According to a report, HR departments consider only 8% of young professionals from the Generation Z to be fit for work, and this has a different reason than Artificial Intelligence.
What does the report show? The Generation Z currently experiences the feeling that their university degrees are losing value as they struggle to secure a foothold in the job market despite having a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
A report by Criteria shows that a large part of Generation Z is simply considered unfit for this entry by many HR departments. Only 8% of the 350 respondents believe that young people from Generation Z are fully prepared for the positions they require.
Of course, AI remains an important factor in the discussion, as more and more CEOs emphasize that junior positions could also be filled by virtual managers. However, in this case, AI has relatively little to do with the troubles of Generation Z.
What young people actually lack are skills that go beyond a university degree: communication, problem-solving skills, and a professional demeanor (Source: 3DJuegos).
Soft skills are more important than a successful university degree
What makes it so hard for Gen Z to enter the job market? Despite the increase in academic titles in the form of a bachelor’s or master’s degree, young people lack the soft skills that are becoming increasingly relevant due to the high competition in the job market to stand out from other candidates.
Even though they are considered qualified for a position based on their degrees, often overqualified, this is no longer a uniqueness for the hiring department. Other factors therefore play a larger role, which the report indicates are not sufficiently met by many HR departments.
What does the CEO of Criteria say about this? The CEO of Criteria, Josh Millet, tells the magazine Fortune that the oversupply of graduates, combined with a trust crisis regarding the actual significance of the degree for employability, has led to a “critical situation”.
Employers are lowering their requirements regarding university degrees, causing them to lose their significance – and this is also perceived by the graduates.
However, Millet mentions, as highlighted in the report, that employers, regardless of the industry, increasingly count on the soft skills of applicants. Some employers like Google or Microsoft have offered high-ranking positions to candidates without a university degree and have focused on work experience and other qualifications during the application process. (Source: Fortune).
Due to the high competition, Generation Z graduates continue to face tough competition. A man, on the other hand, actually found it relatively easy to get a job at a well-known bank, even though the acceptance rate there is said to be below 1% – and that through an interview that lasted less than a minute: A man says a company held 39 individual interviews with him, but the decisive meeting lasted less than a minute
