Gen Z are burning down the career ladder

Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and these career-related stories caught my attention this month — and might catch yours too.

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We never thought it’d come to this, but…we have managers now. Over the past few years, Kickresume has grown faster than we ever imagined.  With that growth comes a bit of necessary change—especially when it comes to structure. 

So, we did what seemed like the natural choice: we created a few "head of" positions. It gave teams a clear leader to refer to, be the go-to person when things get chaotic, and it made task delegation much smoother. 

Seems like a solid plan, right? 

Well, that’s what I thought—until I came across a recent survey that could totally sabotage our set-up in the future.

And who's to blame for this potential headache? You guessed it—Gen Z.

Career ladder? Thanks but no thanks

According to a recent survey 52% of Gen-Z professionals don’t want to be middle managers. 

Now, just to clarify, what exactly a middle manager is—it’s someone who works between the top-level bosses and the rest of the employees and usually manages a team or department. Also, Gen Z is defined as people born between 1996 and 2010. 

And what are their reasons? 

• 72% said they’d prefer to take an individual career path—focusing on personal growth and skill-building rather than a management role. 

• 69% of Gen Z respondents say being a middle manager is too high stress and too low reward.

• Other factors mentioned were limited decision-making power (18%) & reduced personal growth (11%).

(Maybe I shouldn't be saying this but… these seem pretty valid to me.)

So, why is this a potential problem for companies, including ours? Over the last year, we’ve hired quite a few Gen Z employees, and they now make up a significant portion of our team. 

As we continue to grow, we’ll likely need more “head of” (a.k.a.manager) roles to keep things organized. 

But if our potential managers aren’t interested in being managers, we might have a bit of an issue.

Instead of jumping to conclusions, I figured I’d ask our Gen Z team members directly.

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Who wants to be in charge? Literally no one.

I didn't want the statistic to influence their judgment, so I simply asked: “Are you interested in managing a team of people in the future, and why (not)?”

Here's what they said.

Paulina (Copywriter, 25): “As a new person in a new industry, I prefer being in a position where I’m only responsible for myself, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon because I can see all that goes into managing people. I like that I can focus on getting my work done, and when it’s finished, I can pretty much relax. Of course, in the long run, I can imagine that if I get really good at my job and see that I’m a valuable team member, I could maybe take on this challenge. But, obviously, it would have to come with better pay or have a really important purpose that I believe in.”

Samuel (AI developer, 25): “Truth to be told, I’ve never really wanted to manage people. I’d say I’m more the type of person who prefers to do things myself rather than rely on others. Then there’s all the insecurities that come with leading other people, like confidence, leadership, and the necessary assertiveness. And finally, the pressure and responsibility that would come with it — not something I particularly wish for.”

Sara (Social media, 25): “Managing people can be really tough and stressful. For me, it’s essential to choose who I work with; if I can’t, then being called a “manager” isn’t worth the hassle. I want to feel calm and at peace in my job. If I’m just there to correct my colleagues while someone else tells me exactly what to do, I lose that sense of freedom. It’s important to me that my work feels meaningful; I don’t want to chase after goals just because someone else says I should.”

Klara (Content manager, 26): “Well, I do currently “manage” Paulina (and at one point I did supervise a colossal team of 2 writers—for a week). Before that, I was a writer and someone else managed me. I can say it's a huge difference, and, in some ways, it really was easier back then😅. I'm lucky that the people I manage(d) are really easy-going and responsible, but it is a lot of added responsibility for myself and it does get stressful at times. I guess If I were to manage a larger team, I would need to reaaaaally think about it. Right now, I don't have that ambition.”

I love consistency, but not in this case :(

TL;DR: Based on our mini survey, Gen Z isn’t exactly thrilled about being middle managers. Stress, a desire for personal growth, and lack of freedom top their list of reasons, though they aren’t completely ruling it out for the future.

So, it turns out my concerns weren’t entirely unfounded—100% of our Gen Z employees aren’t interested. (Consistency is key, I suppose!🥲)

To be fair though, nearly all Gen Zers are still very early into their careers and likely happy to just focus on what they're assigned. But, as their careers progress, they might get more opinionated on how things could and should be done, and warm up to the idea of taking more of a managerial role.

Or… maybe not.

In the meantime, I’m left thinking about potential alternative structures that fit this mindset. 

And, when it comes to management hires, I guess we’ll have to stick to hiring millennials (for now).

PS: For those Gen Z professionals reading this who can see themselves in a managerial role, you already have a big advantage. As companies continue to grow, they’ll be looking for future leaders among Gen Z. So, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself in high demand—and possibly with a very good salary.

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Random piece of career advice

As your job interview comes to an end, there’s one question you’re almost guaranteed to hear: “Do you have any questions for me?”

You might genuinely feel like you don’t know what to ask or think you already know everything important. 

However, responding with “No, I’m good” is a huge missed opportunity. 

Instead, pick 2-3 questions that were left unanswered during the interview. If all is clear, I prepared 5 questions you can ask anyway:

1. What’s one thing you’re hoping a new person can bring to the role?

2. Where does the company expect to grow in the next five years?

3. Which teams work closely with this one, and how do they collaborate?

4. Do you see any gaps in my qualifications that might be a concern for this position?

5. How long does the overall hiring process typically take?

And if you don't like these, there's 20 more questions you can ask the interviewer on our blog. 

I hope you didn't think I'd forget! 

As a token of appreciation for your excellent scrolling skills, here’s a 20% discount code for Kickresume Premium. 

Catch you later! 

Peter