Why Gen Z Are Rejecting ‘Prestige’ Jobs

In the current economic landscape, different generations are having different experiences in the workforce. This week, take a peek into Gen Z and Gen X.?

How Gen Z are disrupting the definition of ‘prestigious’ jobs

Even before Molly Johnson-Jones graduated from Oxford University in 2015, she felt professional pressure to land a ‘prestigious’ job in a high-powered industry. She says she and her university friends felt there were sectors that carried cachet?– particularly the rigorous fields of finance, consulting, medicine and law. That’s why Johnson-Jones ended up in investment banking for two years once she graduated, even though didn’t feel like quite the right fit.

These kinds of “very traditional industries” have indeed carried prestige, says Jonah Stillman , co-founder of GenGuru, a consulting firm that focuses on different generations in the workplace. Stillman, a Gen Zer, says this sentiment is present in higher-education settings, but he adds many people across generations have felt pressure well before university to pursue these paths, including from family members or high-school counsellors.?

“We’ve just grown up with this expectation,” says Andrew Roth , 24, who graduated from Tennessee, US-based Vanderbilt University in 2021. “When I got to Vanderbilt, I was pretty quickly drawn into the ‘all roads lead to finance and consulting path’. It just feels very easy to go that way … everyone's going that way.” Roth says he internalised pressure to pursue this path from the atmosphere of his competitive university, his contemporaries and alumni in powerful positions in these industries.

As Gen Z join the workforce, however, experts and younger workers say what’s considered a high-status job may be expanding – and even becoming less relevant overall. Some younger workers do still report making money is prestigious, especially as cost of living skyrockets; and working for certain firms or in specific industries can make a career. But many are also emphasising other elements, such as corporate values, flexibility, autonomy and freedom from the long-hours, high-octane grind.?

Read more from Meredith Turits on Gen Z’s take on ‘elite’ jobs.?

Why Gen X isn’t ready to leave the workforce?

Despite?Gen X's reputation as ‘slackers’, many are deeply tied to work. Unlike some of their millennial counterparts, who are?taking career breaks after being laid off, or even?leaving full-time positions outright to rest and recharge, this generation is eager to stay in the workforce, bucking these trends.

Experts say there are two main reasons many members of Gen X, roughly defined as people born roughly between 1965 and 1980, aren’t ready to leave the workforce.

For one, they’re saddled with unique financial considerations rendering many largely unable to forego a consistent income. But many have also worked hard to build their careers, climbing the ladder after experiencing a series of tumultuous economic events, and may not want to pause that opportunity for continued upward trajectory.

Read more from Leah Carroll and Paul Schrodt on why Gen Xers want to keep working.

Thanks for reading. You can visit BBC Worklife ?and?BBC Business for the latest. We’ll return next week.

–Meredith Turits, Editor, BBC Worklife