Anthony Onesto explains why 20th-century jobs—assembly-line work, in-person, repetitive—don't match what Gen Z wants: autonomy and remote flexibility. Employers need to redesign jobs incrementally toward 21st-century roles.
Burn the box Community. This is Anthony Honesto and this is insight from chapter four of my new book, the New Employee how to Find, Keep and Elevate Gen Z Talent. In this chapter, it's titled what the hell is a 20th century job? Dan Pink talks a lot about 20th century jobs and autonomy. But first, let's tell a story. Decades ago, turn of the century, when you used to go bowling, when you knock down the pins, actually a human being will replace them or pull them off and then replace them. Today, we don't even give it a second thought that a machine clears everything out, replaces the bowling pins, and the bowling ball is sent back to us automatically. That job does not exist anymore. The entire job has been automated. And so when we think of 20th century jobs, that's what we're thinking about, right? And more. Today you're thinking of it in assembly lines, jobs that require employees to come into an office, punch in, almost punch in, like virtually and work. And the expectation is almost assembly line. And when we talk about this in the lens of Gen Z talent, it's not going to be jobs they're interested in. They're interested in autonomy, doing work from anywhere and any time. So you're not going to completely create a 21st century job overnight. You're going to look at the pieces of roles and figure out how much more autonomy you can give in different aspects of jobs. So again, you're not going to have 100% a 21st century job tomorrow. But it's about taking a look at the aspects of what was a 20th century job and moving that more into the 21st century. We're going to talk about that. What is a 21st century job? In my next video in two weeks. But until then, grab a copy. Sold where all books are sold on Amazon, Target and other places. We'll see you soon. Thanks.
