Career Scrambling: the Gen Z Version of the Career Ladder
- Kimberly Mahr
- Jun 28
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 22
Finding Your Footing in a Chaotic Job Market
Let’s Talk About That Feeling:
It’s the anxiety that spikes when a relative asks, “So, what are you doing with that degree?”
It’s the wave of impostor syndrome that hits when you see a peer announce a promotion on LinkedIn.
It’s the quiet panic of looking at your own resume—a seemingly random collection of service jobs, internships, and side hustles—and feeling like you’re directionless, unprofessional, and failing at a game everyone else seems to be winning.
For Gen Z, career anxiety isn't just stress; it's a constant, low-grade hum of inadequacy. You were handed a map for a world that no longer exists—the world of the "Career Ladder." This ladder represented a clean, linear, predictable climb in your parents' and grandparents' day. Now, you face a chaotic, rocky, unpredictable mountainside you must scramble up repeatedly. But this scramble? It's not failure; it’s an opportunity for growth.
Career scrambling isn’t a sign of failure.
It is the most effective mental health strategy for surviving the modern economy.
The chaos, side hustles, and non-linear path are not liabilities that harm your well-being. When viewed correctly, they can build a resilient, confident, and empowered sense of self in a world designed to make you feel small and anxious. It’s time to stop letting your career path dictate your self-worth and start using it to build it.
The Old Map Is Useless: Why the Ladder Collapsed
Understanding your situation requires recognizing that this isn’t a personal problem. The anxiety you feel is a rational response to a broken system. The ladder didn’t just get harder to climb; it collapsed under the weight of massive economic and technological shifts.
The Gig Economy: The stability of a single, full-time employer has largely been replaced by contracts, freelance projects, and side hustles. This shift isn't just economic; it's psychological. As documented by researchers like Arne L. Kalleberg, the rise of "precarious work" directly correlates with increased stress and anxiety due to a lack of predictability and security.
Rapid Technological Disruption: A 2020 World Economic Forum report estimated that 50% of employees will need reskilling by 2025. This creates a constant underlying fear that your skills will become obsolete. Therefore, it becomes challenging to feel secure in your professional life.
Economic Volatility: Growing up during recessions and a global pandemic has erased the illusion of a predictable future. The loss of a clear, stable path is a form of collective grief. It also represents a massive source of anxiety for our generation.
Clinging to the old idea of the career ladder in this environment is simply irrational. Using a 1950s road map while blaming yourself for getting lost is absurd. The map is broken. Your anxiety signals you need a new one.
The Scrambler’s Mindset: Turning Anxiety into Agency
Success and sanity in this new landscape depend on developing the right mindset. Here’s how you can reframe your scramble to benefit your mental health directly.
Mindset Shift 1: From "What's My Title?" to "What's My Stack?" (The Cure for Impostor Syndrome)
Impostor syndrome often thrives on external validation. You feel like a fraud because your job title (“Barista,” “Retail Associate”) doesn’t match the identity you feel you should have (“Marketing Executive,” “Graphic Designer”). You tie your self-worth to a temporary label that a company could strip away at any moment.
The antidote? Detach your worth from the title. Instead, attach it to your "skill stack"—the unique combination of abilities you own forever.
That barista job? You’re mastering customer service under pressure and logistical teamwork. This builds your resilience.
That retail gig? You’re learning conflict resolution and visual merchandising. This boosts your emotional intelligence.
That side hustle of writing blogs? You’re building a portfolio in SEO and client management. This fosters your autonomy.
Action Step: The Skill Stack Audit. Go through every job and project you've ever had and list the skills you've built. When you view your worth as an internal library of skills, you become less fragile. Your professional self-worth is now internal, portable, and much more resilient.
Mindset Shift 2: From "Paying Dues" to "Collecting Data" (The Cure for Decision Paralysis)
The pressure to choose the "right" career can paralyze you with anxiety. We often fear making mistakes, worrying that one "wrong" job could derail our lives.
The reframe? View every job, especially the bad ones, as data collection. Did you have a micromanager from hell? You’ve collected data: "I need autonomy to thrive." Did a project bore you to tears? Data point: "I'm not motivated by this type of work."
This mindset transition transforms you from a gambler into a scientist running low-stakes experiments. It reduces pressure and liberates you from the myth of the "perfect choice." This philosophy supports the notion that your twenties are for collecting data, not having all the answers. It dismantles the anxiety surrounding potentially making the "wrong" move.
Mindset Shift 3: From "Finding a Job" to "Building a Brand" (The Cure for Powerlessness)
When your career feels chaotic, it’s easy to feel powerless—like driftwood in a massive, indifferent ocean. Actively building your personal brand is akin to constructing your own boat.
This isn’t about being a fake influencer. It’s about taking control of your own story.
Curate Your LinkedIn: Share articles that interest you. Write thoughtful comments. This shows you’re actively engaged, not just a passive job seeker.
Own a Small Piece of the Internet: Start a simple blog or a niche social media account about something you genuinely care about. This act of agency proves you can create, commit, and build something on your own.
Network Sideways: Cultivate real relationships with your peers. A strong peer network becomes a powerful safety net and an antidote to the isolation that often accompanies career anxiety.
The Mental Health Payoff: Trading Anxiety for an Internal Locus of Control
Career scrambling, when done intentionally, helps you develop an internal locus of control.
This psychological concept distinguishes between individuals. People with an external locus of control believe their lives are dictated by outside forces—such as luck, fate, or powerful institutions. Such a mindset is strongly linked to anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness. Conversely, those with an internal locus of control view themselves as the authors of their own lives.
Every time you learn a new skill, take on a side project, or intentionally reframe a "bad" job as a data point, you strengthen your internal locus of control. You train your brain to recognize that you are powerful, adaptable, and in charge of your development. Over time, you begin to perceive chaos not as a threat to your well-being but as fertile ground for cultivating resilience.
Stop living in the wreckage of the career ladder and mourning the stability that was promised to you. Although that path may have felt stable, it was also a cage. The open, rocky mountainside of the scrambling economy may seem daunting. However, it is also filled with infinite paths and the exhilarating freedom to build a career that is resilient, adaptable, and uniquely your own.
You are not lost. You are a pioneer. Try some of these approaches, and if you still need support, reach out. Our expert therapists are well-versed in helping Gen Z find their footing!
References
Kalleberg, A. L. (2009). Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American Sociological Review, 74(1), 1-22.
World Economic Forum. (2020). The Future of Jobs Report 2020. weforum.org.
Twenge, J. M. (2017). iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. Atria Books.
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80(1), 1-28.
Saltsman, T. L., & Borgen, F. H. (2021). Changes in Career Certainty and Affect among College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Career Assessment, 29(4), 596-613.
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