CURATED READS FOR GEN Z—AND THEIR Z-CURIOUS COLLEAGUES

first up

Welcome to the workforce!*

*If applicable. 

It’s graduation season! You may be tossing your cap and doing champagne-spray photoshoots on your favorite campus steps, but soon you could be starting your first professional job. That’s why we’ve got The Graduate’s Guide to the World of Work, a first-stop destination for making sense of the world you’re entering—curated by the Gen Z folks here. 

You might not have been keeping up with the latest job trends with all the papers and exams (and grad parties …), or you might just not know what you need to know. That’s why we’re here to help.

The guide has answers to questions like …

There’s a lot of great stuff in there—navigating tricky office politics, working smarter instead of harder, and all the insights you need to seem like the sharpest new recruit from Day One.
 
Here are my three don’t-miss picks: 

Entering the workforce full-time can be both thrilling and terrifying, and even if it takes you a while to find your feet or you take a roundabout path (I did), congratulate yourself on how far you’ve come—while you get ready for what’s next.  

If you’re starting a new job or are a recent grad, what are you looking forward to? Let us know at newideas@mckinsey.com. 

QUOTE US ON IT

“This was a big moment for me … to basically say ‘the thing you want to do is a wholly bad idea.’”

—Partner Tiffany Burns on finding her voice and speaking up as a junior employee, part of our My Rookie Moment series. 

VISUALIZE IT 

Despite the successes, students worldwide are lagging behind where they need to be postpandemic. So how can we get everyone to graduation?

Wait, don’t scroll 

Seeking new perspectives. Students in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan are facing high unemployment and limited job prospects—how can higher-education institutions transform to meet their needs? 

Learning new tricks. Learning moved online in many places over the course of the pandemic—will those digital lessons stick? Tune in to a podcast on the future of the multibillion-dollar education technology industry. 

Not us; still great 

TikTok 101. A few top US universities offer classes that teach aspiring social-media superstars how to cultivate an online presence. Some student influencers have hundreds of thousands of followers—would you take “the TikTok class”? [Bloomberg]

Mind the … gap? More than 130,000 new high school grads took a gap year for the 2020–21 academic year, and deferred enrollment is on the rise as schools tighten admission gates. [WSJ]

$1,900+ for an NYC studio. One of the biggest problems for new grads: surging rent prices when you’re on an entry-level salary. A median-price apartment is now out of reach for the typical recent grad; how many roommates is too many? [WSJ]

STILL LOOKING FOR A JOB (OR YOUR NEXT JOB)?

Check out 500+ job openings

On our Careers Blog, Marta, a recruiter who began as a fully remote intern, has helped increase women’s representation while recruiting from campuses and beyond

YOU’VE EARNED A BREAK

— Edited by Sarah Skinner, Gen Z curation editor, New York