CFOs and business leaders have been tasked with guarding the culture of their organizations. How organizations evaluate potential employees for culture fit is increasingly important in today’s labor market. For those looking to hire recent college graduates, concerns around Gen Z’s upbringing, social skills and political ideologies may deter some leaders from considering recent graduates altogether.
New research from the education and technology platform Intelligent, which surveyed 1,268 U.S. business leaders, found nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents have various concerns about hiring new employees who are recent college graduates.
Gen Z — despite recent indications of loyalty to their first employers — is among the majority of college students who are judged based on their peers' actions. While some stand out through entrepreneurship and efforts to showcase work ethic, many leaders in hiring positions still believe today’s young workers don’t make good employees.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) think recent college graduates lack a strong work ethic, 57% said they have too high salary expectations and 50% said they are entitled.
These concerns are dramatically increasing. Over half (51%) said these concerns have grown over the past five years.
“Employers seem to be worried about distractions from their company’s business productivity goals and potential disruptions if they bring in outspoken employees fresh out of the college campus protest cultural environment,” said Intelligent’s chief education and career development advisor Huy Nguyen in a statement.
Among those who said they have concerns about hiring Gen Z, their concerns are unsurprisingly much higher. Unrealistic salary expectations (84%), a worse work ethic (79%) and entitlement (75%) are all weighing on these leaders' minds, the data suggests.
Protesting and politics
Politics has become a major factor in evaluating recent college graduates' values and their impact in the workplace. Seventy percent of business leaders said recent college graduates are far more political than previous generations, likely due to the teaching they received in higher education.
Thirty percent of all those surveyed said they have greater concerns about hiring recent graduates because of the pro-Palestine protests specifically. Over a fifth (22%) of business leaders are less likely to hire a recent college graduate if they discover the candidate participated in a pro-Palestine protest. Protesters, aware of this phenomenon, have been taking measures to avoid having their identities revealed.
The reasons offered as to why pro-Palestine protesters can be labeled as unhirable vary. Among those who say they’re less likely to hire a candidate if they are aware of such participation, the concerns include the tendency to be too confrontational (63%), too political (59%), making their peers uncomfortable (55%), being a liability (45%) and posing a danger to those around them (40%).
To find out if a candidate has been involved, many business leaders have started asking during the interview process. Over three in 10 (31%) leaders said they frequently ask about involvement in protests.
Regardless of its impact on their political ideologies and how they express them, there’s strong evidence that says the COVID-19 pandemic’s lockdowns affected the quality of education received at the college level. This idea is another deterrent to hiring young people, concerning nearly a third (32%) of respondents.
Intelligent’s survey launched on May 16, 2024, via Pollfish. 1,268 U.S. business leaders were surveyed and 808 respondents took the full survey.
Demographic criteria included age (35+), household income (>$75,000), organizational role (owner/partner, president/CEO/chairperson, C-Level executive, CFO, CTO, senior management, director, HR manager), company size (>11) and education (high school, technical college, college, or postgraduate).