The Skills Gap: Don’t Blame Gen Z, Meet Them Where They Are
What They Bring; What They Need
In our series of posts focused on the skills gap between what employers want and what college graduates bring to the work world, we have explored how the lack of relevant information and proper incentives for students, faculty/universities, and employers helps create the gap. While we also offered a set of ideas to address the information and incentive issues outlined in these posts, some argue the skills gap has a much simpler explanation: today’s Gen Z students don’t want to work.
Is the skills gap really the students’ fault? Spoiler alert: no. Generational differences in student attitudes and preparation are nothing new. And, if universities are going to play their role as a transformational bridge between the skills and aptitudes students bring to them and what employers want, they need to meet Gen Z students where they are.
Assertions Abound: Gen Z Won’t Work
Gen Z has been called out as lacking motivation and effort, without work ethic and being generally unprepared, not self-directed/able to stay on task, having no resilience and grit, ... the list goes on. Why?
Source: ResumeBuilder.com
First, we believe there is more than a little ‘the older I get, the better I was’ here. Every generation looks at the previous one with a certain smugness that comes with having held a job and accumulated work experience – all colored by what is important to that generation. New graduates don’t have the experience someone already in the work world has – but that has ALWAYS been true.
Generational attitudes are shaped by the environment the generation grows up in. Born beginning in 1997, Gen Z experienced the Great Recession, a global pandemic, serious racial unrest, and divisive politics. Gen Zers are the first true digital natives. They have only known a world that is fully connected digitally, literally born with a mobile device in their hands. Put all this together and it is no surprise that some of Gen Z’s experiences and values are not aligned with today’s work world.
What Gen Z Brings – and Doesn’t Bring
We can’t possibly synthesize everything written about this generation but here is one general description of Gen Z we like:
...a typical Gen Zer is a self-driver who deeply cares about others, strives for a diverse community, is highly collaborative and social, values flexibility, relevance, authenticity and non-hierarchical leadership, and, while dismayed about inherited issues like climate change, has a pragmatic attitude about the work that has to be done to address those issues.
Focusing specifically on factors that are relevant for the work world, Gen Z values collaboration and teamwork, is pragmatic, wants to make a difference, wants leaders who guide by consensus, and looks for trust and authenticity. In general, they do not bring as much traditional work experience to college as prior generations. That said, other studies show many Gen Zers earned money in high school through (flexible) digital means – not traditional high school jobs with quick service restaurants, retailers, or mowing yards. Gen Z traded high school work experience for more time on their educational activities.
Gen Z is more focused on finding a balance between their work life and their personal life. Some consider this trait a lack of work ethic/lazy – we think Gen Z is on to something! Gen Z’s perspective actually continues a longer trend in U.S. 12th grader attitudes toward work, with the idea that work is a central part of life declining from 1976 to mid-2000s. After 2005-2006, attitudes toward the importance of work stabilized and became more positive until the global pandemic in 2020 when opinions about work centrality declined dramatically.
Figure: Work Centrality, U.S. 12th graders, 1976-2022. Source: Generation Tech; Monitoring the Future
Gen Z watched as their parents lost jobs during the Great Recession, shaping their perspective on loyalty to a firm. Older Gen Zers experienced a strong job market, lowering any qualms about leaving their employer, but recent inflation and a softer economy has made financial security a bigger concern and salary more important.
Despite that, Gen Z is still quick to reject an assignment or leave an organization for another if they find the organization’s values are not aligned with their own. The response to COVID-19 and opportunities to work digitally shaped their expectations about where work has to be done and how it has to be organized.
While Gen Z believes that personal communication is a crucial professional skill, the digital world they live in has not allowed them to fully develop these skills. Mental health and well-being are a priority. The educational/social challenges they faced when the world went on-line during COVID-19 robbed Gen Z of crucial personal developmental opportunities – stuck in an apartment taking virtual courses was not a normal college experience. Not surprisingly, many Gen Z students do not believe their college education prepared them for the emotional or behavioral impact of the transition to the workplace.
Prepared for What: Today’s Work World or Tomorrow’s?
Less interest in salary and professional advancement, more flexibility in where and how they work, less respect for hierarchy and more focus on consensus, being true to the values they hold in their work choices, prioritizing their mental health – all of that is enough to give a hard-nosed, 60-hour week, earn your stripes, ‘do as I say manager’ a bad case of heartburn!
Clearly Gen Z brings a different set of values and experiences to the work world. But, the disconnect between what they bring and what employers want depends on who you ask. Younger employers believe Gen Zers are better prepared than older employers. Employers’ view of specific preparation gaps also varies substantially with the age of the employer. For example, oral and written communications are two of the top three skills employers over 50 would like to see colleges focus on more, while employers under 40 want to see more emphasis on critical thinking and complex problem-solving.
Source: AACU
Given they will be an increasing proportion of the workforce in the coming years, should Gen Z adapt to the work world, or will they redefine the work world?
Some Ideas
If traditional colleges and universities are going to succeed in preparing students for successful careers, they must meet Gen Z students where they are – building on their strengths and helping them grow in underdeveloped areas. This means more than getting them in the proper calculus class and counseling them into a major that fits their goals and aptitudes.
In earlier posts, we offered a number of ideas on addressing skills gap incentive challenges that would help universities meet Gen Z where they are including relentlessly connecting choices students make today with future benefits, increasing support for high-impact learning experiences, making it easier for employers to engage and inform programming, expanding industry involvement in student experiences, and studying student-employer engagements to improve student preparation. Some additional ideas follow:
Use detailed information on student’s work and leadership experiences, personality profiles and community involvement to develop a professional skills development plan to complement their plan of study. A team of advisors, counselors and career coaches could steer students into on-campus and work experiences to address weaknesses and complement strengths.
Help faculty understand how Gen Z is different and what those differences mean specifically for their classes and how they teach. While some on campus are experts in this area and have a deep understanding of Gen Z values and experiences (especially student life professionals), not enough of what they know makes it into the hands of faculty who could use such insights to modify teaching approaches.
Given they have less work experience, it becomes even more important to expose Gen Z students to opportunities that help them better understand work world realities. As digital natives, Gen Z is ready and able to put technology to work in creative ways and they should be challenged to do so. That said, they are far better at collecting information than analyzing it. Assignments that build information literacy and data analysis skills are essential.
While they appreciate the need for stronger interpersonal skills, this area is typically underdeveloped in Gen Z and they need to be challenged to develop these skills over the course of their studies. Interactive games are a creative tool that can be used to develop communication skills, along with other professional skills. In-class exercises can capitalize on the collaborative nature of Gen Z.
Engage employers. Universities SHOULD know a lot about their graduates – including how they differ from previous generations. Given this, universities should help educate employers about generational differences and what those differences mean for employers’ own onboarding and professional development programs – and for the work world more generally.
Addressing the information and incentive issues we have raised previously will be essential in making the above happen. But, we believe there is real opportunity for the university that acknowledges the strengths and weaknesses of Gen Z students, ensures students understand the reality of the work world, adapts programs to address gaps in workforce readiness, and engages employers on their strengths and weaknesses. We better get this right, because Generation Alpha is on the way…
Finding Equilibrium: What Next?
This is our last post for 2024. We will be back on January 3, 2025 and look forward to sharing our thoughts and perspectives with you in the coming year. To our academic readers, we wish you the best as you wrap up your semester. To all of our readers, we thank you for your support and wish you a happy and healthy holiday season!
Research assistance provided by Marley Hertier
“Finding Equilibrium” is coauthored by Jay Akridge, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Trustee Chair in Teaching and Learning Excellence, and Provost Emeritus at Purdue University and David Hummels, Distinguished Professor of Economics and Dean Emeritus at the Daniels School of Business at Purdue.