Enlighten Me: Finding ways to connect with Gen Z job seekers

By Abigail Lee

Published September 19, 2025 at 8:10 AM EDT

The US saw 22,000 new jobs in July, far lower than the average 186,000 jobs added monthly on average in 2024.

And some of the jobs posted aren’t even real — they’re put up by AI or are ghost positions, which companies put up in case they need to hire for a role that’s currently filled.

Gen Z is having a particularly hard time finding work out of college. They’re ghosted, put through five-interview long processes and made to wait weeks for responses.

On this edition of Enlighten Me, Delaware Public Media’s Abigail Lee sits down with the University of Delaware’s Lerner Career Services director Jill Pante to discuss how Gen Z job seekers and their potential employers can better get through the hiring process.

DPM'S Abigal Lee interviews University of Delaware’s Lerner Career Services director Jill Pante

The Green

Abigail Lee

With degrees in journalism and women’s and gender studies, Abigail Lee aims for her work to be informed and inspired by both. <br/><br/>She is especially interested in rural journalism and social justice stories, which came from her time with NPR-affiliate KBIA at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. <br/><br/>She speaks English and Russian fluently, some French, and very little Spanish (for now!)

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