No generation has entered the workforce more squarely in AI’s crossfire than Gen Z. As companies across industries have pulled back on entry-level hiring, leaders have made it clear they’re now more than ever looking for highly-skilled and ambitious young workers. And many aspiring professionals appear to have begun taking that message to heart.
Career growth ranked as Gen Z’s No. 1 priority when choosing a full-time employer—outranking work-life balance, salary, workplace culture, and staying ahead of technology, according to a new survey of more than 900 summer interns at accounting firm KPMG. Their ambitions don’t stop at landing a first job or earning a promotion. Nearly all respondents, 93%, said they aspire to reach the C-suite or senior executives during their careers.
But KPMG said that ambition will require more than simply moving up the corporate ladder—it will require developing the skills that make employees worth investing.
“Gen Z sees the risk clearly,” Derek Thomas, KPMG U.S.’s national partner-in-charge of university talent acquisition, said in a press release.
“Lean on AI for all the thinking early on, and you never build the instincts that make you a strong employee. What’s striking is that they’re guarding those reps, the hands-on work that builds real human skills, because they know it’s what turns an entry-level hire into someone worth developing and investing in.”
While broader surveys have found that work-life balance remains a top priority for Gen Z workers, the KPMG findings offer a different snapshot of the generation’s ambitions: many young professionals, seeing the competitive nature of today’s workplace, are intently focused on climbing the corporate ladder.
And the payoff for reaching the highest levels of leadership can be significant. KPMG partners in the United Kingdom earned roughly £880,000 (about $1.2 million) during fiscal year 2025 alone—an 11% rise compared to the previous year, according to Business Insider. Beyond KPMG, the average S&P 500 CEO earned $18.9 million in 2024, up 7% from the previous year, according to data compiled by AFL-CIO.
Gen Zers are walking a tightrope between embracing AI and protecting their human edge
As AI becomes a bigger part of the workplace, Gen Z has been left trying to solve a new career equation: how to use the technology as a competitive advantage without becoming dependent on it.
Critical thinking ranked as the No. 1 skill the intern respondents believe will distinguish entry-level employees over the next five years. Overall, 76% said long-term career success will require both strong human skills and the ability to direct AI agents effectively.
At the same time, Gen Z appears wary of becoming too dependent on technology. More than four in 10 respondents said their biggest concern is that overreliance on AI could weaken critical thinking.
“You’d expect the most digitally native generation we’ve ever hired to say the technology is their edge. Instead, they’re telling us that critical thinking, judgment, and communication are what will set them apart,” Thomas said.
For employers, he added, the challenge isn’t simply teaching employees how to use AI. It’s creating opportunities to develop the human skills that are becoming even more valuable in the AI era.
Fortune reached out to KPMG for further comment.
From Jamie Dimon to Andy Jassy, CEOs agree: Human skills will separate AI winners from losers
Striking the right balance between AI literacy and uniquely human skills like critical thinking is becoming a growing priority among business leaders.
Billionaire Shark Tank star and KIND bar founder Daniel Lubetzky has said his advice for Gen Z is to double down on the skills that technology cannot easily replicate.
“Being a critical thinker is in high demand, and they’re going to become greater demand. AI is real, but it doesn’t have the creativity that humans have,” Lubetzky told Fortune last year. “If, as young people, you lean into your curiosity, in your critical thinking and in your creativity, you will win.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has delivered a similar message, saying that while AI will reshape the workforce, employees who develop critical thinking and interpersonal skills will remain valuable.
“My advice to people would be critical thinking, learn skills, learn your EQ, learn how to be good in a meeting, how to communicate, how to write. You’ll have plenty of jobs,” Dimon said on Fox News.
Andy Jassy, who helms the No. 1 company on the Fortune 500—Amazon—has echoed that view, and said that asking better questions is central to solving problems and driving innovation.
“We ask why, and why not, constantly,” he wrote in his letter to shareholders last year. “It helps us deconstruct problems, get to root causes, understand blockers, and unlock doors that might have previously seemed impenetrable.”