Cooper McCarthy.
Forget what you think you know about Gen Z, writes Cooper McCarthy. This generation isn’t craving distance or five days working from home – they’re craving proximity, guidance and real-world learning.
Gen Z gets a lot of flak in the media and the workplace – but do the headlines reflect reality?
As a Gen Zer, a member of the NGEN Sydney Committee, and only two years into my media career, this question feels personal.
It’s also a question that matters to our whole industry. Nearly half of media agency professionals were born between 1997 and 2012, meaning Gen Z is already shaping the future of our workplaces.
For many of us, learning and development were disrupted before our careers even began. We finished school or university during Covid, navigating Zoom lectures, breakout-room group assignments, online HSC exams and virtual internships. All these key moments happened through a screen.
That’s why one finding from the MFA’s recent whitepaper The Gen Z Effect resonates so strongly: For Gen Z, learning is not a scheduled activity – it’s part of doing the job.
Many of us are trying to rebuild what we missed: hands-on experience, in-person exposure, real-time feedback and stretch opportunities.
Two statistics in the whitepaper stand out to me.
First, 66% of Gen Z prefer on-the-job training from a coach or mentor. While there may be a minority who want to work from home five days a week, this generation isn’t craving distance – we’re craving proximity, guidance and real-world learning.
Second, 57% of Gen Z prefer real-time feedback while working.
They can get frustrated with the delayed feedback of formal reviews every 12 months, six months, or even quarterly. It’s a long time to go without knowing whether you’re on the right path or not.
When feedback is infrequent, uncertainty and anxiety fill the gap. I’ve felt that myself. In previous roles, formal reviews became my only source of feedback. I spent too much time wondering if I was progressing or falling behind.
Now, I’m fortunate to have weekly check-ins with my manager where we bounce ideas, align goals and course correct as needed. Real time feedback – positive or constructive – gives me clarity, confidence and momentum. It has made me more creative and innovative, and makes the workplace feel more collaborative than hierarchical.
So, what should managers take from this?
Create clear growth pathways
Show how skills build over time and what opportunities come next. I would love to work on some of the things I see senior leaders and experts within the business handling, but I know I haven’t had enough experience yet to pull it off. But having this mapped out makes it feel achievable rather than distant.
What can be labelled as impatience is often motivation without a roadmap.
Turn work into learning
For Gen Z, learning isn’t a workshop next month or a training session in the calendar. It happens in the brief we’re solving, the client pitch we’re working on, or the platform we’re learning to navigate.
We want to get hands-on early, make mistakes early and learn quickly. Managers can help by naming the skills being developed in everyday work and explaining the thinking behind the tasks.
I’ll finish with a quote from Rooster in Top Gun: “It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot.”
Confidence and capability aren’t built through theory alone. They’re built in the cockpit – in the doing.
Cooper McCarthy is Performance Executive at WPP Media and a member of the NGEN Sydney Committee
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