No generation has entered the workforce more squarely in AI’s crossfire than Gen Z. As companies across industries have pulled back on entry-level hiring, leaders have made it clear they’re now more than ever looking for highly-skilled and ambitious young workers. And many aspiring professionals appear to have begun taking that message to heart.
Career growth ranked as Gen Z’s No. 1 priority when choosing a full-time employer—outranking work-life balance, salary, workplace culture, and staying ahead of technology, according to a new survey of more than 900 summer interns at accounting firm KPMG. Their ambitions don’t stop at landing a first job or earning a promotion. Nearly all respondents, 93%, said they aspire to reach the C-suite or senior executives during their careers.
But KPMG said that ambition will require more than simply moving up the corporate ladder—it will require developing the skills that make employees worth investing.
“Gen Z sees the risk clearly,” Derek Thomas, KPMG U.S.’s national partner-in-charge of university talent acquisition, said in a press release.
“Lean on AI for all the thinking early on, and you never build the instincts that make you a strong employee. What’s striking is that they’re guarding those reps, the hands-on work that builds real human skills, because they know it’s what turns an entry-level hire into someone worth developing and investing in.”
