Career Planning for Gen Z: How to Navigate the Job Market as a Young Professional in 2023

Career planning in today's job market as a young professional in 2023 has been marked with many unexpected shifts from the great resignation to the rise of the digital nomad. The job market seems to be in a frenzied state and if you are part of Generation Z you may have noticed that many of the Pandemic era job market changes that were temporary have now settled as part of our everyday lives. Navigating the job market may feel like a game of chess and for many qualified jobseekers, it is. Every decision you make on how you display your skill set, how you choose to network and present yourself (whether online or in person) can make all the difference when an employer determines who to select out of the droves of jobseekers. How do you make the cut? What can you do to elevate your skills? What makes you a more attractive job candidate?

Critical Job Skills in Today’s Market

Critical job skills that you need in today’s job market are game changers when executed effectively, starting with communication. How well you communicate your thoughts, actions and intents tends to capture the attention of employers. Managers are always looking for candidates that know how to communicate effectively with coworkers, customers, other leaders within the organization and external business partners. While you may not be a formal project manager, being able to manage small projects and report on findings or project statuses will impress employers. At any given time, there may be a myriad of ongoing projects in any growing organization. Being eager to learn something new and support a company’s projects while displaying a positive attitude is a winning combination!

Tactics to Build Deeper Connections

Are you aware that tactics to build deeper connections are just as important as possessing critical job skills? Simply put, if you don’t take the steps that are necessary to get an employer’s attention, they will never know that you have the stellar skills that they need. Starting with your online presence in the job market on the highly popular career networking site called LinkedIn; LinkedIn is truly the place to be if you want to maximize your potential job search results. Most hiring managers are seeking talent on LinkedIn in addition to checking out any other public social media sites where job candidates are scouted. Having a professional appearance online, an updated LinkedIn profile with an accurate contact email is highly recommended. Speaking of email - you will want to stay on top of your email when navigating the job market. We know email may seem a bit cumbersome, and to many Gen Z’ers it’s just not something that you interact with often. However, in professional settings, email is how organizations communicate internally and externally. You will want to remain as responsive as possible to any incoming emails from job recruiters, hiring managers and networking opportunities.

What Else Do I Need to Know?

Other considerations for what you need to know while navigating the job market as a young professional includes knowing what jobs are available in today’s job market. There are traditional jobs out there that will always need candidates such as teachers, doctors, attorneys, and hair stylists. But did you consider all the non-traditional career paths available that have come to popularity over the past 10-15 years? These are roles within the digital online space and there are tons out there to choose from (social media managers, digital editors, content marketers, online gamers, social media influencers and so on). What this means is that you can pursue your passions while ensuring you have developed those critical skills that we talked about earlier. What this also means is that if you decide to go a different path with your career in the middle of your career that is okay too. There are no rules to how you pursue your dreams. Do not continue down the path of a career if you want and need to make a change. The choice is always yours. If you need some help with career planning or some career inspiration, visit SkillUp’s My Path to help you develop your career plan.