Forget work-life balance: Gen Z say their top priority is actually career growth, with 93% aspiring for the C-suite

Summary

No generation has entered the workforce more squarely in AI’s crossfire than Gen Z. As companies across industries have pulled back on entry-level hiring , leaders have made it clear they’re now more than ever looking for highly-skilled and ambitious young workers. And many aspiring professionals appear to have begun taking that message to heart. Career growth ranked as Gen Z’s No. 1 priority when choosing a full-time employer—outranking work-life balance, salary, workplace culture, and staying ahead of technology, according to a new survey of more than 900 summer interns at accounting firm KPMG . Their ambitions don’t stop at landing a first job or earning a promotion. Nearly all respondents, 93%, said they aspire to reach the C-suite or senior executives during their careers. But KPMG said that ambition will require more than simply moving up the corporate ladder—it will require developing the skills that make employees worth investing. “Gen Z sees the risk clearly,” Derek Thomas, KPMG U.S.’s national partner-in-charge of university talent acquisition, said in a press release. “Lean on AI for all the thinking early on, and you never build the instincts that make you a strong employee. What’s striking is that they’re guarding those reps, the hands-on work that builds real human skills, because they know it’s what turns an entry-level hire into someone worth developing and investing in.” While broader surveys have found that work-life balance remains a top priority for Gen Z workers, the KPMG findings offer a different snapshot of the generation’s ambitions: many young professionals, seeing the competitive nature of today’s workplace, are intently focused on climbing the corporate ladder. And the payoff for reaching the highest levels of leadership can be significant. AI is real, but it doesn’t have the creativity that humans have,” Lubetzky told Fortune last year . “If, as young people, you lean into your curiosity, in your critical thinking and in your creativity, you will win.” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has delivered a similar message, saying that while AI will reshape the workforce, employees who develop critical thinking and interpersonal skills will remain valuable. “My advice to people would be critical thinking, learn skills, learn your EQ, learn how to be good in a meeting, how to communicate, how to write.