What Gen Z candidates want from their 2021 internships and entry-level jobs

Every year, employers across the country scratch their heads in frustration as they try to understand what the current generation of college and university students and recent graduates want. Is it higher pay? Better benefits? Richer health care plans? Ability to work from home? Flexible working hours? Mentors?

This year, employers should expect massive changes over previous years. In addition to the gradual shift to a more candidate-centric hiring process since the 2008-09 Great Recession, we’ve also experienced the massive societal changes from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) recently surveyed more than 14,000 members of Gen Z — those born after 1997 — to ascertain their workplace-related preferences. Some are predictable but others may surprise you.

First, let’s look at what shouldn’t be of surprise to anyone. “Economic uncertainty is a theme that runs throughout. High school respondents are concerned about minimizing student debt, with almost half (48%) expected to have more than $10,000 in college loans. Nearly two-thirds (65%) expect to have a job while in college. While optimistic about finding a job within one year of graduation (84%), over half (56%) expect to be living at home when they begin that job.” This sentiment existed at these levels prior to COVID-19 and the increased prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement touched off by the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department.

Something else which has seen little change is the shift toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, which tend to pay more and provide better job security. According to NSHSS, the most popular majors are health (30%), science (29%) , and business (18%). “The top three fields students expect to work in the future are medicine/health (37%); sciences (17%); and biology/biotechnology (17%). Consistent with these findings, hospitals were the top choice.”

There are differences by gender and race. “Women are more likely than men to enter the fields of medicine, science, and biology but far less likely to consider engineering or computer science. For the most part, STEM careers are seen as an area of opportunity for students of color who are often more likely to enter the top STEM fields than Caucasian students.”

Now, to some of the items which may be of surprise to many. That Gen Z cares about social justice and politics may not be all that surprising, but the number who do is likely to surprise many. Some of the findings:

• 62 percent suggest it is extremely or very important to have women in leadership positions;
• 63 percent believe the same of racial diversity in leadership;
• They care the most about human rights (40%), healthcare/health (39%), and education (37%);
• Although a whopping 76 percent expect to be involved in politics in the future, 66 percent are not interested in running for political office so most are looking to influence political decisions behind-the-scenes and a disproportionally large number of these (62 versus 57 percent) are female; and
• Although the conventional wisdom is that young people don’t vote, that was proven to be inaccurate in 2008 and 2016 and an even greater percentage at 91 plan to vote in the 2020 election.

Another finding that may surprise some is the lack of interest in attending graduate school. Historically, those graduating from college during a recession tended to go to graduate school in far greater numbers. Rather than graduating into unemployment or underemployment, they often made the rational decision to essentially wait out the recession while also improving their marketability. Perhaps because the cost of grad school has increased about 10 fold over the past three decades, fewer members of Gen Z than generations previous plan to attend grad school during this recession. There are differences, however, between races and the genders. “Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders (72%) and Blacks/African Americans (69%) are the most likely to show an interest in a graduate education. More women than men (64% vs. 55%) plan to attend graduate school.”

Consistent with their desire to be involved in a career that furthers social justice issues, 28 percent are interested in a career with local, state, or federal government agencies.

Finally, many employers will ask, what do students most want when searching for a job? This year, the top three considerations are:

• Work / life balance – 61 percent
• Welcoming atmosphere – 43 percent
• Friendly colleagues – 33 percent