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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Julia Haber, the cofounder and CEO of Home From College, a gig-work platform based in Los Angeles. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m the CEO and one of the co-founders of Home from College.
We help brands hire college-age students, and we built our product to be transparent, low-barrier to entry, and help with imposter syndrome.
Our platform is different than a Handshake or other early-talent job boards because the opportunities are very project-based, and they’re mostly not full-time roles.
Companies use the platform for Gen Z research, product testing, sourcing interns, ambassador programs, and content creation. I would say 90% of the roles are gig, flexible, project-based roles for college students and recent grads. Opportunities are as short as one day and on average run three months or more. However, some have converted into full-time roles with the brand.
I talk to hundreds of college students monthly, and given that 90% of the roles on Home From College are remote, one of the most common questions we get is, “How do I make this a successful experience while being remote?”
We have a workflow tool that manages tasks and deliverables for all the gig workers, and one thing I always recommend to Gen Zs who work remotely is to send an update to their manager at the end of every week.
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That includes a full rundown of hot items they completed, outstanding questions, and goals for the next week. People should track this for themselves to advocate for a promotion, and let their managers know what they’re doing on a weekly basis. That format will provide a level of transparency that typically gets lost if you’re not in person.
We have almost everyone on our team do it, even if they are in person, just so that we have a process for knowing what everyone is doing. Then, we feed the information into our AI project-management tool, which keeps everything accounted for.
In addition to creating more transparency on a weekly basis, I also recommend that Gen Zs send a warm and welcoming message first thing every day, to whoever they directly report to. It should be something along the lines of “Hi, I hope you’re having a good day.” The idea is to let them know you’re alive, online, and ready to do your job.
Remote workers should also proactively schedule 15-minute check-ins with their manager weekly or bi-weekly if they don’t already have a 1:1 scheduled. Many Gen Zers feel apprehensive about face time. I think one of the most helpful tools on Slack is the huddle feature, which allows you to huddle with someone and make it feel like you’re walking into the room.
It’s really important to realize that many Gen Zs have lived through a recession and COVID. They’ve had to deal with unknowns in the world, like politics and AI, and it can feel very paralyzing. Also, they may have had less human interaction than people who are further along in their careers and had to be in the workplace more. So there’s a level of not knowing appropriate etiquette.
I think that requires empathy on both sides and an added layer of transparency in the workplace.
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