“If you’re wondering what the job market looks like right now, look no further than my swollen eyelids.” That’s the somber message a TikToker named Alejandra (@fungalmicrobe) begins her viral clip with. So far, it has accrued 708,000 views on TikTok.
She states that she was recently denied a position with a company. She claims the Gen X manager from the business attributed the rejection to her belonging to Gen Z.
What happened?
Alejandra says she was left crying for hours after the interview. She explains how she had previously worked with the department and the team at the company and “excelled” during her time there. Furthermore, her relationship with co-workers was stellar, and “everyone really liked” her.
Although she had to leave her position with that particular company, she claims her former co-workers wanted to work with her again. Alejandra says they informed her they’d let her know if a position opened up. She soon learned that this wasn’t the case and no one had reached out to her to alert her of any job postings.
However, about a year later, she saw an opening and decided to apply. Immediately she was offered an interview that she was feeling “really good” about. The TikToker felt that due to her previous experience at the company, along with how she fit in with the team, she was a “shoo-in.”
Rejected
Upon completing her interview, Alejandra says she didn’t hear back about the position even after inquiring about it multiple times.
Then, by happenstance, she ended up in the same elevator as the hiring manager for the position. After some small talk, the Gen X manager asked her if she’d been contacted about the position she applied for. When Alejandra replied she hadn’t, the manager told her the position had been filled.
Moreover, the manager informed her that they ultimately thought the other candidate was a “better” fit. Then Alejandra says she asked the manager to be “candid” with her and ask her what she could’ve done better during the interview.
No 5-year plan
Alejandra appeared to be floored by the manager’s response. According to the TikToker, the manager told her they found it “concerning” that Alejandra didn’t have a 5-year plan. Additionally, they advised her not to mention during interviews that she’s active on social media. Also, they didn’t think Alejandra should’ve discussed any of her medical conditions in her interview.
The Gen X manager went on to state that they have the same issue with their Gen Z son, Alejandra recalls. She apparently attributed the lack of a five-year plan to being a “Gen Z” trait. Going on, she urged Alejandra to consider “perception” and “optics” when it comes to presenting herself in interviews.
“You don’t need to share everything about yourself,” the hiring manager allegedly told Alejandra. She says the company knows she has multiple sclerosis (as she had worked there previously) and wouldn’t have shared that with another prospective employer.
As for the social media part, Alejandra says she was asked what she was passionate about and shared that it was using social media and creating content for her followers.
A letdown
In the clip, Alejandra says she couldn’t understand why someone hiring for a job would “prefer to hire someone who is lying.”
She continues, “You want someone who is not transparent. And you want someone to lie to you about their five-year plan.”
The TikToker concludes her video by imploring Gen X and “Boomers” to invest in Gen Z employees. Furthermore, Alejandra says she has no idea what her future is going to look like as she “just graduated a year ago.”
“But I’m a good worker. And my resume shows for it,” she states.
Gen Z in the workplace controversy
This particular generation of employees has often been the subject of controversy when it comes to the workplace. The Daily Dot has previously reported on businesses struggling to find middle management workers. Purportedly this is because Gen Z applicants are disinterested in the position.
Assessments of Gen Z-ers appear to be a mixed bag. Some have outright stated that they are a nightmare hiring scenario. That’s because older folks claim the younger generations are “easily offended” and blatantly “not ready for the workplace.”
Newsweek wrote that by Gen Z’s own admission, its workforce is “the laziest generation.” Which, admittedly, isn’t probably a trait that hiring managers are looking for under the special skills section of any resume.
Pushback
However, some reject these swooping generalizations of Gen Z employees. A Yahoo Finance article from October 2024 writes that Gen Z’s reputation for lassitude may be unwarranted. According to the piece, Gen Z-ers are “twice as likely to work through lunch” than their boomer counterparts. “Almost half of Gen Zers skip lunch twice or more per week, despite saying it’s the best part of their workday—and they’re four times as likely as boomers to feel guilty about those few and far between breaks,” it reads.
A Forbes piece also stated that negative attitudes towards Gen Z employees could stem from a generational gap. Managers accustomed to workflows of days past may be zeroing in on Gen Z’s “cons” while ignoring what they bring to the table. As a result, the piece states, Gen Z-ers are predisposed to being mismanaged.
Forbes also argues that Gen Z’s approach to the workplace makes them “role models” for work-life balance. Studies have shown employees tend to be more loyal to companies that allow for a work-life balance. This could ultimately save businesses a lot of money in the long run, due to the costs incurred by worker turnover.
TikTokers were also miffed
One commenter stated that many corporations don’t want honest employees. “They want lying slaves who will tell then they want to throw their lives away to work for them forever,” they wrote.
Someone else claimed that having a multiple-year plan is almost impossible in the current state of the world. “Hard to have a 5 year plan when EVERYTHING is uncertain,” they said.
Someone else echoed this, writing, “As a generation that was impacted by a pandemic that threw off any sense of a plan. And lives in a world where we are constantly in survival mode, it’s hard to have a 5 year plan let alone one year.”
@fungalmicrobe cheers to another day in “wHaTs yOuR FiVE yeAr pLaN?” land 🩵 ps: i know i asked them and they gave me their honest answer. im not upset at them. its just sad to know how they really feel and how truly shallow this world is.
♬ original sound – fungalmicrobe
The Daily Dot has reached out to Alejandra via email for further comment.
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