The Difference Between Gen-Z and Everyone Else | Mark Zides | TEDxBabsonCollege

gen z's gen z's they call you woke the trophy generation sometimes they call you lazy your digital natives always attach to your phone gamers with no social skills but a ton of social media skills you work differently you do things differently in the workplace you're there for six months and then you ask for promotion and then even more you turn around and say i'd love unlimited vacation time but you're the generation of work-life balance it's really important to know that and then even more you turn around and want to start or join social causes like

climate change racial adversity and police brutality you're what they call gen z i'm mark zeids and i'm the ceo of core access we build learning and talent management programs for all types of companies like thermal official scientific amazon bank of america dell and these new hire and onboarding programs are all meant to deliver training to you when you enter the workforce in the last 25 years what we've learned is that your generation in the in the class that you're coming into these organizations are different and i hate to say this but you're not prepared and

to be honest it's not your fault and if i'm being truthful i'm actually part of the problem because your parents and guardians wanted to take care of you and coddle you and love you when you were growing up they wanted to protect you but did we protect you too much did we do too much to not prepare you for the challenging world that we're all in now it's really difficult in the marketplace and what's happened is based on everyone's upbringing and i'm generalizing you haven't been given the opportunity to fail and a lot of this

is based upon the way we raised you us parents guardians we set up play groups we set up things that were totally organized we we made sure that you all can be successful in your young lives guilty as charged everyone got a trophy my three great kids there they're there with their trophies you all had tutors and coaches and extra help more than any other generation has in the past and now we're in a capitalistic world that is very challenging to be successful in so we didn't give you the opportunity to fail but you know

what you don't have to fail yourselves what your generation brings to the market into the world is incredible incredible empathy a lot of us can learn a lot more about empathy trust me equality collaboration work-life balance those are all traits that are unreal and should be honored that said there are workplace gaps gen x values grit and gen x are the leaders and the ceos of these companies who are hiring all of you it's important to recognize that we work with all different types of companies get feedback all the time why do gen xers do

this they come across as lazy they're not they they work life balance but they ask a lot of questions and you know it's difficult to work with them and i don't understand how to motivate them all this it's okay because you know you're you own your own destiny you want to stand out there's a stereotype that's out there and you want to actually make sure that you are doing whatever you can to make yourself better every day and better than everyone else start with your linkedin what do you think it says if your linkedin profile

doesn't match your resume these hiring managers and leaders in these organizations are looking for people that have their social and personal brand set up in a professional way have you ever googled yourself i did the other day i came up pretty clean all my party photos are down and i'm happy about that but what do you think hiring managers do when your resume shows up in their inbox they check you out they're trolling the internet to see what they can find about you make sure your social media profiles are buttoned up make sure your like

i said your linkedin profile matches your resume what does it say about you if you have photos party photos or inappropriate beach photos on your resume it's just or i'm sorry on your social profile that has to be clean couple of things with respect to your social presence headshot has to be a professional headshot might sound simple but it it's the first impression is a lasting impression cover letter when you send cover letters out to companies make sure they're customizable don't just send a generic cover letter if you customize it for every company you go

for for a job it's it means something research do your research figure out what a company's values are what their goals are what their mission statement is and make sure it aligns with yours if your goals and values don't align with the companies don't waste your time or theirs interview prep for the interview do a do a mock interview video yourself check your posture eye contact all important things thank you notes everyone loves a thank you note send a thank you note to everyone you interview with and you know what if you want to be

different send a video thank you note i love getting those again we hear it all the time this generation is much different than everyone else for the first time about five years ago all four generations are in the workforce together gen z all the way to baby boomers i'm gen x and and the millennials they think they're better than gen z's it's kind of funny to hear the feedback but everyone has to get along together in the workforce so when you go for a job or figure out where your career is you have to figure

out what your priorities are is it work-life balance is it you know virtual workplace is it the values of the company figure it out and then advocate for yourself when you go for that job yes i'm talking about you not all of you but think about it for a minute might be someone next to you might be somebody else but the perception that's out there and the stereotype is not positive and it's not your fault like i said but you have to debunked that stereotype when you get into the workforce so whatever you can do

to think about what you can do to stand out and be different just do that here's a few things some data some feedback from all the companies that we work with three things that people believe that could slow you down or hinder you from having the best career ever is lack of urgency the inability to deal with conflict and lack of agility lack of urgency simple get it done work hard do whatever it takes to stand out make your boss look good collaborate urgency equates will inability to deal with conflict this is a tough one

it's probably not your fault because you didn't deal with conflict a lot of times when you were younger so it didn't translate when you came into the workplace so in this situation you have to be a good listener you have to be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes you have to be able to look someone in the eye and figure out what the issue is and move toward a common cause or common solution lack of agility agile is a name as the words you overuse but you know what when you're in the workforce

you got to move you got to pivot you have to actually make things happen you have to know when you go into a situation that there's different experiences different biases different people have different opinions so you have to put yourself in someone else's shoes to kind of figure out what it takes to move forward we understand parents recruiters hiring managers that it's a lot tougher now than it was 20 years ago 20 years ago you didn't need a master's degree to get a job you didn't have to get an internship your junior year in college

to build your resume i don't have a master's degree i don't have an mba but what it takes in today's workplace is that you have to actually outwork everyone else and you have to debunk the stereotype you are the generation of change and you know that so bring it to the table use your superpowers you're curious you're authentic you seek impact bring your curiosity to work every day push the envelope use your technology challenge people you're authentic authenticity is incredible continue to push that force these companies to think differently hire differently do things differently and

seek impact be a trailblazer at work make change be a difference maker think about the people you admire what do they have what do they have that you admire about them athletes ceos social justice leaders performers let me guess grit determination perseverance those are all traits and characteristics that leaders in these organizations are all looking for and you all have it so bring it to the table so do you want to be the ceo of an of a fortune 500 company do you want to be the next social justice warrior who saves the world do

you want to invent the next life-saving drug who do you want to be think about it tonight go home think about it make mistakes fall down get up think again learn something new every day decide who you want to become and become it thank you