The Importance of Being Transparent: What Gen Z Job Seekers Want

The federal workforce is not getting any younger.

Consider that the average age of federal employees is 47, and roughly one-third of the federal workforce will hit retirement age in the next two years. Meanwhile, less than 7% of federal workers are under the age of 30.

For government employers, these figures only underscore the need to find (and hold on to) the young talent that will lead their agencies into the future. Results of a new survey offer some insight into what it might take to attract this next generation of workers.

A recent poll asked more than 3,700 college students how they view work, employers and recruiting, with these Gen Z job seekers respondents sharing

In terms of what they value most when applying for jobs, the majority of respondents are seeking more realistic expectations and more specific job descriptions. The survey found 59% of students saying they were concerned that they did not have the right qualifications for the types of jobs they sought. Another 65% said that too many unrealistic requirements would discourage them from applying for a given job.

“This sentiment was particularly truer for women,” according to a press release summarizing the findings, with 63% of female respondents expressing concern about their qualifications when searching for jobs, compared to 52% of men saying the same. These results “suggest that employers should consider revising their job descriptions to make them more realistic and transparent.”

“Make Room for New Wine”

Conducted by Symplicity, the survey also asked students to share their thoughts on the importance of pay transparency.

“Gen Z values transparency across multiple areas of the job application process, particularly around salary and job responsibilities,” the press release noted, adding that pay transparency and equity was the most important diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) component that students consider when assessing an organization’s overall DEI efforts. More than 85% of respondents said they consider pay transparency and equity “important” or “very important.”

When asked about transparency around salary ranges, 53% of students indicated they would be discouraged from applying for a job that didn’t share a specific salary range in the job description.

Interestingly, the survey also found less than half of students (42%) saying that a hybrid or fully remote work arrangements were very important or important to them when sizing up would-be employers. Three-quarters of students placed the same importance on hybrid or remote work in a similar survey last year, according to Symplicity.

Overall, these findings emphasize “that Gen Z students are looking for more realistic job descriptions [and] salary transparency, and value employers who demonstrate a genuine commitment to DEI, while also wanting more opportunity for face-to-face interactions to establish their own network,” the press release noted.

Speaking to FedScoop at a recent Washington, D.C. tech industry event, Congressman Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) stressed the importance of giving this young and tech-savvy talent incentives to join the federal workforce, and giving them the chance to grow into the more senior government roles they will someday inherit from their older colleagues.

“ … We don’t want to try to push [more seasoned workers] out the door unnecessarily, there’s a lot of experience and talent in older generations that we want to make sure is passed on, like institutional knowledge, and memory is important,” said Ivey.

“But as they say, old wineskin needs to make room for new wine. [We’ve] got to make sure we’re creating the space for younger people to come in and utilize new skills, new talents, broader horizons, and working through these new technologies that, frankly, my generation doesn’t understand as well.”

He also told FedScoop that creating new organizational structures that enable federal workers to become familiar with new technologies could be one way to attract young talent.

“I think part of it is creating different departments within agencies. Because it doesn’t all have to be the same infrastructure that it was 10, 20, 30 years ago. You can have organizational charts that are slightly different than they are now,” he said.

“You can give them more latitude, more leeway to try and integrate with new technologies. And you can put leadership in place that really understands the needs. And it’s not that you’re [necessarily] pushing people out the door who really still have something to offer. But you’re creating a space [where young] talent [can] come in and thrive.”