As artificial intelligence (AI) gains a greater foothold in daily life, Generation Z remains far ahead of the curve in using this new technology at home and at work.
These digital natives, born between 1997 and 2012, are the first generation to grow up with the internet and social media, so it’s hardly surprising that they lead the way in AI use. A survey released earlier this year from the Walton Family Foundation, GSV Ventures, and Gallup found that nearly half (47%) of Gen Z use generative AI weekly, with nearly 8 in 10 saying they’ve used AI tools at least once.
Gen Z is also at the forefront of AI use on the job. A recent Google Workspace survey of 20-something knowledge workers found that 93% (compared with 79% of millennials) use two or more AI tools a week to revise emails and documents, take notes during meetings, or generate ideas.
Gen Z’s eagerness to use AI is good news for employers seeking new hires familiar with this new tech. The downside? Gen Z is lacking in other areas that give hiring managers pause.
A new General Assembly survey of company leaders in the United States and the United Kingdom reveals that today’s entry-level employees aren’t yet job-ready. Less than a quarter (22%) of company leaders said that early talent is “very or completely prepared” to do their jobs. Nearly one-third (29%) said entry-level workers are “hardly prepared.” More concerning, more than half (53%) said entry-level workers are less prepared than those from five years ago.
Company leaders aren’t complaining about a lack of technical skills. What worries them most is weak soft skills. More than half of those surveyed — 56%, up from 50% in the General Assembly survey done a year earlier — said early-talent hires haven’t yet acquired the communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, networking, and other essential job-ready skills they’ll need throughout their lives and careers.
Whether it’s the result of Gen Z spending long hours glued to their phones, the social isolation that occurred during the pandemic, or some other missed opportunity, the soft skills crisis seems to be worsening. So, what can organizations do about it?
For learning leaders, this shift signals a need to rethink how early-career development programs are structured. Here are three ways learning and development (L&D) can help.
1. Adopt a Skills-Based Approach for New Hires
Rather than rely on degrees and prior experience to screen candidates, organizations should seek early talent possessing specific abilities, knowledge, and skills — both technical and durable — that make them a good fit for available roles. L&D leaders should partner with human resources to define the core skills framework upon which hiring should be based.
L&D leaders can also conduct skills gap analyses that identify technical and durable skills that need to be developed or reinforced, then craft and activate a hire-train-deploy model to prepare new hires for specific jobs.
2. Grow Your Own Talent
The connection between training and preparation is clear. According to the General Assembly’s early talent survey, more than 9 in 10 company leaders (92%, to be precise) who believe their entry-level workers are well prepared for their roles also say they provide adequate employee training. Companies should consider looking inward and upskilling their new and incumbent workers, especially if a company-wide AI transformation is underway.
Organizations should consider investing in more effective onboarding that builds a skills foundation, building transparent pathways to advancement that show the skills required for roles, and adopting coaching and mentoring initiatives that embed learning into work. Most crucially, L&D leaders should ensure that these training efforts are aligned with organizational goals.
Investing in training isn’t just a smart short-term strategy for ensuring employees can get the work done. It’s also a long-term investment in a company’s workforce. Numerous workplace surveys have shown that workers who wish to advance their careers want their employers to offer education and training to help them go far.
3. Focus on Soft Skills Development in an AI Context
In today’s AI age, durable skills are evolving alongside technology, which means organizations should focus on soft skills development around how best to work with AI. Strong communication skills now mean writing effective prompts that will produce the appropriate content or code. Critical thinking requires knowing when to trust or challenge AI-generated content and take appropriate action when AI goes astray. Effective collaboration means helping colleagues harness this new technology.
To ensure that new and incumbent employees develop durable skills in an AI context, organizations should build a more nimble, responsive L&D strategy that integrates real-time insights from L&D, human resources, recruiting, and strategic units. By breaking down silos and keeping up with rapidly changing conditions, L&D leaders can ensure that training priorities remain relevant and that upskilling and reskilling initiatives maximize ROI. Because multiple parts of the organization are working together on skills assessments and training development, L&D leaders can quickly identify and close gaps in AI and durable skills.
“What worries company leaders most is weak soft skills.”
Organizations should also make AI platforms available to everyone, not just early adopters and the most tech-savvy employees. Basic AI training should be mandatory, and the skills that employees learn should be practical, connected to their work, and tied to their growth and progression.
Moving Forward
Gen Z — anxious, idealistic, pragmatic, and extremely plugged in — can bring fresh ideas and enormous energy to the workplace. With the right approach to employee development that emphasizes essential job-ready skills, homegrown talent, and skills training offered within an AI context, organizations across industries can unlock the next generation of talent.
By Dr. Jeffrey Bergin