I have seen the struggles of young people in the current job market. I have also seen a lot of Boomer vs. Gen Z rhetoric. I am not sure how much is real and how much is divisive propaganda put out by foreign trolls, but I am sure that the news articles’ general theme of Twenty Ways My Generations Hates Your Generation has reached and influenced a lot of thinking.

Okay, let’s do something about it. I’m pretty disappointed with my own generation, which is not quite Boomy but fits more under a label of Generation Jones. We grew up with disco and hair metal, not the Beatles; grunge was later. We were probably the last free-range generation, almost surely the last to be spanked, and so forth. I’m not taking a stand on what’s better, except that there is a definite correlation between taking risks and learning life lessons. My generation was permitted that, and those after it only decreasingly so. Mine, and those after it, lied to their children. The parents told their kids that their future was the most important thing, and they didn’t carry that through. It had to suck reaching adulthood and finding that no one besides one’s parents gave a damn about one.

The hard fact is that the modern workplace is typically run by older people, and entry-level is typically where most younger workers arrive. This means that Gen Z has a choice. It can either meet its elders partway, or it can decline. If it does the latter, by the time it gains power to change the nature of the workplace in its own image:

• It will find itself condemned by its own juniors as hopeless fossils. (Even if it tried to help those same juniors and advocate for them for the intervening decades. Believe that. I started cussing my generation in my mid-twenties; haven’t let up. Still hearing it.)
• It will have changed its ideas. (Scoff? Look at the Boomers. As youth, they did LSD and joined hippie communes. Then they got jobs and moved into middle management and some even voted for fascism. You think you’re different? Nothing new under the sun.)

Yeah, that’s what you can look forward to.

In the meantime, there is that little thing called earning a living. There is another little thing called meeting people halfway. Rather than have AI write your next cover letter for you, try writing it yourself. If it has some errors, at least they’ll know it’s for real. Here’s one that you could adapt. What, you’ve already sent out two hundred and not a bite? Then you cannot do worse.

Watch this. If none of it describes your work habits and outlook, well, you can either stick to those and stay out of work, or you can adjust them. If you can’t, I don’t suggest applying because you might get the job and then have management expect you to be who they thought they were hiring.

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Dear Recruiter,

Please consider me for the Widget Inspector position you advertised on SweatShop.com. I am an energetic, reliable worker looking for new opportunities.

If hired, I will act like an adult. I will be where I’m supposed to be, on time, without making regular excuses for poor personal time management. I believe that work/life balance actually requires the ‘work’ part, and to get the ‘life balance’ part one must give thought to the employer’s needs.

I do not believe that mental health struggles are a valid workplace topic, and I will manage those myself without bothering you. If I have gender or lifestyle issues, I will not make them workplace issues–nor bother anyone else about theirs.

Speaking of the workplace, while working from home is great, I’m open to commuting for the right opportunity. Simply put, commuting costs money, and if I do not need to spend that money I can accept a lower starting wage. (Obviously, I can also do simple mathematics.) Either way, I will prioritize good relationships with management and co-workers, because nothing gets old as fast as discord on the job. I think job-hopping is a bad practice because it results in learning nothing comprehensively, so I want to find a good place and stay.

I can and will learn anything I put my mind to, and I prefer to try and figure things out myself rather than ask constant questions. I welcome supervision but don’t need or want a work nanny; I work well independently. The quicker I can make myself productive, the more value I can bring to the table. If I do not know what to do at a given time, I will do something intelligent that doesn’t embarrass us.

Ethics and social responsibility are important to me, and I think they are important to you or I would not apply there. The good news is that ethics, as I grasp the concept, mean that I take pride in meeting my work obligations while remaining an honest yet tactful team player. In short, I believe that if I want you to care about my outcomes, I must start by caring about yours.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. What I wear to your interview will be a good example of what I would wear to the job, unless there are special requirements to which I will adjust–if so, I’m sure you’ll tell me so that when you hire me, I show up looking like I’m ready to do what you hire me to do.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

 

Haighlea Houseafire

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They will call you in just to see what sort of person has enough brass and confidence to face the facts of what they’re really hoping to find.

Best of success. I mean that wholeheartedly.