USSince the 2022 layoffs, many Gen Z tech students have been struggling to find the jobs they want.
When he started college, Ryan Kim planned to become a database manager after graduation before making a “fintech breakthrough” as a business analyst. But during his sophomore and junior years, the wave of tech layoffs that saw nearly half a million people lose their jobs made him realize the picture was not so rosy. Kim even struggled to get an internship. He then turned to a new career goal: public service.
Kim is among Gen Zers (born between 1997 and 2012) who have changed their career path in tech despite having big goals. According to the job search website Handshake, the percentage of college seniors seeking tech positions last year dropped 19% compared to 2022, while the percentage of government jobs nearly doubled. For high school seniors, previous surveys showed that Google and Apple were the most popular places for them to work. But last year, agencies like the FBI and NASA attracted more attention from the workforce than any tech company.
Kim quickly landed a one-year paid internship at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Instead of becoming a tech expert as he originally intended, he planned to stay with the agency after he got his degree in May.
But once again, Kim found himself in a precarious situation.
As graduation neared, Kim abruptly lost her internship amid government “chaos” over the Elon Musk-led DOGE. DOGE has frozen or indefinitely postponed most of its hiring.
“The stress is huge,” Kim said. “Most of the private sector has hired their students before graduation.”
More than 2 million Gen Z students are graduating, including those in tech, and are preparing to enter an uncertain job market. The generation is expected to hit a rough patch as early as 2025 due to a sharp hiring slump in industries like tech, finance, and consulting. Coupled with DOGE’s actions, many seniors are in a state of panic as previous work commitments are canceled or there are no new responses.
“The impact is widespread,” Saskia Campbell, executive director of career services at George Mason University, told Business Insider. “There’s a sense of lost opportunity. This is the first year I’ve been really nervous.”
“Two years ago, a lot of the uncertainty and fear was in Big Tech,” said Briana Randall, director of the career and internship center at the University of Washington. “Now, the uncertainty is spreading to more areas.”
Some students are preparing for the worst. Over the past year, one college senior said she “intentionally” neglected her studies to focus on her job search, sending out up to 15 applications a day. She received three offers, including one from the government, but turned them down because of the recent turmoil.
Meanwhile, Em, 26, a Pratt Institute graduate with a degree in sculpture, attended a nine-month intensive coding boot camp to apply for tech jobs. After being rejected about 10 times, she said, “It’s just another path to the worst.”
"This is a group that has experienced a series of events while growing up: Covid-19, the upheaval of internet culture, the impact of AI, and political chaos," Business Insider commented. "Gen Z should be considered the most anxious generation, the most risk-averse generation, the most stressed generation, the most exhausted generation, and the loneliest generation."
Last year, the World Happiness Report called Gen Z the "unhappiest generation." Results from education research group Foundry10 released earlier this year also showed that this is the "most rejected generation in human history."
Many Gen Zers are studying technology and are increasingly being shaped by technology, such as AI algorithms that pervade everything from dating to college admissions to jobs.
"Whether it's algorithms or AI, everything is working against Gen Z," said Jeff Guenther, a social media therapist. “They’re not being rejected by real people; they’re being filtered out by technology. Maybe the anger should be directed at Apple, Google, Tinder, Facebook or Meta.”
Gen Z’s problem also comes from within themselves. Figures released late last year by education and career advice platform Intelligent show that, on average, one in six employers are reluctant to hire Gen Z employees. More than half said the generation “struggles with communication, doesn’t handle feedback well and is generally unprepared for the demands of the workforce.”
“Gen Z doesn’t know the basic skills to interact socially with customers and colleagues, nor does it know how to socialize in the workplace,” Holly Schroth, a lecturer at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, told Euronews. “Therefore, companies need to train new employees thoroughly and thoroughly on the job and how to behave in the workplace.”
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