Is GenZ really screwed in the job market?

Welcome back to another episode of How To Twenty-Something where today’s episode is about the job market and to basically give it to you straight as to whether your tactic for finding jobs is shitty or if the job market out there is shitty

And honestly, it’s a bit of both

I’ll be hitting you with statistics, reality, and what you can do about it because if you believe you’re screwed, when finding a full-time job, you’re going to be screwed

So statistically speaking, there has been a 29% drop in global job entries since January of 2024

This is coming from the World Economic Forum in September of 2025

And as of April of this year, Entry-level job postings made up just 38.6% of all postings in March, down from 44% in 2023 this is coming from a Zip Recruiter report and further explained in a Fortune article

I know, you’re probably starting to tune out with these numbers, so let me break it all down for you

AI is the massive driver behind these drops.. I know surprise surprise 

Because it is capable of doing more entry level jobs and why would a company pay to train someone who will make mistakes when they can use technology to do the same job, no mistakes, and for free

I don’t agree with this tactic solely because there is so much value in training an eager, bright eye and bushy tailed fresh college grad so they gain experience, understand company culture, and can grow their career

But all companies think about in this economy is profit and they don’t care about little 22, 23 year old college grads trying to find their way in the real world

So not only are entry level job opportunities on a decline, but there are more applicants entering the job market than the market can keep up with with every graduation that happens

And the process your parents used to land their jobs is totally irrelevant to what works now.. Which is also why you’re feeling frustrated that nothing seems to be working

But it’s not that nothing is working, it’s that you’re way of trying to find a job isn’t working and the world isn’t working

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, mass applying online does not work for 95% of you

Even more so now than when I was 22 because you have AI being the first point of contact to eat up your resume and spit it back out

If you want to take the online application approach and put up a battle with AI then you’re going to want to alter every resume you submit to include the key words in the job posting and keep your formatting clean so AI actually reads it

So while yes, the numbers are real and they’re not pretty, I’m not going to sugarcoat it

It is exceptionally harder to land a job out of school than it ever has been and until AI creates new job opportunities, we’re stuck in this lull of hell

You’re not alone in your frustrations, but you’re also not going about things the right way

Which is why I said if you believe you’re screwed, you’re screwed

It’s like the famous Henry Ford said whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right

Because these statistics only tell you half the story

The other half is your approach and expectations around the types of jobs available to you and what you believe

Because my clients and their parents will view the current job market in one of two ways

The first group is convinced the market is the problem and come from a why bother attitude 

As in why bother applying when you’re not even going to hear back or land the job

We have to do a lot of coaching around this mindset until they reach a point where they shift into the second group

The second group has decided the market is hard and they’re going to figure things out anyways

And guess what… the mindset of the second group is who ends up landing the job in a seemingly scarce market

I will say that landing a job in your field of choice or your dream job is more unlikely in today’s world than in previous generations

So let’s start with changing your expectations as to what your first full-time job will look like

For one, the pay is going to be shit for a vast majority of you

I’m seeing entry level jobs that my clients are landing, ranging between 40 and 50k a year

It’s not a lot especially for the rising cost of living 

And then I always mentally prepare my clients as best as I can that their first paycheck is going to be an eye opener with how much will go to taxes

So you’re not even making that 40 to 50k, you’re bringing home a lot less and it will leave you feeling pretty trapped in terms of spending your entire week in an office setting and barely reaping the rewards of it to live your life

Secondly, your first job will most likely have nothing or very little to do with what you went to school for

It doesn’t mean your degree was a waste and it doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to follow the path you originally planned to set out on

I want you to think of your first job as getting your foot in the door and know that you can transition to something that is more in line with your degree later

It’s a stepping stone that can come in the form of freelance work, entrepreneurship, trades, or even a full-time seemingly random entry level job

Brace yourself because I have more statistics on this:

As of this year, nearly 38% of recent grads are considering their own business, 32.5% are looking at gig work, 28% are exploring freelance, and 11% are entering the trades

What this means is the traditional ladder is less linear

Where the old model was graduate, find a job in your field, and climb the ladder

The new ladder has no set path

It’s not straightforward and varies from person to person and industry to industry, and that still does not mean it’s impossible to find a job that you don’t hate

So let’s shift into what you should be doing differently as a gen z’er attempting to enter the workforce and who has realized by now that submitting applications online and waiting for an email of acceptance is not a job search tactic, it’s a wish

Companies that are hiring right now are not finding their next hire through a stack of online applications

In fact you can almost bet on ai swallowing your resume whole and never letting it see the light of day

Hiring happens through word of mouth

It doesn’t matter if you’re not the most qualified, if you have some kind of source to push your resume through the system and get in the hands of a real person then you have a much higher probability of landing a job

Besides, most jobs aren’t even on job posting sites 

My case in point is one of my clients got her job by having her resume referred by two people for the same position and after she interviewed they posted the job and told her to apply for it so she shows up in the system

Meaning, anyone else who came across that listing, was automatically not going to get that job because it was already filled by my client before it was even accessible to general public

The second job I got out of school had something similar happen

I saw that my linkedin was viewed by a senior designer, I sent her a message asking if they were hiring

Mind you, there was no job listed for an entry level designer

She said they were and to send her my resume and portfolio and two weeks later I started working there

We live in a who you know world

And if you don’t know anyone yet then you are wasting your time with online applications when you should be out in the world and meeting people

Whether that’s intentional coffee chats, going to an event that is somewhat related to your industry, reaching out to someone on LinkedIn who has the job you want and asking them how they got there, telling everyone in your life what you’re looking for because they might be able to introduce you to someone 

And listen, if you think it’s uncomfortable or awkward reaching out for help whether that’s through messaging a stranger on linkedin or asking people to keep an ear out for you, then let me reframe some things for you:

I’ll start with the messaging a stranger part: one, the worst thing that happens is they don’t answer or they say no

And two annoying them is your own story, what if it’s actually a compliment to reach out to someone because you’re basically telling them you admire them and their journey

You think what they did with their life is cool and you want to be cool too (pause)

When it comes to asking for help, you’re not burdensome

People love helping other people it gives them a sense of pride and purpose when they are able to successfully help

And you never know who someone knows, so you might as well give it a try

The last part of this reaching out fear that I want to touch on is if roles were reversed.. If someone you know asked you for help or a stranger messaged you asking about your career path, would you find it weird and essentially a turn off

Or would you feel a little flattered that they came to you, whether you can actually help them or not?

I experienced something similar this recently when I met a woman who volunteered at TEDx Sugar Creek Women and she told me she really wants to give a tedx talk and then asked me how i managed to land my spot

And I was happy to tell her everything!

She then told me she’s tried asking other people for some help and they turn it into a transaction where she would need to pay them for their information

Which is quite shitty and trust me you don’t want those kinds of people in your network anyways 

And now that I’m planning on giving keynotes, I’m not even a little hesitant to ask fellow keynote speaker how they’ve gotten on their stages

And I also receive a mix of oh this is how I did it and you need to pay me for my info

As a genz’er looking for help landing an entry level job, I would be very surprised if you came across someone in your industry who would charge you in exchange for help

Unless it is their actual business to help people with the help you’re looking for

Like career coaches, for example, who get paid to look at and fix people’s resumes, amongst other things

But the bottomline to everything I’m saying is, you need to change your strategy to help yourself stand out from all of the other people you’re competing against for the same entry level position

I go through all of this in more depth if you scroll back to episode 116 on the 5 steps I would take to land a full-time job

This episode is to answer the question as to whether genz is actually screwed in this job market or not

And my honest answer is no

Is the market harder than ever to get your foot in the door? Yes

But just because something is harder than it has been does not mean there is nothing you can do about it

Which is essentially what the word screwed implies

The people you see getting jobs right now have connections, are flexible about what their first job after graduating looks like, are getting creative in how they market themselves to the job market, and/or have decided that the market is hard but possibilities are everywhere

As long as you don’t wait for the market to fix itself and go about searching for a job in the same way your parents did, then congratulations, you are not screwed.

In fact, 77% of last year’s graduates found something within the first three months of graduation, a percentage that has actually increased from the year before

Right now, roles are changing, systems are changing, technology is changing, so your job search process needs to change with it

There are jobs out there.. Half of this is your mindset and half of this is your strategy

And if you would like help with either one, well that’s what I’m here for

All you have to do is schedule a day and time to talk with me by clicking the link in the show notes where it says let’s chat

Otherwise this does conclude another episode of how to twenty-something, so if you liked what you heard, if you’re currently fighting for your life in the job market or know someone who is, then please share this episode

Post it on your story, send it to a friend, give me a five star rating, just do something to help me help reach all of the twenty-somethings navigating the most confusing decade of our lives

And as always, I can’t wait to be in your headphones again next week with another brand new episode