A lot sooner than H.G. Wells predicted.
Posted on 11/20/2023 7:59:51 PM PST by SeekAndFind
At the risk of sounding like the old man complaining about kids these days with their rap hop music and their fancy iDroid phones and yelling at them to get off my lawn, we must discuss this concept they have invented called "Personality Hires."
Apparently, Gen Z has decided that a skillset isn't the most important thing you need in the workplace because morale and smiles are more important than all that efficiency nonsense, right? Well, that's what they're saying on social media, anyway.
Corporate workers are discovering whether or not they're "personality hires" as the term has gained steam on social media in recent weeks.
Bella Rose Mortel, a 22-year-old social media strategist at newsletter platform Beehiiv, went viral this week labeling herself a personality hire, and suggesting that other Gen Zers might embrace a more "playful" attitude at work.
The term "personality hire" refers to an employee beloved for bringing a positive attitude and seamless interpersonal skills to the office — usually to compensate for a lack of hard skills or productivity.
"Personality hires" are apparently a way to make up for the fact that some young folks are coming into the workplace completely unprepared for... well... work.
"The personality hire is also the client whisperer," one top commenter, with 12,500 upvotes, wrote. "Omg I may have been the personality hire at several jobs," another viewer added. "I once went shopping with my boss' wife. Mid work day."
"I'm the opposite of a personality hire," a third commenter wrote. "I'm unapproachable but I get stuff done lol."
Whoever that last commenter is? Give them a job ASAP. They're who I want on the team.
It's cool and all if you're "approachable" and, dare I say, "bring the vibes," but when that is used to make up for your deficits in actual workplace efficiency, you're doing no one any favors. I've worked with plenty of "personality hires." I've also worked with people who were both personable and efficient. The latter tend to hold their jobs longer. People also tend to be able to see through the facade of the "personality hires" when it comes time to actually get a project done. They're MIA.
But, hey, use those hip Gen Z slang phrases and you're just as valuable in the workplace, right?
In her series of TikToks, Mortel suggested Gen Z viewers might lean into a more playful approach at work. She said she interacts with her managers by using slang terms like "Hey king, "Slay," and "Y'all ate." (Being a startup, she acknowledged to Business Insider her workplace is a bit more lax than most. She also said she built rapport with her manager first, and now he's even started to reciprocate, greeting her with, "Hey queen.")
Here's a key quote from Rose:
"A lot of my previous managers have told me that they really like the energy I bring," she said, "and that's the nicest compliment I could ever get in my whole life."
"A lot of my previous managers" meaning "I don't hold jobs for a long time." There aren't many people who achieve a lot of success without holding jobs for long periods of time. If you're a young worker and have gone through "a lot" of different managers, you have either been job hunting most of your professional career or you've been passed over for promotions at fewer places of work. So, either you don't hold a job for very long or you aren't qualified to move up in the company you work for. Either way, that doesn't look great for you as an employee.
Part of this has to do with the fact that young employees coming into the workplace don't have the skills necessary to actually exist in the workplace. Failures in the education system, primarily from secondary education and higher education, have left young adults entering the workforce less prepared than at any other point in history. The other factor here, though, has to do with previous generations also letting their kids down with a general lack of accountability.
Today's young adults are simply unable to handle the world that has progressed while they have been made to regress.
Am I the only one who thinks they’d better have the skill?
We’ll see how they’ll do in 20 years from now.
Personality hire in the ER? Personality hire in construction? Personality hire at the gun range?
These kids need real skills.
Hmm, I wonder what could cause the lack of skills among young adults just out of high school/college? I’m sure the scamdemic-related shutdown and Rat politicians prioritizing political agendas over actual reading, writing, and math has nothing to do with it. /s
“Personality hires”, I do believe they have misspelled “useless noisy floaters that people who do the real work hate”. These people have always existed and gotten by somehow. Only the label is new.
Just watched the “PanderVerse” South Park episode.
Yup. A world with no handy man. This is what is headed our way.
You said it.
Nope.
A lot sooner than H.G. Wells predicted.
Companies like Meta and Google had personality hires by the thousand. When they inevitably trimmed the fat and laid these ciphers off, they had no idea what to do, they never actually had to work for a year or more, and had been paid handsomely to goof off and schmooze all day. The idea of real job was beyond them.
They: “Hey King!”
Me: “You’re fired”.
They were called the “in” crowd. Mostly useless when real work was involved.
Personality hires were all the rage when I was doing underground nuke tests back in the day.
I see their personality.
Is staring at your phone all the dang time a personality strength?
Why do they call them Zeros? They are “The Dumbest Generation”. 100% Shickenchit.
I have several. Gen z grandkids
They worked part time during school year and full time summers….since they were 15 .
No job,no spending money..
So, they are out of luck in both respects.
They have been taught to look at the "whole word" as if it is Chinese characters, which is fine after you know a word by sounding it out and begin to remember it.
They are taught to guess at words they don't know based on the context.
When they get in the workplace and encounter a lot of words they don't know, they can't function.
Only those who somehow learned phonics can.
Even in high school and college in history and in technical areas they can't read the new words.
This started in 1909 and has gotten worse every year.
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