Yahoo Finance Simple task Gen-Z can't manage in worrying work trend: 'Be an adult'
Young Aussies have admitted to "dreading" phone calls and the everyday act could be costing them their next job.
An Aussie recruiter has told workers to “be an adult” and pick up the phone if they want to land a job. Gen Z’s have admitted they “dread” making or accepting a phone call, with some even going as far as getting their parents to ring up for them.
Realistic Careers recruiter Tammie Christofis Ballis told Yahoo Finance the failure to do this seemingly simple act was costing workers job opportunities, particularly given the tight job market. She said she’d noticed the trend among Gen Z and younger Millennial workers.
“They don’t want to pick up the phone or they want to text. A lot of them say, 'can you email me and let me know that you’re ringing',” she said.
“Be an adult, understand that the job market is a competition and if you don’t want to be flexible you’re going to miss out on an opportunity. It’s really that simple.”
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Ballis said she was recently recruiting for an administration job and received more than 400 applicants.
She shortlisted 30 and out of those, only four picked up the phone when she called.
She said the ones that picked up the call were the ones who were put forward for interviews.
“If people don’t pick up the phone, the next person that calls is going to be shortlisted and by the time they call back or reach out, the job’s been shortlisted and it’s too late,” Ballis said.
“The one who picks up the phone gets the opportunity. The one who is prepared to have uncomfortable conversations wins.”
Ballis said she even had some parents “ringing, chasing up their kid’s job applications” for younger job seekers under 25.
“Come on. They’re a legal adult, under the Privacy Act I’m not allowed to talk to you about it anyway. I don’t care that you’re the mother,” she said.
Gen Zs ‘dread’ phone calls
Nearly 60 per cent of Gen Z admitted they “dread” making or accepting a phone call, even when it’s necessary.
According to Commonwealth Bank research, nearly half of Gen Z said speaking on the phone made them feel anxious, while 42 per cent said an awkward phone call was one of the top three things they wanted to most avoid.
Superior People Recruitment founder Graham Wynn said he thought a lack of confidence, rather than competence, was part of the issue and noted that “everything is done via text or messaging now”.
“They might be concerned that they will come across as not knowing what they are talking about when asked questions on the spot,” Wynn told Yahoo Finance.
“These days, if you ask a question, [Gen Z] will jump online and Google an answer but, over the phone, you can’t do that. So, I think a lack of confidence is part of the problem.”
Ballis said technology had changed the way younger people communicated and many “grew up with smartphones, social media, texting, Snapchat [and] all that”.
“I grew up with a landline so if my friends wanted to ring they had to ring on the phone. There were no texts, nothing like that,” she said.
Jobs ads getting ‘hundreds of applicants’
The warning to pick up your phone comes as competition for jobs remains fierce.
The employment rate remained at 4.2 per cent in August, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data found, with the number of employed people growing by 47,500 and the number of unemployed people dropping by 10,000.
Ballis said the amount of applications she was seeing for jobs was “unheard of”, with administration jobs getting “hundreds of applications”.
Ballis said being flexible could be the difference between getting to the next stage or not.
“When you’re in a tight job market, more candidates have got the skills, especially on the lower levels where it is not as specialised,” she said.
“Your skills aren’t that special for me to wait for you, as horrible as that sounds. I’ve got other candidates that are gonna pick up the phone when I ask them.”
Ballis urged younger people to “get used to getting on the phone”.
“Get used to calling. I tell people when there’s a number on a job ad, call it,” she said.
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