ANALYSIS: Only 8% of hiring managers say Gen Z is ready for the workforce

As the first generation of digital natives, Generation Z should be dominating the workforce. We grew up with iPhones in our pockets, learned to multitask across screens, and can use artificial intelligence to do hours of work in minutes. In theory, we should be the most adaptable and productive employees the workforce has ever seen.

But reality paints a very different picture.

A survey from Criteria, which polled more than 350 hiring managers, found that only 8% believe Gen Z is ready for the workforce. Even Gen Z agrees. Just 24% of young adults say their generation is ready to meet real-world expectations.

This disconnect isn’t about lack of intelligence. It’s about lack of preparation. Our education system failed to prepare us for real life.

[RELATED: 77% of Gen Z job seekers have brought a parent to an interview, survey finds]

To understand why, look no further than the university classroom. As tuition skyrockets, universities are still pushing politically charged or impractical degrees that fail to prepare graduates for the real world.

I recently reported for Campus Reform that this fall, Harvard University is offering a degree in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies for nearly $87,000 per year. The University of Colorado Boulder offers a minor in Queer and Trans Studies with yearly tuition close to $70,000. At Bowling Green State University in Ohio, students can major in Pop Culture for over $30,000 annually. And the University of Connecticut (UConn) offers a major in Puppet Arts (yes, puppets like Kermit the Frog) for over $60,000 a year.

These aren’t career pipelines. They’re six-figure traps that leave students deep in debt and ill-equipped for stable careers.

The problem starts long before day one at the office. From kindergarten through college, Gen Z has spent nearly two decades in classrooms where busy work replaced critical thinking and ideological narratives replaced objective learning. We were rewarded for participation, not performance, and as a result, young adults lack the ability to think critically or operate independently. Today, many young adults can chant protest slogans but can’t draft a professional email. 

Higher education only reinforced the problem. Universities replaced critical thinking with Critical Race Theory, standards with skin color, and merit with affirmative action. Grade inflation and test-optional admissions taught students that excellence was optional. Meanwhile, tuition soared as universities poured money into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies and activist studies instead of practical, career-ready programs.

Then came the pandemic. Years of remote learning and virtual internships produced a generation that struggles with basic workplace etiquette like shaking a hand, dressing professionally, making eye contact, or showing up on time. For many Gen Z workers, their first “job” was spent behind a laptop camera, muted and mic-off. The results speak for themselves.

The numbers illustrate the urgency. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that recent college graduates aged 22-27 face an unemployment rate of 5.8%, the same rate as Americans over 25 with less than a high school diploma. That statistic proves that a degree no longer guarantees a stable career. If universities want to reverse that trend, they must move away from ideology and start equipping students with real-world skills.

[RELATED: Gen Z workers need praise for meeting basic expectations, 71% of managers say]

Still, there’s reason for optimism. As universities face public pressure and federal oversight to scale back DEI mandates, they’re being forced to confront a hard truth: the culture of activism isn’t working. But removing DEI and leftist-mandated curricula is only one part of the equation. Universities must rebuild around merit by reinstating admissions standards, hiring professors who value excellence over ideology, and teaching students how to think…not what to think.

To truly prepare students for the real world, universities must start by replacing ideological curricula with skills-based, practical coursework that prioritizes communication, logic, reasoning, and real-world problem-solving over political conformity. As artificial intelligence become more common in the workplace, students should learn to use technology as a tool for research but not a replacement for critical thinking. And on campus, students must learn to confront opposing viewpoints, not silence them. Students need challenge, not coddling.

Gen Z doesn’t lack creativity or potential. It lacks preparation. The next generation could be the most capable yet, but only if our institutions stop producing activists and start producing adults.

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Editorials and op-eds reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of Campus Reform or the Leadership Institute.