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It\u2019s no secret that Gen Z often gets slammed for, in the words of Sister Act<\/em> star Whoopi Goldberg, not \u201cbusting their behinds\u201d at work quite like previous generations did. Despite struggling to land entry-level roles, bosses have accused them of showing up late to the interview, refusing to put in any overtime for screening tests, and ghosting recruiters. Now, even a Gen Z hiring manager is backing the bosses slamming her generation.<\/p>\n \u201cI fear that the people who say that Gen Z aren\u2019t getting jobs because of their attitude are slightly accurate,\u201d the 23-year-old who goes by @Sopharoch posted in a TikTok video that\u2019s now gone viral.\u00a0<\/p>\n LA-based Sophie Rocha works in marketing for Gen Z career platform Home From College\u2014and because of the nature of her employer, she\u2019s regularly on the other side of the hiring table, interviewing candidates from her own generation. <\/p>\n But one recent interview pushed her over the edge.<\/p>\n \u201cI interviewed a candidate last week, and they showed up on the call on their phone,\u201d Rocha slammed, adding that their reasoning was \u201cit\u2019s not that serious\u201d because it was a first-stage interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n The candidate then gushed about the job\u2019s remote setup before openly admitting they had no intention of ever working from home\u2014instead revealing they\u2019d use the policy to\u00a0work full-time while on vacation<\/span>.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s something that you want to say in an initial interview, like, hey, I\u2019m actually going to be lollygagging in Europe, so I won\u2019t be paying attention to this role,\u201d Rocha added.\u00a0<\/p>\n To add further fuel to the fire, the candidate demanded more money and made clear they expected the role to simply be handed to them\u2014a level of entitlement that left Rocha speechless.<\/p>\n \u201cThen they complained about the compensation, and then said, I know that you\u2019re probably not interviewing anybody else for this position, so I\u2019ll just expect to hear back and start Monday,\u201d Rocha concluded incredulously.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, what?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rocha isn\u2019t the first Gen Z-er to reach management ranks and then complain about her generation\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n Resume Genius asked hiring managers which generation is the most challenging to work with, and 45% pointed to Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012. Most shockingly, even 50% of Gen Zers admitted that their own generation is the most difficult to manage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another study found that nearly three-fourths of managers consider Gen Z the\u00a0most difficult to work with, and many bosses get frustrated with their new hires regularly<\/span>. Only 4% of respondents said it was never difficult to manage Gen Z.<\/p>\n And they\u2019re not just complaining about the latest generation of workers; 65% of the bosses surveyed have put Gen Z at the top of their firing list before any other generation. Over half of respondents had already sacked a Gen Zer, and 12% said they fired one less than one week after a start date.\u00a0<\/p>\n A separate study pointed to a lack of initiative, unprofessionalism, poor communication skills and general unreadiness for the workplace as top reasons for firing Gen Z grads just months after hiring them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Being late to work and meetings often, not wearing office-appropriate clothing, and not using language appropriate for the workspace were specific examples used of this.<\/p>\n In the end, it\u2019s making hiring managers more reluctant to hire the next generation of workers. Instead, most studies concluded that bosses are hiring more millennials as a result.<\/p>\n In a series of follow-up videos, Rocha shared some tips for young job seekers on how to not \u201ctotally bomb\u201d their shot at landing a role,\u201c since Gen Z apparently don\u2019t know how to act in interviews\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cApparently, this is controversial, and the main reason why that video went viral, but you should be joining every interview from a computer, not your phone,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n Failing that, for young people who don\u2019t have a laptop or desktop, she recommended setting up your phone sideways so the video appears horizontal on the hiring manager\u2019s screen\u2014leaving them none the wiser.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd do not touch it throughout the interview,\u201d Rocha added. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be on FaceTime with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Other tips included showing genuine interest in the company, making sure you take up no more than 50% of the conversation, and answering any questions in under 2 minutes. Essentially, an interview should be a back-and-forth, not a monologue.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you notice that you\u2019re dominating the conversation, stop talking, because that means that you\u2019re rambling,\u201d Rocha said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe tell me about yourself question is not an invitation for your life story,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The advice Rocha gave that got the most hate in the comments section was to thank the hiring manager for their time with a follow-up email.<\/p>\n Although the topic of thank-you notes is quite contentious (with some arguing that candidates shouldn\u2019t have to do more free work, and it adds to a hiring manager\u2019s already full plate), Rocha insisted it\u2019s \u201cjust polite\u201d\u2014and even an ex-Meta recruiter agrees it\u2019s a green flag.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt really takes two seconds, and clearly, according to my last couple of videos, people aren\u2019t sending them, so you will stand out if you send a thank you to your interviewer after you get off the call,\u201d Rocha concluded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGen Z really are the hardest to work with\u2014even managers of their own generation say they\u2019re difficult<\/h2>\n
Career advice from a Gen Z hiring manager: \u2018You should be joining every interview from a computer\u2019<\/h2>\n