Gen Z thinks government should solve societal issues. Is it ready to hire them?
An 11th grade student at Wakefield High School, studies from his home in Arlington, Virginia. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
The workforce’s youngest generation has a desire to address major problems. This creates a unique opportunity for state and local governments.
Professional athlete, online content creator, musician, doctor, firefighter, ballerina, policeman and teacher. Those are just some of the answers teens gave when asked in a survey several years ago what they wanted to be when they grew up.
It’s unlikely the answer someone offers at 17 years old is exactly what they stick with, but a more recent survey gives employers a glance into what current adolescents and young adults in Generation Z are thinking about their future jobs.
As more of Gen Z comes of age and enters the workforce, a new report from the National Society of High School Scholars, or NSHSS, sheds light on what the workforce’s youngest generation—the oldest of whom are 27—are looking for, including preferred careers and ideal work environments. It’s based on a survey of more than 10,000 Gen Z respondents and provides a glimpse into their personalities.
For instance, Gen Z is notably more diverse and educated than previous generations. The group is also more likely to believe that the government should play a larger role in solving societal issues.
If hiring managers don’t look at the employment landscape through the younger generation’s lenses, James Lewis, president of NSHSS, said, “they’re going to miss the opportunity to connect with young, brilliant individuals.”
A defining marker in Gen Z’s development is the fact they lived through the COVID-19 pandemic. It dramatically altered how they went to school and started their first jobs, catapulting millions of individuals from classrooms and offices to kitchen countertops and couches in their homes, Lewis said. Plus, the pandemic pulled back the curtain on a range of issues like inequities in health care, affordable housing, internet access and more.
Their unique experience has shaped how they approach their job search, the survey found. Nearly half of respondents—46%—said they were interested in a medicine- or health-related career, in part due to witnessing the impact of the pandemic.
Health care and health-related issues were also most important to respondents, and the top preferred employers identified by participants were hospitals and health care institutions. Health benefits came out on top of what 72% of respondents said was the most important perk to them as well.
“This generation is much more in tune with important societal issues … and more in touch with who they are [and] things that have affected them,” Lewis said. Older generations might have prioritized other job perks like generous vacation time or pathways to promotion, but it’s “a higher level of thinking for Gen Z.”
Gen Z’s desire to address major problems creates a unique opportunity for state and local governments. Recent research by the MissionSquare Research Institute found that state and local government employment totals have finally rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. But they still face challenges in recruiting and retaining talent.
To entice younger workers into the public sector, Lewis said employers should advertise a job’s potential to make a difference in their communities and focus interviews on a candidates’ aspirations to achieve that.
Hiring managers may also need to revamp how they approach Gen Z entirely. “The old ways of recruiting, interviewing and identifying candidates is not really appropriate,” Lewis said. The public sector has long relied on job fairs or career days at local schools and universities, but employers will find Gen Z largely socializes in an online environment.
That information gives employers an opportunity to leverage social media in their hiring efforts. For instance, Lewis said, agencies can profile current employees to speak about their experiences and successes and share those stories to social media platforms in a bid to connect with Gen Z applicants.
The generation stands out from others in that they show high interest in in-person career and training opportunities. The survey found 67% of respondents expected employers to offer in-person training, which Lewis said comes at a time when current employees have grown comfortable in their remote settings.
“Gen Z … is hungry for knowledge, and they want to be involved in an environment where they’re learning from their coworkers and their leaders,” he said. Agencies must consider how to balance a workforce that’s accustomed to working remotely and an incoming population that is seeking in-person experiences.
“Some job opportunities will lend itself to working remotely,” Lewis said, “but with this whole new generation seeking to be in office, [employers] need to have staff there that can train, mentor, supervise and help the young people grow within their jobs.”
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