This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Laura Massetti, founder of Real Work Ready, which helps early-career professionals develop workplace skills. Massetti has more than a decade of experience in the corporate world, leading sales and marketing teams. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.
I spent 15 years in the corporate world, leading sales and marketing teams. I loved mentoring early professionals, but I often found myself thinking: My goodness, I wish I could make this process go quicker.
I never only look at whether someone could do the work. It is more about whether they could communicate clearly, exercise good judgment, and follow through.
As a career coach for young workers, I know there are things that you, as an employee, get judged on that no one actually puts inside the rubric. We expect people to figure them out over time, but in reality, someone has to teach them.
Gen Z needs feedback in a workplace that expects people to figure things out
I don’t think that Gen Z is unready for work. I think no one has taught them what to do.
This generation grew up with a cellphone in their hands. They’d post something on Instagram and get 10 likes. They’re used to instant feedback: Tell me what I need to grow.
That’s not how the workplace is built. We have annual reviews. You learn through experience; you learn the hard way.
Young workers are digitally fluent, which makes this generation incredible for so many reasons. But growing up digitally, compounded by the pandemic, left gaps in opportunities to practice face-to-face interaction.
Now they’re entering workplaces with other generations, and those generations set the rules.
Meanwhile, AI is taking on tasks that used to help people develop. We learned shoulder to shoulder with someone. How are new hires supposed to learn if we’re outsourcing those opportunities?
You’re being judged on things no one puts in the rubric
There are areas you’re being judged on that no one actually puts inside the rubric, including communication and clarity, prioritization and judgment, your ability to follow through, professional presence and credibility, ownership and reliability, and organizational awareness.
It’s not just about how you communicate. When you enter the workplace, do you know how to get stuff done? How aware are you of the organization you operate in?
You need to understand when to use email, when to use Slack, and when to stop by someone’s office. You can’t walk in and assume you know the rules.
In one new-hire program at a company with about 100,000 employees, a manager told me that someone had pinged the CEO on Slack to request a skip-level meeting. Mind you, that would’ve been probably 10 skip levels.
Poor thing, he had no idea. No one had told him that wasn’t how you reached out to the CEO in that organization.
I’ve also seen people show up to meetings unprepared, without what they needed or knowing how to follow up.
Dressing appropriately is something I had to learn on my own. About six months into my job, I wore a full black business suit to a meeting in Miami. It absolutely did not match the environment. I was way too formal.
Match the client’s environment and match how they dress. The other day, I saw someone meeting their manager in a suit jacket over a basketball jersey and shorts, but wearing loafers. Your job is to show your manager that they can trust you to be professionally present and to deliver.
Managers have a responsibility here, too. When we say, “They’ve been here for two years, and they’re just not getting it,” we need to ask ourselves: What aren’t they getting? What am I judging them on that I haven’t clearly explained?
Practice the human skills that will set you apart
My company now offers a six-month program that combines online training with weekly role-playing of workplace scenarios.
We practice things like how to react when you receive feedback. The goal is to give people experiences they might otherwise wait years to encounter.
My advice to every fresh graduate and those entering the workforce is that, at a time when AI is making skill sets equalizers, you will need to define how you’ll be different.
Technical skills are still incredibly important. But how do you communicate, exercise judgment, execute an idea, and get people’s buy-in?
I’ve never made a hiring decision based on technical capability alone. It’s mostly about whether I can trust that person.
Knowing the ins and outs of coding is one thing. Being able to speak to a boardroom and convince people of an idea is another ability you can bring to an employer.
Those are the skills I believe will make all the difference.
