Anyone who has ever applied for a job knows that there’s a right way and a wrong way to approach the interview.
The right way is to dress appropriately for the position, do your research into the hiring firm, and frame your responses around what you can do for your putative employer, rather than what they can do for you.
The wrong way is to turn up on the wrong day and an hour late, dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie, call the HR director “Buddy”, and then signal your boredom by whipping out your phone and scrolling through Instagram reels of dogs having sex with the furniture.
The problem for many companies is that anyone under the age of 35 now believes that the wrong way is the right way, and that anyone who thinks differently is a boomer fossil.
New research suggests a significant number of employers believe young people (Gen Z) struggle with job interviews, with many managers citing a decline in personal skills.
There was a time when having “soft skills” meant being able to address a conference, entertain clients at the theatre, perhaps speak a second language. Now it means not falling asleep at your desk.
Being a bad employer once meant hiring prepubescent orphans to work in coal mines or to toil for 16 hours a day, without a break, outdoors in torrential rain, operating heavy machinery that hadn’t had a safety check since the fall of Constantinople.
Now asking an employee to rewrite an email with proper spelling and punctuation can land you a referral to the International Court of Justice. How can you be a good employer when three quarters of your staff think smashed avocado on sourdough is a human right?
A survey of 800 hiring managers found that one in five believe recent graduates are underprepared, struggling with communication, eye contact, and professional behaviour, with nearly 40% more likely to hire an older candidate.
Employers reported that younger candidates often lack a professional demeanour, describing instances of some checking phones mid-interview or having parents join the interview.
In virtual settings, more than one in five employers said young candidates had refused to turn on their cameras.
Disruption caused by the Covid pandemic was cited as a reason, with many young people entering the workforce with less experience of face-to-face interaction and cancelled internships.
High rates of anxiety and social anxiety, exacerbated by social media isolation during the pandemic, have impacted the ability of some young people to perform under pressure.
One manager, posting on a chat forum, said: “Younger people seem to think that being on time is optional, and that it’s acceptable to call in sick over a stomach ache 10 minutes before they are due to start work.
“I had a former employee raise his voice at me and the owner when we fired him for being late, after we gave him nine written warnings for lateness over a four-month period. I even told him that, if he was late one more time, he would lose his job.
“He seemed genuinely shocked that we followed through on our threat, and when he was done yelling, immediately started begging for another chance saying he’ll never be late again. Talk about insult to injury.
“I don’t want to sound like a boomer, but the entitlement is honestly astounding and I’m sick of having to hold these kids’ hands and explain to them that work is not like school or a hobby – you actually have real responsibilities that affect other people, and you have to fight for your job.”