to go), and all you had to do is call the number or mail the form back, and they'd activate it without you ever applying for the card in the first place. Now, getting something like that in the mail would be a signal of ID theft.

It wasn't until the additional implementations of the "Truth in Lending Act" got added in 2011 (as part of the Dodd-Frank legislation) that a lot of that stuff was buttoned up.


To your part about GenZ having the highest percentage of people helping their parents with bills, I'd like to see what source you're getting that from, this article from BBC seems to indicate the opposite.

US millennials, Gen Z need parents' help to pay household bills

The Pew survey shows fewer than half aged 18-34 think themselves completely financially independent.

www.bbc.com

I think we should also quantify what "helping your parents" should mean for the context of this discussion. For instance, 20&30-somethings still living in their parents' house, and giving them $500/month toward "rent" isn't the same as a person that same age living on their own, and still giving $500/month to their parents because their parents are broke.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

I got my first job at 15. It was a charity call center where we cold called people out of the phone book and asked for donation pledges. The only thing I had to do was have my parents sign what was essentially a permission slip. They never helped with any other job.

 

[Ana the Ist]

In a time where people are expected to have 5 years of job experience for an entry level position, where you might get one answer per 100 applications you write (not acceptance, just anything except dead air) and where many people are proven to just pretend that they are hiring as a scam, to get more potential recruits for a time where they might actually be hiring or to cover the fact that they are really going to hire someone based off nepotism, THIS is what you have a problem with? That young people are helped and supported by their parents?

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/why-do-entry-level-jobs-require-experience

Job Ghosting: Why Employers Ghost Candidates During The Interview Process

What is job ghosting and why has the trend become commonplace in the interviewing and hiring process?

www.forbes.com

https://www.wsj.com/articles/that-plum-job-listing-may-just-be-a-ghost-3aafc794

For shame.

It's no wonder that the trend of quiet quitting has been invented by a generation that is treated this way.

I've also heard these things....and more...from employers basically trying to milk every moment of work out of a new hire above and beyond that of what the job description entails (often putting things like "various extra duties" in job offers).

Unfortunately, your leverage as an employee is related directly to your demand and your options. If someone is willing to do what you won't, then it doesn't matter if you aren't willing to do it. If you're not in a highly specialized or highly technical job field....chances are your options aren't many. Back in the day, a person might be able to take a lower skilled less specialized/technical job in the service sector or manual labor and make less money but still get by enough to pay their bills while they look for a better job....now, with those jobs flooded with illegal labor, that's not an option.

 

[Ana the Ist]

What you describe here is combining a few different metrics (some are applicable to the discussion, some are not).

A couple of points:

Higher literacy and graduation rates are reflective of centralized efforts by society (both in the public and private realms) to improve those stats. They're simply the latest iteration on the already-existing trend. HS graduation rates have been trending in the right direction for quite some time.
View attachment 350115


The reason they have the lowest amount of credit card debt has less to do with their personal budgeting skills and discipline, and more to do with the fact that credit card companies have gotten stricter due to much-needed regulations around the industry that prevent people from "getting enough rope to hang themselves with" (figuratively speaking).

I touched on this in another thread a few months back:

85+ Stats on Gen Z Spending and Buying Habits (2025)

The latest data on how, when and where Gen Z spends their money.

explodingtopics.com

42 Statistics on Gen Z Spending Habits

So, what is Gen Z’s spending power, and how do they make their purchasing decisions? Let’s take a look at some stats.

ecocart.io

Stats like 46% spending more on fashion than other category, 30% spending more on beauty care products than any other category - more than any other generation, and being 2-3x more likely to buy clothing every week than any other generation, spending $2,000 a year on products for their pets, etc... aren't exactly the hallmarks of "budget savvy"

With spending habits like that, it calls into question whether or not they'd have the lowest credit card debt if the credit card companies were still playing as fast & loose with the approvals/pre-approvals and higher credit limits like some of them were when I was my early 20s. I can't be the only who remembers some of those days where they'd literally send you a "pre-approved" credit card in the mail (with your name already on it, ready to go), and all you had to do is call the number or mail the form back, and they'd activate it without you ever applying for the card in the first place. Now, getting something like that in the mail would be a signal of ID theft.

It wasn't until the additional implementations of the "Truth in Lending Act" got added in 2011 (as part of the Dodd-Frank legislation) that a lot of that stuff was buttoned up.


To your part about GenZ having the highest percentage of people helping their parents with bills, I'd like to see what source you're getting that from, this article from BBC seems to indicate the opposite.

US millennials, Gen Z need parents' help to pay household bills

The Pew survey shows fewer than half aged 18-34 think themselves completely financially independent.

www.bbc.com

I think we should also quantify what "helping your parents" should mean for the context of this discussion. For instance, 20&30-somethings still living in their parents' house, and giving them $500/month toward "rent" isn't the same as a person that same age living on their own, and still giving $500/month to their parents because their parents are broke.

Lol I used to throw away pre-approved credit card offers once a month in college.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Lol I used to throw away pre-approved credit card offers once a month in college.

Not sure if your age is similar to mine, but it was even worse than that. When some of the low-end banks and retail stores started getting in the game, it wasn't just a pre-approved offer, it was the actual credit card (or the number) you didn't ask for (name on it, what the actual card number would be, etc...) and it was a "Call 1-800-Blah-Blah to activate" and you could use it at a store that same day.

Thankfully, I had the sense when I was younger to destroy the card, and then call the number to have them take me off their list.

For young people, "here's access to $3000 at 12pm that you didn't have at 10am" can be a tempting offer.

The retailer Guitar Center was absolutely terrible for that. They'd get young people in the store, ask them to fill out a survey card listing what kind of music they liked, what kind of guitars they looked at (in exchange for $5 store credit if you filled out the survey). Low and behold, you'd get a pre-approved card "Just call this number to activate", and whaddya know, the credit line was almost exactly the amount of the guitar you said you liked on the survey. What are the odds? lol


So I truly feel that it's not a case where the two younger generations have any better impulse control or financial savvy (they've shown otherwise with their reported spending habits I mentioned earlier, and they've also shown themselves to be extremely impulsive with regards to the causes they'll blindly get behind, and the kinds of college debt they'll gleefully sign up for), it's that the credit card companies aren't legally allowed to dangle the same kinds of carrots in front of them that they could for young people 20 years ago.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Not sure if your age is similar to mine, but it was even worse than that. When some of the low-end banks and retail stores started getting in the game, it wasn't just a pre-approved offer, it was the actual credit card (or the number) you didn't ask for (name on it, what the actual card number would be, etc...) and it was a "Call 1-800-Blah-Blah to activate" and you could use it at a store that same day.

Thankfully, I had the sense when I was younger to destroy the card, and then call the number to have them take me off their list.

For young people, "here's access to $3000 at 12pm that you didn't have at 10am" can be a tempting offer.

The retailer Guitar Center was absolutely terrible for that. They'd get young people in the store, ask them to fill out a survey card listing what kind of music they liked, what kind of guitars they looked at (in exchange for $5 store credit if you filled out the survey). Low and behold, you'd get a pre-approved card "Just call this number to activate", and whaddya know, the credit line was almost exactly the amount of the guitar you said you liked on the survey. What are the odds? lol


So I truly feel that it's not a case where the two younger generations have any better impulse control or financial savvy (they've shown otherwise with their reported spending habits I mentioned earlier, and they've also shown themselves to be extremely impulsive with regards to the causes they'll blindly get behind, and the kinds of college debt they'll gleefully sign up for), it's that the credit card companies aren't legally allowed to dangle the same kinds of carrots in front of them that they could for young people 20 years ago.

I do remember the actual cards....but I more vividly remember these fake like card-stock....or cheap laminate temporary cards that would act as cards when you activate them....which I imagine was shortly followed by the real card in the mail post-activation. It seems like something they did to cut the cost of all those credit cards being thrown out or cut up.

 

[FireDragon76]

That's exactly it. They lack independence and self reliance. Haven't been taught those attributes and how being an adult works.

Or maybe the world is changing and different values are more salient now for certain demographics or age groups?

I wish cultural conservatives would realize that their particular historical conditioning doesn't give them God-like powers of insight. They rightly complain when critics lazily condemn some figure from the past, but don't extend this same grace to future generations as well.

 

[ozso]

Or maybe the world is changing and different values are more salient now for certain demographics or age groups?

I wish cultural conservatives would realize that their particular historical conditioning doesn't give them God-like powers of insight. They rightly complain when critics lazily condemn some figure from the past, but don't extend this same grace to future generations as well.

What does that have to do with a kid simply being taught how to look after themselves? It's really not that big of a challenge. It's simply the ordinary way to raise children. High schools as well should teach it.

The philosophical progressive goofy way some kids are raised doesn't work. And they end up needing mommy with them to get a job, and they live with their parent(s) into their 30s.

 

[FireDragon76]

What does that have to do with a kid simply being taught how to look after themselves? It's really not that big of a challenge. It's simply the ordinary way to raise children. High schools as well should teach it.

"Looking after themselves" is a value whose salience could be considered culturally contingent, and whose importance might not be the same as it once was.

The philosophical progressive goofy way some kids are raised doesn't work. And they end up needing mommy with them to get a job, and they live with their parent(s) into their 30s.

That could just be a consequence of extended lifespans and different economic conditions, not a defect in character.

 

[ozso]

"Looking after themselves" is a value whose salience could be considered culturally contingent, and whose importance might not be the same as it once was.

I don't what that's supposed to mean. But it doesn't sound realistic or practical.

That could just be a consequence of extended lifespans and different economic conditions, not a defect in character.

Sounds like abstract philosophical excuse making for not raising a child correctly.

 

[FireDragon76]

I don't what that's supposed to mean. But it doesn't sound realistic or practical.

The world is a different place even from when I was a young adult, and I'm 48 years old. The world does change, especially with the rapid technological advances that have happened in my lifetime.

Whole sectors of the economy don't exist anymore. When I was growing up, people watched movies by going to this thing called a "video store", usually staffed by teenagers. An entire generation of kids have grown up that don't even know what that is. Today's jobs, on the other hand, are much more likely to require completely different skillsets and there is going to be a corresponding difference in virtues emphasized.

Sounds like abstract philosophical excuse making for not raising a child correctly.

This assumes there's only one correct way to raise a child. I don't think there is.

And just because a concept pertains to abstract philosophy, doesn't mean it isn't valid. Frankly I don't understand why my words are so unclear. Things change, isn't that obvious? If material conditions change, then the emphasis on values must change as well, in order for their to be any meaningful fittedness or relevance realization, which is something the human organism needs to flourish.

 

[FireDragon76]

They are getting mixed messages.

The younger generation doesn’t want to work anymore. Younger generation goes to get help getting jobs, then it’s “what, you can’t do it with mommy and daddy?”

After being raised hearing that the most important indicator to adult success is an active, supportive, present family, now they’re being told to be a successful adult you shouldn’t see your parents as resources, you should know how to do it on your own.

It’s ok to have been thrown by the pandemic, we all were. But wait, those who reached age of majority benchmarks when the world was closed find themselves hitting benchmarks later? What’s wrong with them?

A big swath of Gen Z hasn’t even entered high school, the swath that has entered was pushed back by the pandemic, so why aren’t they self-reliant yet?

Gen Z over 20 and young millennials under 35 have the highest literacy, graduation rates, are the age with the lowest unemployment, the lowest average credit card debt, and (as of this year) are now the generation with the highest percentage of people helping their parents with bills and expenses. But why are they lazy? Why aren’t they self-sufficient?

Thats all super conflicting ideologies.

Young people now days need our prayers, not our criticism.

 

[ozso]

The world is a different place even from when I was a young adult, and I'm 48 years old. The world does change, especially with the rapid technological advances that have happened in my lifetime.

Whole sectors of the economy don't exist anymore. When I was growing up, people watched movies by going to this thing called a "video store", usually staffed by teenagers. An entire generation of kids have grown up that don't even know what that is. Today's jobs, on the other hand, are much more likely to require completely different skillsets and there is going to be a corresponding difference in virtues emphasized.

If you were raised to look after yourself by a certain age, then you were raised the same as your parents and their parents and so on back to when TV didn't exist. So I'm not following your train of thought. 16 year olds still work at fast food joints, work retail, work as apprentices etc. There is no starting job these days that requires a parent to supervise their child. Although one thing that's new, compared to when you were 16, is there's oodles of info on the internet on how to do a job interview, including endless instructional videos. So really a 16 year old has all that less of an excuse for not being able to go to an interview on their own.

This assumes there's only one correct way to raise a child. I don't think there is.

And just because a concept pertains to abstract philosophy, doesn't mean it isn't valid. Frankly I don't understand why my words are so unclear. Things change, isn't that obvious? If material conditions change, then the emphasis on values must change as well, in order for their to be any meaningful fittedness or relevance realization, which is something the human organism needs to flourish.

Things have changed dramatically over the last 120 years. Yet it's only recently that some 16 to 20 year olds can't manage to go to a job interview on their own. However I know that's not going to be the case with the kids in my extended family, because I know how they're being raised. The oldest is is 17 and I'll bet anything he has a driver's license and got a job on his own. And I'll bet his cousin who's the next oldest at 16 has probably also achieved the that.

As for other ways to raise children the proof of how practical it is, is seen in how they turn out. If they can't get a job on their own and dive a car by the time they're 17, they're not being raised correctly.

 

[ozso]

Young people now days need our prayers, not our criticism.

They need constructive criticism as well.