By skyforbes I stepped out for a bit to focus on my kid and when I tried to return, it felt like the entire job economy had been set to hard mode. Five-round interviews for roles that used to be simple, entry-level positions asking for senior-level portfolios, layoffs everywhere, and companies paying one-person salaries for three-person workloads. It’s genuinely the worst I’ve seen since I started working.
Even more so, Gen Z didn’t create this mess. They’re just entering the workforce at the exact moment it’s falling apart. So yeah I don’t blame them for job hopping. I don’t blame them for choosing themselves. I don’t blame them for not romanticizing loyalty to companies that can let you go in a single afternoon. Meanwhile, I’m out here rebuilding my career at 36, using tools like ChatGPT just to keep track of which companies have transparent hiring processes and which ones are playing Hunger Games with their interview rounds. If I need that level of organization after years of experience, I can’t imagine what it’s like for someone just starting out.
If anything, I respect Gen Z for saying out loud what other generations swallowed quietly. They’re setting boundaries we only learned the hard way. Before people criticize them, maybe we should acknowledge the truth: the system is broken and Gen Z just refuses to pretend it isn’t.