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Developing a strategy to engage and recruit Gen Z
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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When I turned 20, as a member of Generation X, society didn’t think too much about youth. We were in the middle of the grunge period, with bands like Nirvana questioning the blatant commercialization of previous generations. Young people questioned the integrity of institutions and felt the world had abandoned our future for profit and progress.
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I personally witnessed what previous generations had experienced and what future generations would experience in the years to come.
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After Gen X traded in their grunge-wear for mini-vans, the next generation to be picked on was the Millennials, something I listened to employers harp about for a couple of decades.
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The complaints against Millennials wasn’t too different than the complaints about Gen Z. They weren’t responsible. Didn’t want to work. They spend too much time on technology. They can’t be counted on. They were the product of helicopter parenting.
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These are all pretty familiar complaints. They’ve been around for decades. I’ll bring your attention to a television show from the 1970s called ‘All in the Family’. In the pilot-episode, the father ‘Archie’ meets his future son-in-law Michael and after hearing his lefty thoughts on politics, social justice and the inherent unfairness of society declares he’s a ‘Meathead’, disagreeing with everything. Meathead was a Baby-Boomer.
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What happened to those Baby-Boomers? Well, just 15 years later, in 1987, Michael Douglas, portraying Gordon Gekko in the film ‘Wall Street’ proclaimed, “Greed is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms."
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It's unfair to judge an entire generation by it’s first entry into the labour market.
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To be honest, Gen Z is facing some significant hurdles but also possesses tremendous potential and will transform the labour market for all of us.
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And if I may be so bold. One day, it will be a member of Gen Z who determines whether you get to continue to drive your car or what sort of care home you end up living in. That member of Gen Z might be a family member, a doctor, a politician or even a worker at the motor vehicle office who looks up from whatever the 2055 version of Tik Tok looks like to evaluate whether you’ve passed your cognitive test.
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There is a lesson here for employers but first let’s take a look at how Gen Z is fairing in the year 2025.
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According to the most recent Labour Force Survey, youth are facing the worst job market in decades. Paralleling what would typically be recession-level unemployment numbers, Canada’s youth unemployment has worsened since 2022, with overall youth unemployment rising from 10 per cent in 2022 to 14 per cent in mid-2025. In Ontario, the unemployment rate for young women is more than 17 per cent for young men it’s more than 18 per cent.
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These levels of unemployment are pushing more and more youth into app-based gig occupations, often lacking employment standards, Employment Insurance, workers compensation coverage, minimum shifts and most importantly, the basic mentorship that shapes future employment.
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According to Statistics Canada, more than 40 per cent of self-employed youth were gig workers, as compared with 26 per cent of self-employed core-aged workers.
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Before you say this is just what every previous generation has experienced, it should be noted that things are getting appreciably worse.
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In the first five years of work, Baby Boomers typically had a tenure with an employer of 2.9 years. For Gen X, this dropped to 2.8 years. For Millennials this dropped significantly to just 1.8 years and now the average Gen Z worker is barely able to maintain 1.1 years of tenure with the same employer in their first five years of employment.
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Recently Randstad published a report looking at Canadian Gen Z titled, ‘the gen z workplace blueprint future focused, fast moving.’ which found, “Gen Z is ambitious and capable — but struggling to find a foothold. They enter the world of work at a time of disruption: despite rising talent scarcity. Their research shows there is a steady decline in entry-level roles across sectors. Young workers face higher competition, technological change and uncertain growth paths.”
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The report notes, with AI and digital automation handling many traditional junior tasks, the very nature of an entry-level role is being reconfigured.
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An analysis of global job postings reveals that vacancies for entry-level roles (0-2 years experience) have dropped by 29 percentage points since January 2024.
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This has hit Gen Z hard. When a public survey was conducted by Randstad, respondents were asked whether they agree with the following statement: ‘I don't have the confidence to find another job’.
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Just 29 per cent of Baby Boomers agreed with this statement vs. 36 per cent of Gen X, 39% of Millennials, and 41 percent (2 out of 5) members of Gen Z.
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Gen Z recognizes they have skills, but they’re uncertain about the future. They report high confidence in their ability to learn job-relevant skills (79%), yet they remain the generation most likely to be rejected for not having them. Despite their digital fluency, 46 per cent are worried about AI’s impact on their careers — up from 40 per cent last year — revealing a growing sense of unease beneath the surface.
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Canada is also trailing many world nations. Eighty-three per cent of Gen Z workers in India use AI to problem-solve at work, with the number topping 74 per cent in Brazil and 64 per cent in Spain.
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Meanwhile, only 48 per cent of youth in Canada use AI to problem-solve at work; followed by 44 per cent in the United States and 42 per cent in Japan.
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Without question, Gen Z is prepared to do the work when given an opportunity. Seventy-five per cent of Gen Z said they learn through AI tools, as opposed to 71 per cent of Millennials, 56 per cent of Gen X and less than half of Baby-Boomers (49%).
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Randstad argues, economic volatility, declining entry-level opportunities and the impact of AI on skills profiles have not dampened Gen Z’s appetite to advance in their jobs.
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Career progression is one of the top three factors in their long-term retention, along with better pay and flexible working hours. Gen Z respondents are more likely (41%) to "always" consider their long-term career goals when making job change decisions, compared to other generations.
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Randstad is sending out a warning to employers. According to the authors, “Gen Z’s short job tenures aren’t a trend: they’re a warning sign. Amid shrinking talent pools, this generation is the most likely to leave early, driven by unmet expectations and unclear career paths.”
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The research shows Gen Z gravitating toward fast-growth sectors like IT, healthcare and financial services to achieve their long-term career goals. This could leave entire sectors scrambling to find workers and struggling to remain competitive.
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The technology sector in particular has become a primary destination. Even if they start their careers elsewhere, tech-aligned industries are the top destination for Gen Z talent. They have a net gain of 70%, indicating that for every 100 Gen Z workers who leave other industries, 70 move into tech.
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In their final summary, Randstad puts it clearly. “In the face of conflicting and contrasting perceptions of the working world, employers will need to make a strategic shift if they are to attract and retain Gen Z talent and shape the leaders of tomorrow.”
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With the exception of those who work exclusively with mature workers, everyone reading this works with youth. They may not make up your primary population, possibly because youth do not typically engage with employment services in the same manner as more mature workers, but we find youth in every other population including newcomers, women, Indigenous Canadians, those with disabilities, francophones, racialized Canadians, LGBTQ2S+ and survivors of violence or abuse.
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Just as the employment services sector needs to seek better opportunities to work with youth, we need to support employers to better engage youth.
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While much of sales is built around addressing objections, job development needs to be built around addressing employer objections.
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Why do employers tell you they don’t want to hire youth? Is it possibly because they feel youth are entitled, don’t want to work or can’t relate to them or their customers? Is it because they want to hire someone who is reliable and will stay with the organization? Is it because they want someone who is ready to go on day one and doesn’t need any training?
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These are separate concerns and need to be addressed separately.
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When employers have a poor impression of youth, we need to prepare our clients ahead of time to be able to speak to employer expectations. We need to create opportunities for information interviews, elevator pitches and job fairs where young people can argue their own case.
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For employers who doubt the longevity of young employees we need them to consider how long their average employee stays and argue our young clients can better that average.
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For employers who don’t want to invest the time in training young people, we need to remind them that hiring and recruiting takes along time too. Workers who are ready to go on day one are what every other employer wants as well and they will be the ones most likely to job hop for better pay, benefits and opportunities for advancement. Talk about a sense of ‘entitlement’.
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Giving employers tough messages is the hardest thing a job developer or other employer engagement professional needs to do, but sometimes we need to say in the most polite, professional manner possible, “how is this working for you?”
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We need to remind employers that unless their willing to think more inclusively, unless they’re willing to take a chance on someone, that they are going to continue to be mired in the same recruitment mud that made them reach out to you in the first place.
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I could make controversial statements about how employers have abrogated their responsibility to hire and train the next generation of workers, which is true, but not helpful.
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When it comes right down to it, diverse workplaces are stronger. They retain more staff, enjoy more stability and thereby enjoy better profits and growth. That needs to be our message to employers. Diversity is good business and hiring young people, the workers of tomorrow is critical to the future growth of any employer in Canada.
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We’ll be discussing the value of discussing 'skills' in employer engagement at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday October 27th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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On the morning of Monday October 27th 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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'2025 Labour Market
Year-in-Review Workshops'
December 2025
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Registration is open for our Labour Market Year-in-Review workshops, taking place respectively in British Columbia and Ontario. We have a 20% discount for everyone who registers by Nov. 14th. To learn more:
BC Workshop Link | Nov. 28th / Dec. 1st
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Ontario Workshop Link | Dec. 5th and 8th
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Membership in Labour Market Online
THIS FRIDAY DEADLINE: OCTOBER 31, 2025
We created the BC Labour Market Report in 1999 and the Ontario Labour Market Report in 2014. Both were created to provide career professionals with a comprehensive understanding of the current labour market. They help save time, provide better information and ensure individuals a go on to more sustainable employment outcomes. If you're organization isn't a member of Labour Market Online, up until October 31st we're waiving the onboarding fee, possibly saving hundreds of dollars. To learn more about Membership:
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Ontario Labour Market Online Membership
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