Welcome to the reboot of Career Confessions of Gen Z! I started this in 2018 with my Gen Z son, Cameron, and the response was off the charts. So, in 2019 I found 8 great Gen Z HR, TA, and Marketing pros to continue the Gen Z content. Enjoy! 

Snow days are not what they used to be.  As a kid snow days were so exciting.  You’d do snow day rituals before bed such as flushing as many ice cubes down the toilet as you wanted inches of snow and wearing your pajamas inside out.  Then you would wake up at the crack of dawn, before your alarm clock went off, or your parents wake you up and you’d sit in front of the television in hopes of seeing your school scroll across the bottom of the screen announcing your school was closed.  

Kids now a days don’t know what that was like because now they get calls and texts every time the school closes.  The other Gen Z’s reading this know exactly what I’m talking about if you lived in the north where snow was prevalent.  Once you go to college you learn snow days are few and far between if you get at all.  (I was lucky enough to go to school on the west side of Michigan in the lake effect snow belt and had three of them in my three and a half years of college).  Then, when you transition to the working world you almost never get a snow day  

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get two and a half snow days due to the Polar Vortex that affected much of the Midwest of the United States.  As a working adult I learned snow days are stressful.  For our area 8-12 inches of snow was predicted to hit and rumors were going around that the State of Michigan may shut down.  Usually I would have been excited at the thought of a snow day, but not this time.  

Monday and Tuesday are the days that we process payroll.  Sunday night as I was getting ready for bed my co-workers starting saying that they weren’t coming in on Monday due to the weather.  I couldn’t sleep and was stressed that night about whether or not my office would be open the next day and about getting payroll done by our Tuesday deadline.  The State of Michigan did not shut down until 10:00 a.m. Monday morning, which gave me just enough time to get VPN access so I could take my laptop home and work on processing payroll at home.  The State of Michigan also closed down all offices on Wednesday and Thursday that week due to wind chills being -30 degrees.

When we were kids snow days were exciting, but now as a working adult they are stressful and it’s not just a day to stay home and do nothing.  Even though our office was closed I still had to bring my computer home and work at home.  When our office reopened I had to work longer days to catch up on work in the office and reschedule meetings that were missed due to our office being closed down.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining I had these days off or had to work at home these days, because there were businesses that were open this whole time, but it does make things more complicated.

Snow days as an adult are very different.  They cause more stress and work in the end.  Will I complain about having snow days as an adult, no, but I will probably not wish for them as much as I did as a kid either. 

Mallory Armbrustmacher graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2017 with a BA in Human Resource Management. She is an HR Generalist with the State of Michigan, Talent and Economic Development Department Human Resource Office, where she coordinates ADA Reasonable Accommodations and Ergonomic Assessments. In addition, she takes the lead on various special projects, conducts new employee orientations, processes payroll, and assists in labor relations, classifications, and selection. She is currently studying for the SHRM-CP exam, but also loves spending time with her family and friends, playing games, and cooking.

If you’d ask me a year ago how well I took criticism, I would probably just have nervously laughed and admitted I would rather cut lemons with paper cuts than have my work critiqued. If this sounds like you, don’t be alarmed, you’re not alone. Many people our age struggle with criticism, especially in the workplace. I know I did. However, I discovered that while workplace criticism may seem like confrontation, most of the time it is your peers trying to help you improve, not drag you down. This is not always easy, and we must admit to ourselves that we can be too sensitive when it comes to our own work. Though it’s natural to be defensive in the face of criticism, it holds us back from improving our work and becoming better employees.

Growing up in Minnesota, I became an expert at avoiding criticism with a series of well-practiced passive aggressive defenses. Unfortunately, I discovered my well-rehearsed defenses were not helping me in school or at work. After trial and error, I came to understand that taking criticism productively means realizing the critiquer is not criticizing you as a human being, just your work. This was difficult to separate for me; here are some real examples what used to go through my mind when I received criticism

“Oh gosh, she doesn’t like my work, she probably doesn’t like me anymore”

“He didn’t like my project, he probably is going to talk badly about me now”

“She told me to do something more creative, does she think I’m not smart?”

“Well that’s it- my career is over, I published a post with a typo in it and my boss told me to fix, I’ll be fired for sure”

After looking at these thoughts, it is clear I thought my co-workers giving me feedback about my work was synonymous with their thoughts of me as a person, which was not true. Our feelings and sensitivity can be irrational. The difficult part about it is recognizing it and moving forward from it. We must realize that when we are hypersensitive, we may miss some great advice from those more experienced than ourselves. We need to understand that critiques are some of the most helpful pieces of information for our personal and professional growth and when we choose to take it as an attack rather than learn from it, the only people we hurt are ourselves.

The first step in taking criticism constructively is to determine if the criticism is indeed, constructive, or if it is just unhelpful/negative. This is crucial, so how do we tell? Well, one way to tell if the criticism is constructive is to see if the person critiquing is willing to give you concrete examples on how to improve your work. If the critiquer is unwilling or unable to give you a concrete example or further expand upon their comments, this criticism is most likely unhelpful.

Conversely, the critiquer may work closely with you and is willing to elaborate. If this is the case,ask he/she if they have done anything similar in the past, how he/she would tackle this particular project, or tell you specifically what areas could be stronger etc.. Since this person works closely with you, he or she will most likely be familiar with the project you’re working on and your process for completing work and he or she will be more credible in giving you constructive feedback.

Another common scenario is that a fellow co-worker who may not work as closely with you offers advice. Here, determining if the advice is constructive may be a bit trickier. They may not be on the same project as you, but he/she may have worked on something similar in the past and genuinely want to see you do well and improve. Again, the key question here is asking for elaboration. On the other hand, this person may be just talking to hear themselves talk, sound smarter, or to establish superiority within the workplace. While rare, this can happen. In this situation, I recommend listening politely and then choose whether or not to disregard their advice if it seems irrelevant or unhelpful.

Once you have determined what type of criticism you are dealing with, you must move forward accordingly. If the advice was deemed non-constructive, do not dwell on it, thank them for their input, then move on. Do your best not to take offense, it is rare these comments are directed to hurt, it could just be someone trying to climb the corporate ladder. However, if it is seriously offensive (ie sexual harassment, sexist, racist, homophobic etc) contact your HR department and work to resolve the conflict professionally and safely.

Alternatively, if the criticism is constructive the first step is to not psych yourself out. Remember to breathe (and cry a little bit if you need to, but then shake it off), this is not a personal attack on you, rather someone is telling you this because they want to see you improve. Do not be intimidated to ask for further information or ask them to give you specifics in order to productively move forward. Another helpful tip is to take their advice in stride; thank them for their time, re-work the project or task and reach out to the critiquer again and ask them if you have improved. Taking the criticism in stride as opposed to reacting to it with hypersensitivity has two key benefits: For one, you are demonstrating to the critiquer that you listened to them and you value their time and experience. Secondly, your work is stronger thanks to your ability to take the criticism well and move forward.  

While I admit I still struggle with taking criticism constructively, I have noticed that taking these steps have made me a better person and employee. When you learn to take criticism well, your work improves as a direct result. You will become a more marketable employee because you will move on to your next task or opportunity with the ability to take criticism and turn it into something even better. You will spend less time dwelling on your mistakes and more time strengthening your work and personal brand.

At the end of the day, it is up to you:

While constructive criticism in of itself does not define you, how you move forward with it directly reflects who you are. So, who do you want to be seen as? Someone stuck in a rut because they cannot take criticism? Or a someone who is an active listener and will create even better work thanks to their ability to take it.

Elena Moeller is currently junior at the St. Edward’s University and Intern of all trades for Proactive Talent in Austin, Texas. Being born and raised in Minnesota I grew up playing hockey, riding snowmobiles, and fishing. One thing you should know about me is that I have never been labeled as shy- I live for getting to know new people and learning new things. This has enabled me to travel the world, become fluent in Spanish, and live in Milan, Italy where I learned a bit of Italian! I find I am happiest at work when I am able to spark my creativity and create something that is useful for our company but is also an entertaining read.