As I’ve been writing recently, employers are complaining long and hard about Gen Z hires. If they thought Millennials were precious petals, they’ve been in for a nasty shock. Zoomers make the Millennials look like stouthearted men of Protestant work-ethic stoicism and dependability.
Unlikeable. Lazy. Annoying. Work-shy whingers who literally need their mummies to hold their hands at interviews and are terrified of picking up a phone.
Well, suck it up employers: as Joker would say, you get what you fuckin’ deserve.
A new report, jointly produced by the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Australian Human Resources Institute, found almost one quarter of HR professionals now classify workers aged 51 to 55 as “older”.
Just two years ago, only 10 per cent of recruiters took that view, suggesting many employers are sidelining experienced professionals in an economy suffering skills shortages.
And they’re reaping the ‘rewards’.
One of the first industries to fall prey to this self-inflicted attack of ageism was the media itself. Spooked by the prospect of their rivers of advertising and classifieds gold drying up, the media embarked on a panicked wave of retrenchments and early retirements. The first to go were senior journalists and subeditors. And, boy, does it show. Most major mastheads today too often read like student rags – because that’s what they are. Zoomer kids just a year or so out of university are now ‘senior journalists’ and editors.
Without seasoned troopers and world-weary subeditors to pull the kiddies back into line, swivel-eyed undergrad inanity is the rule for the legacy media. So are typos, appalling grammar and thinly-disguised editorialising masquerading as reporting.
Where the legacy media rushed off the cliff, many other employers are plunging headlong after them.
Robert Fitzgerald, Australia’s Age Discrimination Commissioner, who is a former Productivity Commissioner, said the country must acknowledge it is an aging society and embrace employing older workers […]
The commissioner said the AHRC had received hundreds of complaints in relation to the Age Discrimination Act, mainly concerning age being used in employment and recruitment decisions, including workplace harassment aimed at encouraging retirement.
Sarah McCann-Bartlett, chief executive of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) said the report found many employers were reluctant to hire workers under 24 or over 50, which restricted their access to valuable skills and experience.
So, next time bosses complain that Zoomers are entitled, lazy and useless, laugh in their faces. They brought this on themselves.
Most likely, by falling for the corrosive stupidity of thinking they needed a specialist ‘HR’ department. Which is almost certainly run by a Millennial (at best) or fellow Zoomer, almost certainly female, with a degree in communications, one of the most left-dominated field in academia (Marx is still essential reading for communications, let me assure you).
Leah Lambart, a career and interview coach, has clients in their 40s, who are already anticipating job search difficulties due to their age.
“Years ago, I would get people calling who were worried about turning 60 and now they’re calling saying, you know, ‘I’m late 40s and I really need to get the next role because I don’t want to be job searching in my 50s’,” she said.
While overt discrimination is rare, Ms Lambart has tips for those over 50, including modernising resumes, having a professional online presence and upskilling in technology.
“Sometimes candidates will say to me, ‘I’m being discriminated against my age,’ but when I look at their resume, it looks like something out of the ’70s and is 10-pages long,” she said.
“They don’t need to include every job they’ve held since they were 20.”
So, what, they should just send in their latest TikTok video, and list how many Instagram followers they have?
Nicole Gorton, director at recruitment agency Robert Half, believes the perception of “older workers” by those hiring is largely driven by assumptions about technology adoption.
“When I am speaking to organisations and hiring managers, they have a strong appetite for digital fluency,” she said.
“Digital fluency” meaning they can manage TikTok, X, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat accounts at once. Just don’t try asking them to get off their mobiles and actually do anything.
“The adoption of technology, the adoption of AI, and when you haven’t grown up with it and you have to learn it… there is a perception that the older, more experienced worker has not got some of those skill sets.”
On the other hand, they can actually work without dissolving in tears at a simple request. They don’t need a ‘fun room’ and they can work more than three days at a stretch without needing a ‘mental health day’.
This is the employment market you created, business. Suck it up.
