A Gen Zer named Loni is feeling a bit vindicated after her dad tried to prove her wrong about the state of the current job market by landing himself a summer job. It didn’t exactly go the way he planned, however, but he certainly learned a lesson in the process.

Many job seekers have been open about the fact that it’s incredibly hard to get a job right now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both the unemployment rate, at 4.2%, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.2 million, changed little during the month of July. It seems the lack of available jobs is really affecting younger people more than anything, which is something older generations, like Loni’s dad, can’t seem to grasp.

A dad planned to get a summer job to prove to his daughter that the job market is in a good place.

“So, my dad is one of those dads that doesn’t believe how hard it is to get a job right now with the job market,” Loni began in her TikTok video. “He’s a teacher, and so he’s looking for a part-time job this summer.”

She explained that her dad originally thought it would be a piece of cake to find a job during the summer months. For him, he figured all he had to do was go down to a store, talk to the manager, and introduce himself before he would either be offered a job or get an application. However, Loni was happy to report that her dad got a wake-up call about what it’s really like instead.

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The dad learned that his daughter wasn’t lying about the job market after being unable to find work for the summer.

Instead of easily getting a job, Loni shared that her dad would go to stores in their area to inquire about open positions, and either the manager wouldn’t be there at all or just wouldn’t want to talk to him. The time a manager actually spoke with him, they claimed they would call him later, but never did.

“I hate that he’s learning this in real time, but I’m like, ‘Ah, all of your children have tried to tell you how bad it is out there and you act like it’s not real,'” Loni continued. Considering older generations haven’t, for the most part, been subjected to the difficulties of the current job market, they’re reluctant to admit that young people are telling the truth.

Many older generations have been at their jobs for decades at this point, especially boomers and Gen X. They haven’t had to actually get down and dirty with applying only to be met with silence or a straight-up rejection.

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The job market is especially brutal for recent college grads.

According to a survey by NBC News, recent college graduates who’ve either completed technical school, college, or graduate school were asked about their job application process. In more than 100 responses, graduates described months spent searching for a job, hundreds of applications sent, and zero responses from employers.

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Even with degrees that were once in high demand, like computer science or engineering, they were still struggling. Some recent graduates even admitted to having trouble getting an hourly retail position or are making salaries well below what they had been expecting in fields they hadn’t planned to work in.

Similarly, a report from Oxford Economics found that college grads are entering what is considered one of the most challenging job markets in over a decade, with a 6% unemployment rate. Economists explained that people are not only refusing to quit their jobs, but companies just aren’t hiring in the same fashion as they once did.

Despite what older generations may have to say about adults now, they definitely aren’t lying or being “lazy” about the fact that the job market is abysmal right now. It’s disheartening for recent college grads, considering we were all told that going to college, spending all of that money, and getting a degree meant we were guaranteed a successful career and life as an adult. The reality is actually much more sobering. 

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Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.