Gen Z hiring manager says CEOs are right about her generation’s ‘attitude’ problem after a candidate took the interview from her phone
It’s no secret that Gen Z often gets slammed for, in the words of Sister Act star Whoopi Goldberg, not “busting their behinds” at work quite like previous generations did. Despite struggling to land entry-level roles, bosses have accused them of showing up late to the interview, refusing to put in any overtime for screening tests, and ghosting recruiters. Now, even a Gen Z hiring manager is backing the bosses slamming her generation. “I fear that the people who say that Gen Z aren’t getting jobs because of their attitude are slightly accurate,” the 23-year-old who goes by @Sopharoch posted in a TikTok video that’s now gone viral. LA-based Sophie Rocha works in marketing for Gen Z career platform Home From College—and because of the nature of her employer, she’s regularly on the other side of the hiring table, interviewing candidates from her own generation. But one recent interview pushed her over the edge. “I interviewed a candidate last week, and they showed up on the call on their phone,” Rocha slammed, adding that their reasoning was “it’s not that serious” because it was a first-stage interview. The candidate then gushed about the job’s remote setup before openly admitting they had no intention of ever working from home—instead revealing they’d use the policy to work full-time while on vacation. “I don’t know if that’s something that you want to say in an initial interview, like, hey, I’m actually going to be lollygagging in Europe, so I won’t be paying attention to this role,” Rocha added. To add further fuel to the fire, the candidate demanded more money and made clear they expected the role to simply be handed to them—a level of entitlement that left Rocha speechless. “Then they complained about the compensation, and then said, I know that you’re probably not interviewing anybody else for this position, so I’ll just expect to hear back and start Monday,” Rocha concluded incredulously. “I’