WASHINGTON (TND) — A recent survey found nearly 40% of employers avoid hiring recent college graduates in favor of older employees.

Survey reveals tough job market for Gen Z grads due to employer preferences (TND)

According to Intelligent.com, Gen Z college graduates are struggling with many aspects of professional life.

Their survey of 800 U.S. managers, directors, and executives who are involved in hiring, found these key results:

38% of employers avoid hiring recent college graduates in favor of older employees

1 in 5 employers have had a recent college graduate bring a parent to a job interview

58% say recent college graduates are unprepared for the workforce

Nearly half of employers have had to fire a recent college graduate

  • bl4ckblooc@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Companies: won’t hire college graduates Also Companies: “College graduates aren’t prepared for the workforce”

    • Szymon@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      Also companies: you need to be a college graduate

      Colleges: you give me money and I give you a piece of paper. You can get your education from YouTube.

      • Peppycito@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        You can get your education from YouTube.

        That right there is a big part of the problem. Watching someone do something is not the same as knowing how to do that thing yourself. Especially when the youtuber is just some fuckup selling TV dinners.

  • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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    8 months ago

    Let’s stop this idiotic hazing ritual. 15 years ago I was a recent grad and people were saying similar stuff. These attitudes kept people my age out of many workplaces. It was shortsighted.

    I was rejected many times before I got my first job, and managers in my first roles used my age against me a lot, especially when I didn’t stay in my lane. Finally a company removed my leash and treated me as an opportunity rather than a threat, and they got a big return on that investment, but it took years to find a place like that.

    We were acquired and I’m doing other stuff now, but when I see my products in the wild, I sometimes wonder about all those hiring managers who couldn’t see past my age. Did they ever learn that unreplaceable means unpromotable? Did they ever learn to have a bench? What would we have built together if they weren’t so afraid of change?

    Of course this is just one story, and profit isn’t a proper motive for doing what’s right. But those who don’t care that ageism is bad for society should at least consider that it’s bad for business and their careers.

    • GuyMcGuy@startrek.website
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      8 months ago

      The thing is people come and go through this phase of life relatively briefly. Then it’s not their problem anymore. Nobody is in it long enough to care to change it.

      • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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        8 months ago

        Maybe so, but if our generation knows what it’s like to find the ladders pulled up, and we don’t care enough to put them back for the younger people behind us, who will?

  • KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I’ll acknowledge that 1-in-5 bring parents bit is pretty wild to me as I’m assuming it was more than just a ride.

    • RandomWalker@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      1-in-5 of the survey respondents say they’ve seen a recent grad bring in a parent. That doesn’t mean 1-in-5 bring parents.

      • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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        8 months ago

        That doesnt even mean anyone brought in parents. Thats an easy lie that multiple managers Ive worked for would gleefully tell

          • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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            8 months ago

            Reinforcing stereotypes they believe are true despite lack of evidence.

            Like how these same people swore up and down that millenials were lazy, greedy, worthless members of society not 10 years prior. Wasnt true then, isnt true now, but I spent my working years getting an earful of “examples” of why millenials were awful workers.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That doesn’t mean 1-in-5 bring parents. It means 1-in-5 interviewers have seen someone bring in a parent. If an interviewer has 500 interviews and 1 brings in a parent, that interviewer is one of the five who has seen a parent at an interview. Even though it was only 1 in 500 interviews for them, they’re still 1-in-5 interviewers.

      Hell, it could even be the same fucking parent at every interview, if it’s a small enough industry. Maybe that same college grad applied to all of the local jobs in the industry (because of course they did; it’s what they studied for) and so all the interviewers in that part of the industry have seen a parent at an interview. It’s still only the 1 parent, but all of the interviewers in the area have seen them, so they all report that they’ve seen a recent college grad bring a parent.

      • Matt@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        I think every single generation does that when they’re young. They freak out the old folks. Eventually they become the old folks, and then younger generations are freaking them out.

        It’s like we forget how the boomers were criticized for their rock-n-roll music (huge amounts of panic). We forget that Gen X’ers were supposed to be a bunch of disaffected slackers. Rinse. Repeat.

        It’s a choice to participate in the moral panic du jour, you know. I think Gen Z will end up being just fine, just like everyone else.

  • bigbluealien@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    “Small survey finds majority of employers looking for fresh graduates, though as would be expected most graduates need to develop professional skills. Sometimes weird people turn up to interviews, which is sad funny, and every now and then you hire someone who’s a bad fit”. This is normal

  • OpenStars@startrek.website
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    8 months ago

    It is a sad fact that for-profit universities and colleges sometimes hand out degrees like candy, making them not worth the paper they are printed on. In essence they trade on their past reputations, hoping that nobody will notice. Well, people noticed. Students, after they start interviewing, often BEG their professors to actually teach them what they need to know. But they cannot, b/c, and I cannot state this hard enough, the purpose of a for-profit education system is not to teach, but to… can you guess what I am about to say… say it with me now… “just make profits”.

  • M500@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    There are plenty of millennials looking for work. If I could hire someone with work experience or something with no experience, the choice is obvious.

    Additionally, I have heard complaints about gen z from millennials and older. Even in my very very small business, gen z workers have been very unreliable.

    The work they do is to make things, they are paid for the things they make. They are paid well above the market rate. Like significantly higher, but they still disappear for a month or two at a time without warning and don’t respond to messages.

    There is always a final exam or family emergency. I don’t mind if they take time off, but c’mon. How many finals exams can you have per year.

    So due to their lack of communication I often need to find people to replace them. Millennial workers are hard working and produce high quality work. They often over communicate.

    So this is my perspective on the issue.

    I do have some very good gen z workers and some bad millennial workers, but that is the exception.

    • OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      With 4 college semesters (two standard and two accelerated summer sessions) I’d say they could probably have a final exam at least once every 3 months.

      I think it’s best we evaluate workers as individuals and leave ALL generational labeling out of it.

    • Elise@beehaw.org
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      8 months ago

      I’m a millennial and it sounds just like me and the majority of people I know. A friend of mine just gave up during this Christmas because she wasn’t feeling well and her manager kept pressuring her and making her feel guilty. I can tell you my friend is a nice and honest woman, but this just scared her and made it even harder to return. She’s completely freaking out now and started drinking and it takes me a lot of effort to support her.

      I’ve been there myself too. Loved my job. Perfect track record for a year. Then suddenly for a day I had 5 bosses, each giving me conflicting orders. I clearly communicated multiple times that it doesn’t work and that I need one boss. I’m sure that if they would’ve spoken to me as a human being that I would’ve continued. I cared and they didn’t.

      But ya then the next day I was ready to go but at my door this powerful dread came over me and I simply froze. And then you just start feeling worse due to guilt and so on and it becomes harder to overcome that barrier. After a month I managed to finally overcome my fear and return to the same job with the same people! I’m still proud of that. Unfortunately there was a lingering resentment from my manager’s side. I decided to move and do something else, eventhough I loved that job and I was good at it.

      It’s not a comment on you, because I wasn’t there. But in all the situations this happened to my friends and me it was always due to a lack of half decent communication. One could argue that a manager should be good at listening.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    38% of employers avoid hiring recent college graduates in favor of older employees

    My god y’all are entitled little bitches.

    “They’re hiring people with life and professional experience vs. ME! I got a piece of paper and the world owes me all the things!

    Yes, generally speaking, GenZ has it worst of all. They got it worse than the Boomers, GenX (me) and the Millennials. No doubt.

    But maybe the constant whining and bitching has something to do with being a pain in the ass to employ?

    My small employer is wildly liberal (and successful!), not good enough for GenZ. Not HR, but I onboard all the new people and I can tell who will last and who won’t given their age.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      People invest insane amounts of money in a college degree. After spending years to earn that “piece of paper”, hoping for a decent job in return isn’t entitlement.

      These are people who are looking for an opportunity to earn money; they’re not expecting a handout.

    • the_q@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      You didn’t need to tell us your were Gen x… You guys are a hip replacement away from being boomers.

      • Skates@feddit.nl
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        8 months ago

        A genx with a hip replacement will still be a genx, but with now less hip pains. Do you think… Hips somehow… Relate to age?

        Is this a “count the rings thing” taught to genz now? Is Shakira some sort of prophet for you guys, because of “hips don’t lie”?