Presenting our research to University of Kent
On Monday the University of Kent invited Jeff and Mark to present our research paper "Gen Z in the Workplace Closing the Expectation Gap"
We joined Careers, Employability and Skills team and Academic Employability Leads from various faculties to talk about what our research uncovered about
=> What Gen Z expects from work and their employers
=> Where the expectations of employers and emerging talent don’t align
=> The importance of purpose and meaningful work
=> The role of support, mentoring, regular feedback and observational learning in helping early-career professionals thrive.
We unpacked this by outlining Gen Z's strengths and vulnerabilities in the context of their upbringing and the world events that shaped them, explaining their strong desire for learning and growth against workplace and life realities including stagnant wages, high costs of living, volatility and disruption.
What's clear is this generation will jump ship if their development is not prioritised as much as if company leadership do not lead with purpose and strong values. This is a very different proposition to when I started out and the pay cheque was usually the main motivator and we did not question leadership. Today's leaders and companies are very public and this generation has been absorbing a wealth of data from a young age making them information rich and culturally aware like no generation before them. And they will judge leaders that do not live up to their values by walking out and then making their feelings known publicly.
We thank the panel for some thought provoking observations and questions exploring confidence-building (which is an area we will explore when we visit the University in October and talk to students during Career Ready Week), how to modernise job applications and make them stand out in an AI saturated hiring market and integration, adaptation and creation of safe spaces for neurodivergent employees.
We left with some practical advice to company leadership (such as the creation of a coaching & mentoring culture and making sure leaders are equipped with the time, skills and willingness to develop people) which the University can explore in conversations with partner employers as well as internally within the Careers teams and faculties.
On 21st October, Mark will be in Canterbury for Career Ready Week, a week of workshops, guest speakers and industry experts run by the Careers and Employability Service to run a session called Gen Z at Work: Navigating Work and Life in a Changing World
This interactive session will explores the gap between what young people expect from work and what organisations currently provide and is a practical conversation about how to navigate uncertainty, build confidence, develop human skills and create a fulfilling life in a rapidly changing world.
We can’t wait for this to come around
This article was written by Mark A King. You can follow him here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkingbravo/
