It's a hard slog for Gen Z job seekers. They can do without the derision

Landing a job has never been tougher for fresh grads. They are up against forces that earlier generations never faced.

- Tham Yuen-C

The tough job market facing Generation Z has been in the news in recent months, with data and reports painting a bleak picture.

But it was a TikTok video a colleague sent me earlier this past week that put a human face to the story.

The clip, posted by a young Singaporean woman in her 20s, was raw and unfiltered. After months of looking for a job and sending out hundreds of applications, she had not landed one.

Some in the comments were quick to suggest that the fault may lie with her. The more unkind said perhaps her attitude was the problem, while the more helpful suggested that she should polish up her curriculum vitae.

The video came across as rather rant-like, and also rather defensive. But looking at the comments section, it was clear there were many who saw themselves in her story.

Amid the criticism were many words of encouragement by other young people. They too were going through the same process of sending applications and not getting any replies, many said, asking her to chin up.

One commenter captured the general sense of despair, saying: "Even a rejection would make me feel better."

It may be tempting to deride this as a Gen Z problem — they are after all the generation that popularised "quiet quitting" and "taskmasking", among other things.

Online and in the news, senior business leaders, HR professionals and surveys have been quoted on how younger workers are "lazier", "more entitled" and "less resilient" than previous generations ever were.

But surely, an entire generation cannot all be shirkers rejecting the traditional grind or idealists holding out for more purpose-driven work.

Across TikTok and online forums, stories abound of fresh graduates worldwide sending out hundreds of applications in a matter of weeks and months, often without even receiving a response.

The data seems to suggest a wider trend.