Gen Z gets a bad rap

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Chama
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Maybe it’s because I work in the trades but I have a metric shit ton of dudes in their late teens and early 20’s dropping resumes and trying to get on with my company. More than any age group and it’s not even close.

I hired 2 young guys, one 21 and one 23 and both are all stars tbh. They are both eager to learn and hard working. They’ve both been with me 1.5-2 years now. Also, I have 2 guys from community college who are taking pre employment electrical / industrial mechanic now with me for 1 of their 2 week work term and they impress the hell out of me too. They’ll be getting job offers assuming nothing crazy happens from now till then too because I could use a couple of apprentices.

It seems at least in my area, young men are realizing that there is a future in the trades. Curious if this is the case with you in your area. Are you finding and recruiting young people? I know it’s a small sample size but it’s promising. All I ever hear is how young people are lazy but my experience is very different albeit a small sample size. Still, my resumes are either young guys or guys in India who aren’t even in Canada, pretending to be electricians.
 
Most of that result is likely because the sample - gen Z applying for a tradie job - self-selects for the more grounded gen Zs. You'll never encounter the fruitcake gen Z pursuing a sociology degree, liquefying their brain on TikTok all day, as construction isn't something they'd ever get involved with.
 
Before I left the trades(electrician here too!)the z group were a mixed bag, but generally did well. Saw the kids from the better backgrounds actually worked less and complained more. Those from backgrounds similar to mine would bust ass, and would check in with me when they were confused, or at a stoppage, instead of trying to hide their confusion or get out of doing more work.

All in all, they were a fine group to me. Just kids like the rest of us at one point
 
Jack Reacheround said:
Just like every generation before them, the preceding generations complain that they’re lazy. The same was said about literally every generation since people began keeping track of generations.
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But its not genist or racist if its true right?

I think someone nailed it on the head in saying that they are either balls deep or balls sleep in what they do.
 
Joe Mama said:
But its not genist or racist if its true right?

I think someone nailed it on the head in saying that they are either balls deep or balls sleep in what they do.
Click to expand...
There are going to be idiosyncrasies for any group of people, depending on social factors that affected how they have lived their lives.

But when is the cut off for gen z? And are you telling me that a significant portion of the people born the year before that cut off, two years before, three, etc., don’t also share those characteristics?

It isn’t a very valuable lens through which to analyze behavior is what I am saying. It’s pretty worthless. Except boomers. Their generation is really one where I can see most of them sharing unique characteristics that you don’t really see in other generations. But even that may be bullshit.
 
Renard said:
Most of that result is likely because the sample - gen Z applying for a tradie job - self-selects for the more grounded gen Zs. You'll never encounter the fruitcake gen Z pursuing a sociology degree, liquefying their brain on TikTok all day, as construction isn't something they'd ever get involved with.
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No but my generation did that too and so did previous ones. Besides the vaping and stupid haircuts, I don’t think they’re deserving of the shit they get.
 
I still remember to the day when the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

"I am now 'that old man' that I used to laugh at when I was their age"

I now wear it like a badge of honor while wearing a wife beater.
Up next - my AARP card benefits.
 
I've found age doesn't matter... Some will give you 120% while breaking their backs. Most feel entitled and you should be glad they even came to work that day.
 
Jack Reacheround said:
Just like every generation before them, the preceding generations complain that they’re lazy. The same was said about literally every generation since people began keeping track of generations.
Click to expand...

Differences between generations are provable scientifically, it's called a cohort effect.

Obviously each individual is unique and some of them buck the trends (or some of the trends) for their generation, but when we're dealing with averages over large sample sizes each generation has a distinct set of attitudes, beliefs, type of upbringing, social experiences, and thus behave in the world in a different way. In the case of gen Z we're looking at people who were likely heavily overprotected by their parents and may not have developed proper confidence in themselves, grew up with an iPad in their hands and never knew the world before ubiquitous Internet, social media, "smart" device use, cancel culture (e.g. being descended upon by your peers for non-conformity), may be inept in real-life social interactions, are more collectivist and globally-minded, etc. Overall there's really nothing suggesting it will be an exceptional generation who will buck trends and make their own way like say gen X, but more like a sad puppy generation who will passively follow the status quo, lacking the psychological structure to do anything more.
 
Renard said:
Most of that result is likely because the sample - gen Z applying for a tradie job - self-selects for the more grounded gen Zs. You'll never encounter the fruitcake gen Z pursuing a sociology degree, liquefying their brain on TikTok all day, as construction isn't something they'd ever get involved with.
Click to expand...
<PlusJuan>

Every generation has good people and useless shitheads.

I would maintain that this century still hold the highest ratio of shitheads by a wide margin.

The bias here is obvious, OPs set is collected from people working in the trades. By nature that is going to select for more grounded "salt of the earth" types.

I doubt your average annoying TikTocker is trying to be a plumber, welder or an electrician
 
Renard said:
each generation has a distinct set of attitudes, beliefs, type of upbringing, social experiences, and thus behave in the world in a different way.
Click to expand...
Yes, this is true. But the point is that gen z isn’t lazy like people think. Literally every generation has said that about the younger generation. And also, you can somewhat ad hoc draw those generational boundaries to make the data a better fit anyway. There are always people born at what some would consider the boundaries between one generation and another. But I guess then they might just be at the ends of any normal distribution.
 
I'm a professor at a large university in the Toronto area, and I can confirm that Gen Z is terrible (on aggregate).

They are perhaps well intentioned people in the world, but they are rarely able to follow through. They expect the world around them to change and conform to their expectations, and when it doesn't, they cry foul (racism, sexism etc.). They are also the least resilient generation, seemingly unable to navigate through conflict or disagreement.

With all of that being said - they face a unique set of challenges that no other generation has faced (largely surrounding affordability and the ability to go out on their own).

Like with any group, there are those that defy expectation. I am glad you found some of the good ones.
 
It's a mixed bag. I have never seen so many resumes from College Grads with ZERO work experience though. I don't care you had good grades and was a member of Photography club. You never had a part time job? Ever? Nope right in the garbage. And we all can admit entitlement is an issue. Groups of white liberals take over a school Quad to protest Israel and damage property and then make demands? The entitlement is real. We would have been afraid to be expelled. Stupidity is real as well-- "Trans for Palestine" and you can't make this up.
But there are kids raised by good parents that work hard and will be the future.
 
Normally I would agree with notion that it's just older generations dumping on younger but Gen Z really does seem like an odd generation. A very weird mix of timid and entitled. Since we are just throwing out anecdotal experiences; in my field we have a lot of networking events for prospective STEM grads, recent grads, young professionals, ect. These tend to be great opportunities to make connections, get your face seen, let people in hiring or decision making positions know who you are beyond a CV. Also gives people free opportunities to get insight in industry trends, opportunities for Professional Development, etc.

Gen Z are by far and away the least likely group I've encountered willing to reach out, show up or interact at these events. At first I thought it may be a "too cool for school" mindset but I'm starting to think they are just fragile and timid beyond belief. Like they can't handle the idea of being proactive, face rejection or put themselves out there. It's almost like they expect companies and jobs to rush to them and clamor to hire them; but not to loudly because it may trigger a sensory issue.

But what do you expect of generation so fragile that they are literally afraid of a ringing phone



That being said, I've only seen that from the domestically born Gen Z, foreigners especially from Africa and Asia are willing to put themselves out there.
 
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