Gen Zers are quitting jobs not just because of salaries or flexibility, but also because they don’t feel up to the task.
Recruitment expert Roxanne Calder said that it is becoming more common for young people to quit their jobs because they are worried they aren’t capable.
Calder told news.com.au that Gen Zers can be so worried about doing a bad job or not knowing enough about a role they’ll leave jobs over it.
The recruitment expert chalks the trend up to young people being “fragile” and genuinely worrying they won’t excel.
“When you come into the workforce, you need to be greedy to learn and accept that part of learning is making mistakes, and that doesn’t mean failure,” she explained.
She has noticed a trend of young women struggling with confidence in the workforce and even quitting roles because they don’t have enough faith in themselves.
“I find it gender-based. Men are more likely to do it and wing it. Females are more likely, to say, ‘I’m going to do that until I 100 per cent know how to do that’,” she said.
There’s also the added issue of Gen Zers thinking any extra responsibilities given them means they’ll be entitled to a payrise.
Calder said Gen Zers constantly ask employers, “What are you going to pay me?” when they are being trained to do new things.
“It costs the employer more to train you to do these things. If they are training you, it is because they see potential in you,” she said.
Young worker Anna Fountain quit her well-paying career because she was constantly afraid she’d be replaced.
The 23-year-old from Melbourne has worked in social media for three years but never felt secure in her role.
“I became unhappy in my role as I had this constant fear of being replaceable. As a social media manager, in my experience, you are expected to also be a graphic designer, copywriter, videographer and photographer. All qualities that involve extensive training and practice,” she told news.com.au.
“As 20-23-year-old, I unfortunately didn’t possess these skills which I disclosed in the hiring processes of my roles; however, I was scrutinised throughout my employment and had expectations far beyond my abilities and training.”
Fountain has always been a committed employee, but she didn’t feel like she was getting enough feedback from her input.
“I believe I am an extremely hard worker, as well as a people pleaser, so I went above and beyond when working in social media to prove myself to employers; however, diligence was never recognised,” she explained.
“Social media management isn’t necessarily hard work, but it wasn’t very rewarding, and the stigma around social media management being easy made people around me in the workforce look down on or underestimate my intelligence and the importance of my role.”
The 23-year-old realised she wanted to change careers when she was sitting in the office and wondered, “Am I making any positive change in this world?”.
She also wondered whether she look back on her career and feel satisfied with her achievements.
“The answer to both was ‘no, probably not’,’ she said.
Fountain said another part of her career journey has been learning to deal with rejection, which wasn’t always easy and was sometimes crushing.
“To be completely honest, there have been times when I have been asked to leave rather than resigning. I was unhappy in these positions, so in hindsight, I am glad that they made the decision for me; however, dealing with the rejection was extremely difficult,” she said.
“Being a 23-year-old living out of home paying rent, bills, and groceries as well as trying to enjoy being in my 20s going out and spending money on clothes and food, being unemployed at different times has been terrifying.”
At this point Ms Fountain feels like she’s been “scorned” too many times in the social media industry to want to spend the rest of career doing it.
“I guess that’s why I can look back on resigning or being fired as freeing and empowering. I am stronger than ever, and I know my worth,” she said.
The 23-year-old stressed that just because she’s leaving the career behind doesn’t mean it was all bad.
She met some incredible people, had some amazing opportunities, and learned so much, but she’s also just come to the realisation that it isn’t for her.
Fountain also knows she “can do anything I put my mind to”, so she’s decided to work part-time in social media while going back to university to study law.
