Every now and then, Gen Z comes up with something that makes those of us hovering somewhere between Gen X and the Baby Boomers stop and say, Okay, kids. That’s actually brilliant. The TikTok résumé is one of those things. When I first saw that young job seekers were taking to social media to essentially advertise themselves to prospective employers, I was prepared for an eye roll. Instead, the more I read, the more I loved it.
They’re not sitting around complaining that the old way of finding a job isn’t working. They’re looking at a crowded, frustrating hiring process and figuring out a new way to get noticed. That’s creative. That’s proactive. And frankly, if I were hiring someone, those are two qualities I’d want to see before they ever walked through my door.
Desperate Gen Zers turn to social media to find jobs – why experts say older workers should, too https://t.co/pNDJCz7sYg pic.twitter.com/CbnMajETQ0
— New York Post (@nypost) August 14, 2026
Your Résumé Says You’re Innovative. Their TikTok Proves It.
The New York Post has a great piece this morning about Gen Z job seekers who are ditching, or at least supplementing, the traditional résumé with TikTok videos and Instagram reels. Some are sharing their work, some are pitching themselves directly to companies, and others are basically turning their social media accounts into living portfolios. According to one study cited by the Post, 46 percent of Gen Z respondents have landed a job or internship through TikTok.
And some of these stories are fantastic.
Some, like NYC marketing and events professional Caroline Schlobohm, insist it’s the only way to make headway nowadays.
After being laid off from two jobs in the span of six months, the 28-year-old took to TikTok to document the struggle and share her resume — vlogging her journey to find a plum post in the Big Apple.
“It was basically an experiment for me,” the Zoomer told The Post, explaining that she had already seen others find both gainful employment opportunities and overnight fame the same way.
“I’m in New York City, I’m attractive, I’m educated, I can hack this stupid app and use my talents to make this a thing,” she said.
As a direct result of her video, and despite a dearth of relevant experience at the time, Schlobohm was hired as a lead event strategist for a private luxury event planner — and found herself whisked around the world, working a three-million-dollar wedding in Tuscany and a billionaire’s charity ball in Monte Carlo. – New York Post
Then there’s 30-year-old Josh Katz, who made a 60-second video highlighting his experience and suggested that people use his comments section as his reference letter. I absolutely love that. His video was seen by hundreds of thousands of people, led to interviews and freelance work, and months later people were still reaching out to him with opportunities.
Think about what both of them did before they were ever hired. They identified a problem, figured out a different approach, took a risk and sold themselves. Isn’t that exactly what employers keep telling us they’re looking for?
The Hiring Process Is Pretty Miserable Anyway
Let’s be fair to these young people, because the traditional job hunt can be ridiculous. You find a job, upload your résumé, and then spend the next half hour manually typing all the information from the résumé you just uploaded into a company’s application system. Then you hit submit and send it off into the great Internet abyss, where you have no idea whether a person will ever actually see it.
Katz described applying through LinkedIn as feeling like a “wild black hole,” with résumés potentially getting screened by AI before a human being ever lays eyes on them. When that’s the system you’re dealing with, why wouldn’t you try to find another way around it?
That’s what impresses me about this. Gen Z grew up with TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and the idea that anyone with a phone can create something and put it in front of an audience. Instead of waiting for the hiring process to change, they’re using what they already know to change how they approach it.
That’s What Leadership Looks Like
If I were an employer, this is the part that would really get my attention. These young people aren’t just finding a clever new way to send out a résumé. They’re shaking up the way people look for jobs. They looked at an old system that wasn’t working particularly well for them and instead of continuing to play by the same rules, they created a new way.
That’s innovation, but I think it’s also leadership. Leaders don’t sit around waiting for somebody else to fix a problem or hand them the next set of instructions. They see that something isn’t working, question why everyone is still doing it that way and figure out something better. That’s exactly what these Gen Z job seekers are doing.
And I’d go one step further. There’s a little bit of the visionary in there too. Visionaries are the people who look at the way something has always been done and ask, Why are we still doing it this way? Then they have the nerve to try something else. If I’m an employer and a 25-year-old has already demonstrated that instinct before I’ve even interviewed her, I’m paying attention.
Now Imagine What They Could Do For Your Company
Because what happens when that person gets inside my company and starts looking around? What might she see that the rest of us have stopped noticing? What might she rethink, improve or completely reinvent? She may be the person who walks into my office six months from now and says, “I’ve been thinking about this, and I think there’s a better way.”
That’s the employee I’d want to meet. Give me the person willing to shake things up, take a chance and try something nobody else has thought to try yet. Companies need people like that, especially companies that don’t want to wake up one morning and discover the rest of the world moved on while they were still doing things the way they’d always done them.
And yes, these video résumés may also save employers valuable time by helping them quickly narrow down a huge field of applicants. But that’s almost a bonus. The bigger value may be what the applicant has already revealed about herself before the first interview ever happens.
Plenty of people can type “innovative,” “proactive,” “leadership skills” and “creative thinker” on a résumé. These Gen Z applicants aren’t just telling employers they have those qualities. They’re showing them, and they’re doing it before they’ve even gotten the job.
Good For The Companies Playing Along
Some employers have already figured this out, and good for them. The Post highlights luxury skincare company ANFISA, which used TikTok to advertise for a social media manager. The company’s cofounder wanted someone who lived and breathed TikTok and Instagram and understood the latest trends and creators, so she didn’t think LinkedIn was necessarily where she was going to find that person.
Well, of course not. If you’re hiring someone whose job will be understanding TikTok, why wouldn’t you look for them on TikTok? Better yet, someone who catches your attention there has already given you a tiny audition without either of you having to schedule a meeting.
Companies constantly say they want people who show initiative, think creatively, understand their audience and aren’t afraid to try something new. These applicants aren’t just putting those words on a résumé and hoping somebody believes them. They’re showing employers they can actually do it.
Okay Kids, You Got Me
For years, the warning about social media was always the same: Be careful what you put on the Internet because a future employer might see it. Maybe that’s changing too. Perhaps the better advice now is to put something worthwhile on the Internet because a future employer might see it.
I’m not suggesting every 50-something needs to run out, learn the latest TikTok dance and perform it while holding up a résumé. Please don’t. But there is something to learn from what these younger job seekers are doing, and it has very little to do with TikTok itself. When the usual way isn’t working, try another way.
Gen Z takes plenty of grief, and sometimes they make it awfully easy. But I’m giving them this one. They’re finding creative ways to stand out in a hiring system where standing out has become incredibly difficult, and smart companies are willing to meet them there. If somebody is this innovative and proactive about getting your attention before you’ve even hired them, just imagine what they might do once they’re on the payroll.
Feature Image: AI-generated illustration
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