Tim Sackett released a tweet last week about a Gen Z coworker not knowing what Kinko’s was. That coworker was me — GUILTY!

I have to admit, maybe my lack of awareness of Kinko’s is due to my age, or maybe it’s due to the fact that I grew up in a very small, rural town and the closest office supplies/copy center was a Staples a few towns over. Regardless, the tweet got a lot of traction and the comments were super funny. Many of them however, took shots at Gen Z showcasing some common misconceptions of the generation .

Below are a few comments that stood out to me that I thought I would address so that employers of Gen Z’s have a better understanding of them and can refrain from making the same misconceptions.

“Ok so where’s the new cool place to get copies made? What are all the cool kids doing?”

Staples.

“Did you ask your GenZ to fax a copy, too? “

Honestly, If you asked me to fax something today I would probably ask for a refresher on how to fax something or I would have to google it. Truth be told, I’ve only faxed something twice in my life and I was doing it for a teacher back in grade school my Freshman year — This was in 2010.

Like the saying goes, “If you don’t use it, you lose it”. The reality is that we haven’t had to grow up faxing things. To us, faxing is basically an archaic way of sending documents.

“I’m surprised your co-worker didn’t just Google “Kinkos””

Gen Z’s love to Google. It’s a fast and easy way to get information. So yes, we Google the heck out of everything to get immediate answers.

“And then you can rent a movie at Blockbuster”

Sometimes people forget that the oldest of the Gen Z’s are in their 20’s and do remember a time with Blockbuster, VHS, no flat-screen computers or TV’s, and the rareness of cell phones. 

Technology was advancing at an incredible speed when the oldest of us were growing up. A phone one day looked nothing like a phone a year later nor had the same capabilities. The same goes for music devices, computers, TVs, ect.

“Someone asked me how to make a copy today, same deal. I told her that was half of my work as an intern and asked her to take an educated guess.”

Honestly, I don’t make copies very often. In grade school, you don’t need to make copies for anything and most high school students work in food or retail service not in an office setting where copies are typically made. I can’t even remember a time in college when I really needed to make copies. However, making copies is not rocket science by any means and I hope all Gen Z’s are capable of this.

“Just redirect my existence to/dev/null … smh… I knew what a Kresge’s was when I was a kid, even thought they hadn’t existed for years. Where the F are their parents talking about life before those self-absorbed kids were brought into this world.”

This is probably the one comment that made my eyes roll. Self-absorbed is a term that I often hear regarding Gen Z and I here’s why it’s so wrong:

Sure, we might be a little self-absorbed but truthfully what human isn’t? In reality, Generation Z is the most diverse, globally aware, environmentally friendly, and social justice oriented than any of the previous generations. So while yes, we all at times act for our own interest, this generation is also advocating for the greater good of all and is cleaning up messes of previous generations.

With All That Said

The point of this wasn’t to defend myself or Generation Z against these comments but rather to use them as examples to give employers a deeper understanding of us and our upbringing. We all grew up in different times, developed different mindsets, and all come from different backgrounds and experiences.

The fact that the workforce is so multi-generational is awesome! There is much diversity between the generations and even within them. As everyone should know by now, a diverse workforce is the best workforce.

And while yes, Gen Z’s are young, naive, and technology dependent we shouldn’t be punished or made to feel stupid for the lack of certain knowledge that to others is so well-known and understood. Though I got frustrated at times, I didn’t make my grandma feel stupid when I was teaching her how to text. I was patient and encouraging. 

Employers should embrace and learn from the differences of each generation and be eager and patient to teach them new skills and spread knowledge, no matter how simple those things might seem.

Hallie Priest is a digital marketer for HRU Technical Resources, a leading engineering, and IT staffing firm based in Lansing, MI, using her skills to create content to serve all involved in the job seeking/hiring process. When she is not strategizing campaigns, going over analytics, or talking about her dog you can find her at the nearest coffee shop fueling her creativity. Connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/halliepriest

Everyone’s goal is to be successful.  There are little changes that you can make each day that can have a big impact on your success.  Three things that are not taught in a college lecture hall, but that will make you stand out among your coworkers and be successful are:

1. Being on Time

Being on time is so important no matter what it’s for. Punctuality is great for work, attending a sporting event, or meeting friends for dinner.  When you’re on time it shows that you care and that you’re putting forth effort.  When a you’re late, you’re holding up others and showing that you don’t respect other’s time.  Your being late simply makes everyone else late.

In my opinion, if you’re not 5 minutes early, you’re late.

2. Having a Positive Attitude

Having a positive attitude changes your whole outlook on life and your optimism affects those around you.  When you’re positive, it makes others around you more positive too.  Of course, the opposite is true as well. When you’re negative it makes others around you more negative and brings down the mood.

My dad is one of the most positive people that I know, and even though positivity bugs me at times, in the end I am thankful for it.  He tells his employees at work all of the time that Monday is his favorite day of the week.  As we all know, Monday’s are usually peoples least favorite day of the week, but going into a Monday with a positive attitude helps the day go better.

3. Staying out of office politics

Avoiding office politics is another important thing you need to try and do because once you’re involved in them, it’s hard to get out.  You should only worry about yourself, the work you’re doing, and the things that are in your control.

Yes, it can be frustrating when you feel that you’re putting in more effort and working harder than your co-worker in the cube next to you who is always playing on their phone; but you can’t worry about that and let it bother you.  You need to just keep doing your work and in the end you will be the one rewarded.

You Will Be Recognized

If a you can consistently do these three things everyday, YOU will be the one promoted instead of the coworker that shows up five minutes late everyday.  YOU will get the next important project instead of the person that is always negative and doesn’t want to be at work. Lastly, YOU will be the one that’s promoted over the worker that spends most of their time online shopping.

Even though these may seem like small things, in the long run they will help get you recognized and YOU will be rewarded for it.

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.

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! 

For as long as I can remember, it often feels like every other article or conference discussion I see is a dissertation about the millennial impact on the workforce. If you read that first sentence, you may have yawned and already moved on…but I sincerely hope you didn’t. There’s been so much continued discussion about millennials that I fear today’s next generation, GenZ, is getting overlooked. I don’t just mean overlooked by older generations; I mean overlooked by generational allies – fringe GenZs such as myself. This mistake is so incredibly short-sighted, inconsiderate, and misunderstood that it brings to risk a perpetuation of the very division that millennial generations are continually subjected to. I write all of this to admit that at some point I became part of the problem.

I was born in ‘91, only a few short years before my Gen Z peers. I consider myself a “fringer”. Most of my experiences align me closer to GenZ than other millennial generations. I entered professional life at the height of millennial discussions (though it hasn’t ceased in frequency), with my first stab at a career that led me to the insurance industry. You can make a great living in insurance, and there is tremendous upside in the amount of influence all millennial generations will have on that industry.

That said, every industry has had its generational challenges, but I think all insurance pros will agree their industry is near the top of the list. It’s nobody’s fault; it just exists. So during the first weeks, months, and years of my career, I heard the voices of millennial driven articles loud and clear as I lived it firsthand. For many reasons, I couldn’t wait to become a mentor myself and help break the chain of monotonous top down mentorship and leadership I was experiencing.

My first major mentorship opportunity came when I was 26. I felt like I was blitzing through the insurance industry, and I was ready to help others do the same. So how did I do?

I may or may not have started off strong. I worked to be inclusive and transparent to some degree, making sure my mentee was included in exciting events and meetings that would give tremendous exposure to top leadership and influencers. I tried to push my mentee but never beyond something I wouldn’t do myself. I held weekly syncs with the goal being an hour of uninterrupted focus on successes, development opportunities, and aspirations. Yet, we barely made it past the honeymoon phase.

I’ve given the relationship much reflection, and I think I failed for the following reasons. First, while I thought I was doing all of these great things for the mentee, I simply wasn’t actually allowing time for their own self-discovery. Second, and perhaps more importantly – maybe I was intimidated by their strategies, operational efficiency, and methods of connecting to the industry. Despite the few years that separated us in age, our developments were greatly shaped in different forms within that gap. Forget who knew more about actually performing our current responsibilities.

In the few years since I graduated college, tech was being used differently in so many areas. I leaned heavily on Facebook (among other things), while they focused on Insta, Snapchat, and Twitter (among other things). I posted once in a while; they posted all the time. But, they didn’t just post; they used their Socials as a medium for connecting with businesses and building relationships in a way that seemed like a stretch, even for some industry vets. Beyond social platforms, they had things like Uber for pretty much all of college, whereas it wasn’t available to my peers and me until roughly a year after graduating (probably for the best). Even though we only had those few years between us, they were thinking on a new level, with new ideas that were non-traditional to the current state of the industry but very progressive to achieving a new level of success.

I could write on this all day. I still cringe when I think about how hard I failed on something I was so certain I would succeed at. I’ll never stop feeling bad about initially failing GenZ, but it brought to light many valuable lessons. To my fellow fringers, please take caution. Love your fellow generational warriors, but don’t forget that it’s already time to focus on bringing in the next generation with open arms. Each year moves faster and faster, and we will be far more successful on the same side of the water than with a bridge in between.

My story is different and should be different than yours, but regardless – think about it. Let’s embrace the new knowledge and skills that incoming generations bring by not dismissing the intensifying knowledge gap created by rapid changes in technology. Let’s take everything that we’ve learned from our experiences in the trenches of a generational gap to ensure it doesn’t happen again. And most importantly, let’s recognize the individuality of each “millennial” generation.

Quitin Meek a talent consultant at Pillar Technology (part of Accenture Industry X.0). Also an active member of Detroit’s startup and tech community. Every day is something new and challenging, and I am learning more than ever before. I’m finding that I’ve become a lifelong student, and I’m excited to see how that continues to shape the road ahead.

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.