How Gen Zers can beat negative stereotypes in a tough job market

Khyati Sundaram, the CEO of Applied, shared why Gen Z may be facing bias from potential employers due to their age, and how they can overcome it.

• Gen Z may face hiring bias, with a third reporting age discrimination in a recent survey.
• AI, portfolio careers, and stereotypes could make recruiters distrust Gen Z.
• A CEO advises young candidates to focus on their skills and not let rejections get them down.

Everyone is likely to face challenges early on in their career, but Gen Zers feel they're discriminated against — largely because of their age.

And they have a point. In a survey from Resume Builder earlier this year, over a third (36%) of the 1,000 hiring managers polled said they had a bias against Gen Z candidates.

New research from Applied, an inclusivity and diversity-led recruitment software, also found that out of 2,000 respondents in the UK, 36% of Zoomer respondents believe they have experienced hiring bias.

The survey results, shared with Business Insider in an email, showed that Gen Z respondents felt the top reason for this discrimination was their age — 21% of respondents aged 16-24 cited this. Age came above ethnicity (19%) and gender (15%).

AI and outdated methods

Khyati Sundaram, the CEO of Applied, told BI there could be a couple of reasons behind this prejudice against Zoomers.

Firstly, developments in AI have made recruiters "hypervigilant," Sundaram said. Gen Zers are seen as the cohort most likely to write their résumés and cover letters with the help of ChatGPT and other AI services.

"They're seeing more and more call mediocre applications or applications that resemble each other," Sundaram said. "So we've seen a spike in that where there's general distrust of the system."

Secondly, Gen Zers are fans of "portfolio careers," Sundaram said, where they have multiple projects at one time and career gaps, which might seem erratic and random to a more traditional hiring manager.

"Employers don't really know how to judge that," Sundaram said. "People who are 50, 60, they've probably done one or two jobs in their lives. So if they are in managerial positions, that's what good looks like to them."

When a CV comes in with four jobs in four years, it's unfamiliar, but it doesn't mean that candidate is a bad choice.

Having a bias toward career paths similar to one's own can trip hiring managers up, according to Sundaram.

Stereotypes hold them back

Gen Z suffers from being stereotyped. But it's not entirely without reason.

Recruiters have noted them exhibiting strange behaviors, such as bringing their parents to interviews, attending video calls at the salon, driving, or wearing a bathrobe.

They are the generation known to champion work-life balance and flexibility. A Gen Z creator was the first to coin the term "lazy-girl job."

Business Insider has previously reported that Gen Z employees are more comfortable job-hopping and have started reneging on job offers, which frustrates the recruiters who work hard to place them.

Overall, these generalizations aren't helpful, according to Sundaram, because they just exacerbate the problem. The workforce's expectations are shifting; it's not just the impact of "Gen Z particulars," she added.

"Five years ago, nobody would've thought that people sitting at home and working from their laptop in their garden were actually doing work," Sundaram said, adding now people agree that working from home is effective. "Times are just changing."

How to get noticed

For Gen Zers still facing hiring discrimination, Sundaram's advice is to focus on their skills — identifying the precise ones outlined in job descriptions and demonstrating that you have them in job applications.

Out of the 36% of hiring managers who admitted to bias against Gen Z workers, 77% stated their concern stemmed from a lack of experience, according to the ResumeBuilder.com study.

"Use real-world examples of times when you've solved relevant problems or showcased the attributes the company is looking for," she added. "Rather than straying into personal information or hobbies, try and focus specifically on the role at hand."

While cutting and pasting cover letters and applications can be tempting, personalizing it for the dream roles "will pay dividends," Sundaram said.

There's also no harm in casting your net more widely, she added.

"Don't let a lack of previous experience in a new sector or not having a related university degree hold you back," she said. "Role-relevant transferable skills are a far more accurate indicator of a candidate's ability to succeed."

Sundaram recommends writing down a list of your strengths and to "think laterally about all the various sectors and roles they apply to."

Lastly, don't be disheartened by rejection, Sundaram said.

"I applied to hundreds of roles before landing a job at Applied, which eventually led to my becoming CEO," she said. "Rejection might, therefore, be a sign that a particular job isn't quite right for you."