When I wrote my first CV for a creative internship I was 16.
I’d had a few weekend jobs, played around a bit on a cracked version of photoshop with a portfolio of work stuffed with mixed media, some branding and long annotations.
A year or so later, I landed a week’s experience at ‘The Corner’, a creative agency in London. I shadowed designers, listened in on pitches, watched the process and buzzed with nervous energy. It was a great experience and my first insight into a working agency.
The big moment came when relatively close to a client deadline, I was given the task to cut out some characters for the deck.
I rushed to my computer and suddenly realised I had no idea how to do that.
I’d never properly used the photoshop pen tool before.
I jumped straight into YouTube and the pitch was minutes away when I sent back my work. I’ll never forget the look on the lead designer's face. I had clearly failed my task.
Today, I’m a pro with the pen tool, the most underwhelming superpower to have…but now there’s an Ai AR app that can do it instantly. I recommend.
And just like the evolution of the pen tool, the CV of a 16 year old today is running on completely different technology to what mine was.
For someone applying to a job in the creative industries today, imagine a CV that reads something like this;
I’m creative, organised and focused due to posting multiple times a day on social media.
I have 15k followers on instagram.
I have 3.2 millions views on TikTok. I invented the ‘Mar-cher’ of a viral dance move.
I’m highly skilled with video and visual editing software.
I studied basic code at secondary school and built my own website.
I run my own business and clothing line, to showcase my lifestyle brand.
I have written for Creative review and I-D.
This speculative CV above might seem a bit far fetched, but it’s far from it. A recent survey of Gen Z found that ’54% would become an influencer given the opportunity’ and as we continue to see a content creator become a legitimate job opportunity for young people, we will continue to see CV’s boasting large followings, entrepreneurship, and published ‘expert’ opinion.
To be honest, the speculative CV above might not even be written at all, but instead a crafted, authentic short piece of content, or a series of social links and websites. Ffion Clarke, who created her CV via tiktok to share on twitter says;
“In 20 years, when it’s Gen Z who are the hiring managers, cover letters just aren’t going to work, because we consume content that’s short and doesn’t last very long, like, when I was writing my own cover letter I was kind of bored and couldn’t focus on writing it.”
This comment hints at the awareness and expectations by Gen Z for the evolution of the job market, as well as the technical abilities like video editing, social media and interactivity which they expect to be the norm. I would argue this expectation for Gen Z to be in hiring positions is more like 5 years than 20.
So what will this hiring mean for the future of creative work?
The first is that we’ll continue to see the shift in power dynamics within job roles. Traditionally the hierarchy of information has been downward, controlled by experience, by knowledge, by seniority. Not only in age, but in progression. “You have to work your way up from the bottom, learn the ropes” tradition says.
However there is no generation more ready to shift that flow of power than Gen Z, and they already know that it’s changing. As we continue to rely on social media as a fundamental element in any Brand or businesses’ profits, what will it mean when Gen Z holds the most expertise in novel and influential platforms?
What will it mean, as Clarke suggests above, when Gen Z expects basic design and creative skills as the norm?
What will it mean when you have to choose between someone who can plan social media strategy, but not make the post, or someone who can do both? Will you look past age to expertise?
The second question is; what if by democratising digital access and lowering the barriers to entry into the creative industries, we finally see the push for diversity of talent that’s needed?
For that to happen, we’ll need to learn to look past age as synonymous with experience, shift the concept of ‘young talent’ and stop paying unfair intern wages that limit poorer and marginalised communities from entering the workplace.
This doesn’t mean that young creatives will know it all, they’ll still need to learn and grow, but we should treat young talent as individuals, creating opportunities, roles and pay grades which reflect their creative journeys and what they can bring to the table. This would bring us past the default expectation that ‘intern’ suggests everyone leaves the university with identical portfolios and skillsets.
And what if we refused to ask graduates for 4 years industry experience and instead asked for 4 years creative experience? Whether that’s building a social media empire from the age of 14, starting your own t-shirt brand, or managing a talent agency at 16.
With this shift we have to be even more vigilant about new talent, because while the CV of a 16 year old today teaches us a lot about the future of our own industry, it also tells us about the ever-increasing competition to stand out.
In the face of an economic recession post Covid-19, the expectation of young creatives is going to be anxiety inducing. The expectation to become omnipresent, jacks-of-all-trades, global marketing guru and the expert at being Gen Z is something we can learn from, but something we need to make sure we do not demand from them.
To support young creatives we need to continue creating alternative routes to studios and agencies, like the Makers in Residence (free co-working space and mentorship in central London, with the opportunity for paid work with Mc&T) which is a process I came through.
As an industry we need to continue building out young mentor networks, paying fairly, on time and we need to make sure we’re putting Gen Z in the room with clients, to listen, to learn, and discover the best way to bring them into the workforce.
