Gen Z attitudes

Can someone let me know if this is normal? 

Had an Ivy League student (sub 3.5 GPA which is apparently bad because of grade inflation?) reach out to me the other day with a stock pitch + CV in the email. 

Proceed to schedule a call. They reschedule last minute for the week after as they had another interview (which is fine). Come the week after, I have to reschedule because out of respect for this person, I wanted to do a bit of background reading into the company they pitched so we can have a proper discussion (was slammed that week). I also connect this student with my colleague. 

They jump onto the phone with my colleague and proceeds to be rude / dismissive as soon as they hear we aren't looking for interns. 

They then don't jump onto the call we had scheduled and just ghosts me (I sent a follow up email). 

Unless this person was hit by a bus, they're probably going to be on the permanent black list lol. Don't people realize we talk to other investors / bankers? 

19 Comments
 

Don't think you can paint all Gen Zs with a broad attitude stroke because of one bad apple. There's rude people in every grad class for every grad class that has ever existed.

I've definitely had some rude networking calls but I chalk it up to immaturity, rudeness, frustation with the networking process... this person is not likely to get many offers so their actions will pay them back pretty quick

 

Yeah that sounds like a sucky experience. There’s plenty of kids out there, target or otherwise, who’d really appreciate the chance to talk to you, don’t think it’s a Gen Z thing in particular, just got a bad egg!

Engineer in Finance
 

Personally, I have noticed the opposite - interns nowadays come off as much more hardworking, polite, sociable, etc. than I was when I was an intern (back in the 2020-2022 work life balance/quiet quitting era, I cringe so hard at the stupid shit I said back then)

The downside is, they seem to take a bit longer to get up to speed.  Maybe I overestimate how competent my friends and I were back in the day, but I recall delivering good results a lot earlier

 

Okay so why exactly should he meet with you? You rescheduled and then also your firm isn't hiring. This seems performative and a waste of time for all parties. If little stuff like this upsets you, you need to grow the hell up.

 

I’m Gen Z. When I was recruiting (and even today) I spoke with anyone who I could get a hold of or who other people in my life generously offered to connect me with. Frankly, it was the people who had no job to give me who have been my most important/meaningful connections, even though some of them are 20-30 years my senior. Please don’t let this paint a bad picture of my cohort! On the other hand, Gen Alpha is likely to be cooked.

 

The person should not be rude and dismissive but why are you having a call with this person if you have no interest in hiring him or her.  You are wasting your time and his/her time.  I do not usually schedule calls unless I think there is a opportunity to do business. 

 

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