Introduction
I think most people in their twenties know this instinct:
You post the bad commute, the chaotic dinner, or the screenshot that makes your friends laugh. At the same time, you are much less likely to post the stellar review you got at work, the promotion you were proud of, or the feeling of accomplishment from completing a difficult project.
Some say Gen-z are humble and keep to themselves. But I’m not sure it is the case.
I think we have simply become much better at being relatable than at looking impressive.
And increasingly, I wonder what happens when we bring that instinct into professional life.
The Great Scattering of mid-20s
There is a concept sometimes described as The Great Scattering: that point in your twenties when, for the first time, everybody around you starts living a completely different life. A first-in-a-lifetime feeling of being a true individual and seeing your peers as true individuals too.
Mid-20s are the time of stepping out into the professional world, leaving behind the educational system that always kept us in close quarters with people who were going through and experiencing very similar things to ourselves. As we enter the workforce, adulthood and independence, everyone’s trajectory is suddenly different.
One friend starts a corporate career. Someone else moves abroad. One person is getting promoted while someone else is wondering whether they chose the wrong career entirely.
For the first time in a young person’s – and professional’s – life, there is no obvious benchmark for where you are supposed to be.
Social media, the algorithms and creators have, perhaps unconsciously, grasped that the one product selling exceptionally well among young, overwhelmed, scattered adults is the feeling of unity, belonging and relatability.
The feeling that somebody else gets it becomes reassuring.
Online, we are rewarded for connection, not achievement
If somebody else also hates Mondays, finds networking awkward, is exhausted by job hunting or thinks corporate language is ridiculous, you feel slightly less alone.
And online, that feeling is rewarded.
In their personal lives (and there is nothing more personal than your carefully curated
private Instagram account, holding people from every stage of your life), young people are rarely rewarded for being the sharpest person in the room - rather the easiest one to connect to.
In a group chat, admitting you have no idea what you’re doing can bring you closer to your friends, but does it work in a professional life too?
Balancing between professional and relatable is, in fact, the question of separating one’s professional and personal persona - and whether it’s possible in the times of constant surveillance and sharing.
The tension between Gen-Z and employers
On the job market, there is a growing unease regarding job interactions and processes
involving Gen-Z. GMAC’s 2026 Corporate Recruiters Survey found that perceived professionalism of new young graduates went down from 61% to 52% in just a year. Employers are increasingly likely to perceive Gen Z graduates as less reliable, respectful and professionally presented.
In the recruitment process, one of the common points being raised is that young people do not show enthusiasm regarding processes they (willingly) participate in. The easiest explanation seems to be that they don’t feel enthusiastic, often simply exhausted after a long job-seeking process.
From there, it’s easy to conclude that Gen Z is simply less driven than previous generations, or that the job market is broken. But neither explanation gets to the more interesting question: what has changed in the way young people learn to present themselves?
Relatable to whom?
When you think about self-presentation during the recruitment process, one of the first things that comes to mind is the flood of reels on social media mocking the recruitment questions such as „Why do you want to work here?” with obvious, familiar jokes like „Because I have a mortgage, bills, and want to pay for my food”.
A similar general sense of job-seeking is visible in social media and creates an informational bubble. Researchers Jennifer Loh and Michael James Walsh describe this as “context collapse”: when the boundaries between our public, private and professional selves become increasingly blurred.
Some of the young professionals seeing this kind of content constantly rewarded online may carry the same attitude into professional settings. They expect to be rewarded in interviews and recruitment processes for being relatable – but relatable to whom?
Being transparent, ironic and slightly nonchalant may make you seem grounded among friends. In another room, the exact same behaviour can be interpreted as disinterest, arrogance or lack of preparation.
Professionalism is not the opposite of being human
While it can bring honesty and ease to a conversation, taken too far it may come across as unenthusiastic, uninterested or even arrogant.
Having spoken with dozens of candidates, I rarely remember whether someone answered every question perfectly. What stays with me is the energy they brought to the conversation. And hiring managers seem to notice the same thing: in an Adobe study, 42% named clear enthusiasm and energy for the role as a top green flag during an interview, ahead of thoughtful questions, active listening or eye contact.
That does not mean performing fake excitement or pretending a role has been your childhood dream. People can usually sense that too.
But being professional and being warm, kind and easy to talk to are not opposites. The real tension is between trying to be relatable to the room you imagine yourself in and reading the room you are actually in.
I think the line between authenticity and deliberately appearing unimpressed is becoming harder to recognise.
Closing thoughts
Maybe professionalism is not about being less relatable, but rather about understanding that different rooms read the same signals differently.
The skill is not to perform a different version of yourself, but to recognise how the version you are presenting is likely to land.
