Dear Next generation: You've got the skills!

PeopleArticleJuly 23, 2021

A global pandemic, a weakening global economy and scaling back of youth employment won’t stop them

By Justin Robbins

Despite the challenges facing young people today in securing their first job, today’s younger generations have so much to offer, both in terms of skills, and diversity of thinking. Not only World Youth Skills Day is an opportunity to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship but also the One Young World Summit.

The Z Zurich Foundation is sponsoring a delegation of Zurich employees and external social entrepreneurs to virtually attend the 2021 One Young World Summit. This in in partnership with NEXT, an internal grassroots movement focused on encouraging intergenerational dialogue, future-proofing the company and contributing to the legacy we leave for future generations. In addition to attending the Summit, we’ll be conducting a workshop with a focus on building personal resilience – helping changemakers to sustainably navigate the challenges they’ll face to increase their impact. Our workshop aims to equip young people with the tools to successfully navigate the future of work by building their individual resilience.

The pandemic generation

For those joining the workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic, what was it like when the anticipation of meeting new people in the office was replaced by a daily dose of online meetings, while sat in the kitchen alone?

As one Zurich intern recently told us: “Joining the workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic, I was mostly concerned about the extent to which I would feel integrated into my new work environment and about the restricted ability to meet new people. However, Zurich, with its highly friendly, supportive, and cooperative environment, excelled in these challenging and unprecedented times, making my experience really engaging and pleasant.”

Learning from the last financial crisis

While the drivers of the current challenges facing young people are very different to those faced during the last global financial crisis that peaked almost a decade ago, there are lessons to be learned too. Back then, the impact of the global recession was felt severely among those aged 16-24, who struggled to secure entry-level employment, leading to mass social exclusion, a failure to build foundational skills, and blocked career paths as jobs evaporated.

“I initially had concerns starting my career during Covid-19. I didn’t know what to expect, having never worked in the business world before. I was even more worried starting during a pandemic. However, Zurich immediately took care of me, supporting me to work remotely and maintain my mental health. Three actions that I took were to start a daily routine, not to isolate myself, and have daily, weekly, and monthly goals,” said Zurich apprentice Janna Bloemberg.

Supporting younger generations

Organizations that support youth employment, invariably recognize the uniqueness of younger generations. Gen Z, for example, who in 2021 are somewhere between 10-26 years old, bring a different, arguably more radical perspective, than any generation before them. Having grown up in a digital age of rapid innovation, they are more likely to be practical, value-driven and independent, when compared to millennials or baby boomers¹.

How can organizations support the development of youth skills and benefit from youth employment? In 2019, Zurich held conversations with hiring managers, to better understand how to attract new customers in the Millennial and GenZ segments, recognizing these as customers of the future. These discussions ultimately led to a movement that has evolved into the Next Generation Strategy.

For those just starting out on their careers, wondering how to get started or what the future might hold for them, here are some tips, gathered from employees who started their career during a crisis.

Accept you might need to take a different path to achieve your personal goals.
Remain motivated and optimistic.
Focus on what you can control.
Look for the opportunities in every challenging situation.
Invest time in building and maintaining human connections.

“The future is brighter in Zurich because we are a NextGen-friendly employer, recognizing the immense value the Next Generation of Talents can bring,”

stated Giuseppe Basta, Talent Manager at Zurich.

¹ https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies

Zurich’s three year ‘Next Generation Strategy’ is based around four pillars:

Pillar 1: Establish and strengthen partnerships with key universities across the globe
Pillar 2: Refine our Employer Value Proposition and employer brand for next generation talent
Pillar 3: Represent Zurich leveraging local business unit representatives
Pillar 4: Provide an outstanding candidate experience.

It includes an early career website called Next Generation Careers at Zurich, incorporating dedicated search functionalities for NextGen roles, reporting and filtering features for those opportunities, with a refreshed brand in line with NextGen expectations, and “Quick Apply” functionality in most countries across the globe.