I’m ready for my raise, Mr. DeMille.
An astonishing 75 percent of Gen Z-ers believe they should be promoted within their first year on the job, according to a new survey of 1,000 young adults between the ages of 18 and 23 by workplace coaching company InsideOut.
Born in the mid ’90s to the early aughts, Gen Z-ers are now entering the workforce en masse. But their precocious behavior and eagerness to ask for raises and promotions reeks of diva-like behavior to some.
“It’s shocking, I see it all the time,” says career coach Debra Cooper, who charges newly minted college grads between $1,500 and $3,000 to help them land their dream jobs.
Cooper says the Gen-Z sense of entitlement starts before they even step foot in the office.
‘You don’t get a raise because you exist. It’s something you earn.’
She recalls setting up an interview for a 21-year-old with a top record-label exec.
“She said, ‘Oh, it’s at 4:30? I have yoga then,’ ” says Cooper, who’s based in Adventura, Fla. “You don’t get a raise because you exist. It’s something you earn.”
She blames the eyebrow-arching stats on poor parenting — “No one’s told them no,” she says — and FOMO, or the Fear of Missing Out. “They’re looking at their friends who have better jobs, and trying to compete instead of looking at the job at hand.”
Gen Z-ers say they’re just being smart about their worth.
“I’m definitely of the mindset of, ‘You need to ask for what you want,’ especially if you’re young and a woman, especially in my field of politics, or you’ll be overlooked,” says Jennifer Alberts.
Alberts, 23, landed an entry-level role at a super PAC working to get out the vote in her native Michigan in June. She was promoted twice by September — and each new title came with a significant wage increase, amounting to an additional $15,000 to her starting yearly salary.
“Sometimes there were those sideways glances,” says Alberts. “I was hesitant to apply [for the second role] because of this voice of doubt in my head. But then I also kinda checked myself and said, ‘Why not? You’re doing a good job in this role, what harm does it do to apply?’”
Still, Alberts stresses that go-getters need to walk the walk: “I made a strong case of what I had done and what I could bring to the table by modeling it.”
To avoid coming off as brash and clueless to superiors, Cooper advises newbies to “stay for at least two years.”
“It’s in the uncomfortableness of getting coffee — that’s when you grow.”
In other words, learn your way around the mailroom before calling dibs on the corner office. And try not to mess up the coffee order.
