IS GEN X JUST GREEDY… OR IS GEN Z NEVER GIVEN THE CHANCE?
BY:SSEGAWA HUZAIRU IBRAHIM/ Monday, 3rd August, 2026
Every time a young person applies for a job, there’s always that one magical requirement.
Experience.
The funniest part?
Nobody seems interested in explaining where exactly we’re supposed to get it. We’re told to be patient. To wait our turn. To respect our elders because they know better. To keep quiet in meetings. To “learn first.”
Learn from what?
Watching the same people occupy the same offices for decades?
Look around.
The same television news anchors. The same newspaper editors. The same politicians. The same CEOs. The same familiar faces delivering the same familiar speeches while an entire generation watches from the sidelines with degrees in one hand and rejection letters in the other.
And then they have the audacity to ask why Gen Z lacks experience. Really?
You don’t gain experience by being told you’ll gain it someday. You gain experience when somebody trusts you enough to let you try. Instead, we’re trapped in a cycle. We can’t get jobs because we don’t have experience, and we can’t get experience because nobody will give us the jobs.
It’s a brilliant system.
If your goal is to make sure nothing ever changes. There’s another sentence that follows young people everywhere: “Never question an older person.”
Why?
Because they’re older? Age deserves respect. It does not deserve immunity from criticism. Growing older doesn’t automatically make someone wiser. Sometimes it simply means they’ve had more birthdays. A wise person grows with time. A foolish person grows older with their foolishness.
And I make no apology for saying that.
This isn’t about kicking older generations out of the room. It’s about making room at the table. Leadership shouldn’t become a lifetime subscription. Mentorship shouldn’t mean, “Watch me do this for another twenty years.” It should mean, “I’ve had my turn. Now let me help you have yours.”
Imagine how many brilliant journalists never wrote their first front-page story because an editor wouldn’t take a chance on them. Imagine how many incredible news anchors never sat behind the desk because someone decided they looked too young. Imagine how many future presidents never entered politics because every door was guarded by someone who believed experience mattered more than potential.
Who says we don’t have the experience?
Perhaps the real problem is that we’re never allowed to earn it. So maybe the question isn’t whether Gen Z lacks persistence. Maybe the question is whether those holding power are willing to loosen their grip long enough for the next generation to prove itself. Because every experienced professional was once an inexperienced beginner. Someone gave them a chance.
It’s about time someone gave us ours.
BY:SSEGAWA HUZAIRU IBRAHIM (ibrasegawa0@gmail.com)
