I think my parents are smarter than I but I think I am smarter than my sister. Does that make sense?
Hello and welcome to me or should I rather say generation Z?
It would be very biased for me to say that I am not so complicated to understand but that would be too subjective and therefore I will talk about us, generation z in an objective way and really try to understand other generations point of view. I have a sister that belongs to the millenials and a mother that is part of generation X and I totally agree that my kind of mindset is completely different than theirs. I think my parents are smarter than I but I think I am smarter than my sister. Does that make sense?
My parents know much more about the world, especially politics and economy, meanwhile I
teach them how to use the newest Iphone as the best selfie device. I am not sure if I can speak for everyone that is part of the Generation z but I like to be independent and organise my own business. My parents are smart and they didn’t even bother to study a bachelor degree. My sister is currently studying her masters but she still has no clue what she wants to do, neither does she know what her possibilities are whilst being 24. I don’t mind, she works hard so I let her be. I know however that I want to work and have a family. I strongly believe that having a career and a family is totally possible, I guess that’s where I could say I stand out from the crowd.
Work
At the workplace, I tend to watch and learn rather than people telling me what to do, oh yes I hate that! I hate people telling me what to do, even when I am wrong. I guess we are sometimes too naïve but I feel like I learn the most by doing whatever my mind agrees with. During my internship, my boss observed me and discovered right way I was a visual learner. I appreciated that very much and right away I had a great connection with him, to me that is a real leader. A new supervisor however enjoyed the empowerment and always told me what to do, I must admit I stepped a line and argued with him but in the end I got praised for doing what I thought was best and my boss graded me an A as my overall internship experience. I enjoy working hard and I enjoy feeling responsible, telling us what to do will not help the organisation, it will create a hierarchy as we feel someone else knows better, even when they do know better.
Adding to this, we are success seekers. We want nothing but success, when it comes to working within a business or having our own business, it’s the same feeling.
Generation z wants to make their hobby their work and let me tell you, it has worked. Multi millionaires are currently selling me a body lotion on Instagram with the hashtag 20% discount when you use my code and we fall for it every time. I would lie if I tell you that it is not one of my goals to become so popular on Instagram but im still working on the feed color.
Reaching us
Talking about Instagram, we are on it everyday and still most organisations question is how to target us. Come on, its not that hard. If a picture of Kylie Jenner and her new baby can get our attention I am sure anyone can. Funny enough, I applied once to a job offer through Instagram but they did not even reply to me, so my question is why did they even bother putting it online? After that I did not even bother looking online because as I said before if you treat us like we are below you, we will never be interested in you again. It’s the hard truth I guess but when you keep us, we will be so loyal that you will most likely be featured on our `insta´ story and you probably guessed it, earned marketing! It’s free! We love interviews, love love love talking!!
We don’t understand how some companies grade people based on a piece of paper? For me, that’s like judging its book by its cover and we all know we shouldn’t.
Trust me, I am very boring on paper but if you meet me, I am like the most unboring person
ever, ask my teachers. I understand you need to know our background information and our education etc. but why don’t you ask us in an interview? Does that take too much time? But is it not true that what is hard to find worth fighting for?
What we believe in
Where I come from and the education I had never taught me to shine on paper, they taught me to shine from my heart and brain. To keep the confusion going, last time when I tried to show a bit of personality on my CV, I wasn’t allowed because it wasn’t professional enough. HELP!!!
For us, it is very hard to stand out with these strict rules based on professionalism, many associate it with vocabulary that nobody ever uses anymore or don’t actually know what it means and some think it is the way we behave when we meet someone important. This is why I love Hotel Institute Montreux, they evolve with us, they adapt to our expectations rather than their own. Hotel Institute Montreux has started a blog, which I am currently writing for and now we also have an Instagram account to attract organisations that are potentially interested in hiring hospitality students, is that not fantastic?
Overall, what I am trying to say is that we like to feel important and involved, therefore the amount of effort that comes from an organisation is very important to me (us). Send us some pictures, give us a call or feature us because in the end, we are waiting for you!
Author: Ms Lynn Wyngaard, Hospitality Bachelor Student at Hotel Institute Montreux, from Netherlands.
I love your post!