Shadowing Practice: Why Gen Z Can't Find Jobs - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
So I feel like right now,
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So I feel like right now,
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more than ever, I realized that I gotta make this YouTube thing work.
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I don't even have a choice anymore.
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Because in the year of 2026,
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it seems like people cannot get a job right out of college.
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Not even people who graduated from the top universities in the country with a 4.0 GPA
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and you have tons of internship experience.
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Nah, it doesn't even matter.
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Some people may not have difficulty finding jobs,
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but it seems like nowadays,
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an alarming amount of people are having difficulty finding a job.
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And it's making people think,
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well, damn, what is the point of paying thousands of dollars for a degree
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if I can't even get a job with it?
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Because after all, a lot of people did tell us growing up that if we went to college and got a degree,
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that we were like guaranteed success.
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In which obviously after seeing what's been going on,
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that's definitely not the case.
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Although a college degree even puts you in the category to be qualified,
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it doesn't guarantee anything.
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I don't want to sit here and act like it's the worst it's ever been right now,
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because obviously we've had worse points, like the 2008 recession.
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But it's still pretty bad to the point where I'm seeing
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a ton of news articles on how recent college graduates are struggling to even find a job out of college.
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You could have spent four to five years in college working your ass off on Python,
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stressing out so much that your hair just starts falling out and you start getting wrinkles.
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Like your ass starts to get the Waterloo University effect.
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just for employers to not even care of the turmoil that you went through.
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Like, I cannot even imagine how mad I would be.
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And there's a bunch of old geezers talking about,
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Oh, Gen Z, they're just lazy and they don't want to work.
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Like, okay, sure, some people in Gen Z might be lazy.
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There's people that are lazy in every generation.
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But bro, that is just not the case.
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I don't know what these geezers are on about.
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Like, we get it, dude.
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You paid $3,000 for tuition and you got a job right out of college and it worked there your whole life,
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you don't have to rub it in, dude.
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So that brings me to this question.
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Why is it so much harder now?
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Well, it all starts with the application process.
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And it is a lot more complicated than it has ever been.
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And when people apply for jobs,
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they typically go on sites like LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, or Indeed.
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They'll fill in all their information and send out the application.
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And they'll wait.
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And wait.
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And nothing.
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At this point, you don't even think McDonald's wants your ass.
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You just think you're cooked and it's over.
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You worked so hard throughout college and you did so many internships just to get nothing in return.
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I just feel terrible for the people that are going through this.
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It doesn't matter if you did ten internships and you have like five masters degrees,
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they still don't want your ass.
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And despite you having the qualifications they asked for,
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they might tell you that they're still looking for more experience.
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Like in this day and age,
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you may even have trouble finding your first job.
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Because a supermarket might not want your ass if you never had a job.
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Like what kind of bullshit is this?
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Like how are you even supposed to get your first job anymore?
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Like when I got my first job,
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it seemed like the place that I got hired from,
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they were looking for anybody with a pulse.
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But nowadays people are even struggling to find jobs in positions like retail and fast food,
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where you definitely should not be shunned for having no job experience.
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Like what else could they possibly want you to do?
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But what if you put up a ton of shots?
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Because everybody does say, you miss every shot you don't take,
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so why not fill out a ton of applications
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and just see what happens? and just see what the stats are gonna be.
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I found this video on TikTok where this dude had to apply to 1600 jobs before he found his current job.
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So you really gotta put in the work and put in all those applications before you actually find a job.
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Like at this point, man,
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it might just be a numbers game.
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Like you're just throwing fucking shots out there for however many positions that you qualify for.
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Now, unfortunately, after you graduate,
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now you got this huge side mission you have to do before you can even get to the main mission.
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Like at this point, the job search is becoming the main mission.
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It feels like it doesn't matter how much experience you have,
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these companies might just go ghost on you.
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And unfortunately, now more than ever,
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it's actually harder to find a legit listing because companies are putting out this sh** called ghost jobs.
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And basically what a ghost job is,
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it's just a fake listing.
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Now, why are they doing this?
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To be honest with you, I have no idea.
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Like at this point, you're just wasting the applicant's time.
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They spend all that time filling out their information,
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make sure their application is perfect just for the listing to not even be real.
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Now, how the hell do you even spot a ghost job?
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Apparently, there's a whole checklist.
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Like, for example, like the language in the job description seems generic.
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The title of the job is vague.
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The company email address doesn't match the one on the application.
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And when filling out an application,
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there's already a lot to worry about in the first place.
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By now, you got to check all this bullshit to make sure you're not applying for a ghost job.
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And when you do apply for a ghost job,
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sometimes you may get a response back,
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and it will say some generic bullshit like,
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Hi, thank you very much for your consideration in this position.
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However, after a hefty evaluation,
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at this time, we decide not to move further with your application.
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Or whatever the f**k, I don't know.
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Or even worse, people's time could get wasted even more.
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And they'll get interviewed by a bot!
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And they may not even hear back from this supposed bot that interviewed them.
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So obviously, when you first get on these job sites,
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you think there's so much open.
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You think there's so much sh** available.
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But in reality, it's just these companies putting out ghost jobs.
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And when you do finally land that interview after the trials and tribulations of the application phase,
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you gotta smell good at the interview.
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So get yourself some soap at usecheeky.com with code BIRDIE for 10% off your purchase.
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Tomorrow they're dropping their limited edition Chainsaw Man bundle.
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So if you want one,
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they will be live on Friday at 1 p.m.
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EST.
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And these sell out fast,
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so if you want to be notified when it drops,
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sign up for the email list at the link below.
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Now, of course, in the age of AI,
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many employers use AI to review job applications.
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Like, obviously, they want to filter out the ones that are obviously chat GPT bullshit.
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Like, they want to make sure nobody's just submitting a fully AI-generated application.
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But at the same time, AI is not perfect.
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It makes mistakes, obviously.
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The amount of times I've seen AI fuck up is just bad.
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Like, unfortunately, you may get an email from a company because they just reviewed your application using AI.
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Even though you put your heart and soul into this application,
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you're gonna get rejected by the company.
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And it's almost like automatic.
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It's like no thought was put into it.
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They just automatically rejected that shit.
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Like they just stuffed you in the paint, basically.
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It's that bad, bro.
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And when you do land an interview,
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a bot may even handle the interview process.
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And it doesn't matter how much your personality may stand out from the hundreds of applicants that you are competing against,
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the AI might still reject you.
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Like it's one thing if you have chat GPT help you with a homework assignment or whatever,
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but it's another thing if you replace human connection entirely with an automated review process.
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Like that's just stupid.
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Now, a lot of companies are trending in the direction towards AI replacing jobs.
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And instead of having soul and whatever it is that they do,
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they're having an AI bot do it.
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So unfortunately,
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the reality for a lot of people in 2026 is they
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they have to worry about getting their jobs replaced by an AI bot.
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Now, although AI can assist us with tasks in our daily lives and just make shit easier for us,
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that doesn't mean that you should take the human element out of something entirely.
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Imagine if I turned in a homework assignment that was entirely written by AI.
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They would tell me to pack my shit.
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I'm done.
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I'm getting expelled.
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But that's what these companies are doing by replacing jobs.
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Whatever they create is just becoming soulless at this point.
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Like, have you guys seen the Coca-Cola AI Christmas ad?
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It was absolute dog shit.
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Like, this has to be the worst commercial that has aired in years.
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And people lost their jobs for this, by the way.
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They really thought this was better than what people could create.
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Like imagine spending four to five years in college to learn your craft,
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master your skill set, just for you to get replaced the moment you get a job.
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Like I would be pissed bro,
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I would be absolutely fuming.
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And it sucks because people were probably telling you how successful you were gonna be right out of college or whatever.
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And it sucks that this is the reality for some people.
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And if you were to tell somebody this in 2025,
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they would tell you, oh man,
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enjoy it bro, unemployment is the life.
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People would have told you that you need to achieve peak unemployment.
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Now unfortunately during the job search,
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all you are left with is the unemployed lifestyle.
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When you have a job,
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usually you're too busy to watch TV,
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doom scroll, etc. But when you're unemployed,
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you may find yourself doom scrolling,
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watching TV, way more often than you did to pass the time.
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And in 2025, it also became a meme on the internet to be scared of even filling out a job application.
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But some people may tell you that the unemployed lifestyle is fire,
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that doing jack shit all day is the move.
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But eventually, it's just gonna get boring.
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The days of no showers,
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doom scrolling, or whatever the fuck are just gonna all feel the same.
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So eventually, you're gonna want that job to give yourself a sense of fulfillment in life.
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But the jokes and the memes aside,
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for real though, being unemployed is ass.
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Nobody wants to have trouble finding jobs and shit.
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And unfortunately, this issue is affecting Gen Z more than ever,
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as they enter the job search.
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All this shit going on with ghost jobs and AI replacing jobs,
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and it just sucks having to deal with that,
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along with the colossal amount of debt that you have to pay off after it's all set and done.
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And this college debt can sometimes take years for people to pay off.
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In some cases, people will just go because their parents told them to,
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and said that they will also have more job opportunities.
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Now, I'm all for furthering your education,
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but you do have to consider the financial stress involved and also consider if your dream career even is in college.
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So you shouldn't do it if somebody's just telling you to do it.
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You should only do it if you truly believe that's what you want to do.
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But college is one of the many paths that you can take after high school.
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Watch this video about life after high school on the end screen.
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Just click on it.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice your English speaking skills by engaging with a contemporary topic that resonates with many young adults today: the challenges faced by Gen Z in the job market. You will explore the reasons why recent graduates often find it difficult to secure employment, despite their impressive qualifications. By shadowing the speaker's tone and vocabulary, you will enhance your fluency and comprehension, making it easier to express similar ideas in your own words during discussions.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Application process - The series of steps one must go through to apply for a job.
- Guaranteed success - Assurance that one will achieve a successful outcome.
- Internship experience - Practical work experience gained during or after college in a specific field.
- 4.0 GPA - A perfect grade point average, indicating top academic achievement.
- Alarming amount - A concerning or shocking number of something.
- Old geezers - A colloquial and somewhat humorous term for older individuals, often used to express frustration.
- Lazy - Unwilling to work or be active.
- Cooked - Slang for feeling defeated or hopeless.
Practice Tips
To get the most out of your English speaking practice, we recommend using a shadowing app or your favorite shadowing site for this lesson. Start by listening to the video at a slower speed. Focus on mimicking the pronunciation and intonation of the speaker. Pay attention to how they express frustration and convey emotion; this is key to capturing the essence of the discussion.
To effectively shadow the transcript, repeat phrases right after you hear them, ensuring that your delivery matches not only the words but also the rhythm of the speech. This method is particularly effective when dealing with difficult vocabulary or complex ideas, like those about job searching and generational differences.
Additionally, consider using YouTube's playback speed feature to gradually increase the speed as your confidence grows. Practicing with real-world conversations on topics like employment challenges will significantly improve your ability to engage in discussions on similar themes in English. So, embrace this opportunity to learn English with YouTube and refine your skills as you navigate the complexities of job hunting today!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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