Gen Z is joining the workforce. Here’s what STEM-minded high schoolers expect from future employers

Gen Z has made it clear that they are different from older generations: tech natives, problem solvers, innovators and social activists. They’re also pushing employers to change the way they recruit and what they promote about their company.

For teenagers who are considering STEM careers, what are they expecting from employers and their future field?

Hands-on work

Yes, Gen Z — born roughly between 1997 and 2012 — can answer all their grandparents’ questions about tech, but that doesn’t mean they want to spend their entire day staring at a computer. Talking things through and in person is important, especially to those who saw some of their education go fully virtual during the peak of COVID-19.

Aviva Boix, a sophomore at Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy Center City, is interested in some type of engineering, whether it be biomedical or mechanical. As she put it: “I would value a lot of hands-on work [in a STEM-oriented internship or job]. I feel like sometimes people who have kids intern think that they want to do paperwork or boring stuff.”

Stephanie Gambone, the president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Southeastern Pennsylvania, strives to prepare young people for success and their careers. She’s noticed this, too.

“You miss the interaction, you’re tired of looking at a screen, and it’s just not the same,” said Gambone, who has been helping young people choose their careers for over two decades. In that time, she has observed consistencies in what young people look for in an employer, such as competitiveness in every which way and stability.

However, she’s also seen more changes in what young people look for from employers, such as an importance placed on diversity and social impact.

Social impact

Gen Z has made it clear that they have no problem speaking up on issues they are passionate about. This correlates with what they look for in an employer.

Young people nowadays are looking for companies that offer “an ability to give back — that there’s volunteerism or actual funding or just that we know that they care about that particular issue,” Gambone said.

Junior Achievement runs the Company Program, an annual summit that provides high schoolers with the opportunity to “work together, with the guidance of business professionals, to create a successful startup in this after-school program,” per the org. Gambone said in recent years, every single group decided to allocate some of the profits from their product to a cause.

Boix said no matter what she does in life, she wants to be helping people.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t get satisfaction out of their job if they aren’t doing something they really enjoy and if they aren’t helping other people,” she said, “especially nowadays you really have to have not just a famous name, you actually have to do something for others and be a real company that’s helpful for the community.”

Both Boix and Gambone said being open minded when it comes to the progressive side of your company is important when attracting young new employees. Both gave examples of how to make this apparent: visible diversity on an online presence (although it’s easy to spot when it’s forced or unrealistic), pronouns on staff profiles, providing employees with volunteering opportunities, etc.

Cindy Bui just graduated from Science Leadership Academy and will be attending the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering in the fall.

“Especially for applying to jobs and internships, you definitely want to look at the website, and social media to see who is at the company and what kind of environment,” she said. “Like looking at who they employ, is there diversity, if they’re LGBTQ friendly, and so on.”

Compensation and transparency

There has been constant talk of pay transparency and “quiet quitting” recently, and these ideas are already reaching the consciousness of the youngest in the workforce.

“People want to understand how I am going to be compensated, what is my total compensation? And really looking at competitiveness across organizations and really negotiating in ways that I have seen absolutely change over time,” Gambone said.

Both Gambone and Boix mentioned paid time off, parental leave, supportive supervisors, and adequate benefits are all proving important to young workers.

“You should know what you’re getting with a company upfront,” Boix of pay transparency. “There shouldn’t be anything that changes. … They already know what work you’re going to do.”

Boix pushed even further on this idea, mentioning that data to prove equal pay among different races and genders should be a baseline for companies when in the process of hiring.
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Sarah Huffman contributed editing.