Executive says Gen Z Workers should be ‘Willing to do Anything’

Squarespace’s chief marketing officer Kinjil Mathur spoke about Gen Z people and what their approach to work should be.

However, her comments were taken out of context and she faced criticism.

In an interview with Fortune, Kinjil detailed her own experience of being willing to work for free in the early 2000s.

She revealed she landed her first job by cold calling companies and expressing her willingness to work for free.

She said: “I went to the business listings and I just started calling up companies and asking them if they had internships available and that I would be willing to work for free.”

Kinjil started as an intern at the travel firm Travelocity before working her way up through Conde Nast, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Foursquare before becoming CMO at Squarespace.

She admitted that she did not expect to get a job just after obtaining her finance degree in 2000.

Kinjil was “worried about her future”, adding:

“Every single summer I was trying to find some internship. I just wanted to get experience.”

She advised Gen Z to remain open-minded, saying that “you’ve got to be willing to do whatever it takes”.

Kinjil said: “I was willing to work for free, I was willing to work any hours they needed—even on evenings and weekends.

“I was not focused on travelling.

“You really have to just be willing to do anything, any hours, any pay, any type of job – just really remain open.”

The executive warned that once you land an internship, “you’ve got to take it incredibly seriously”.

She suggested that Gen Z jobseekers need to ditch their list of demands for prospective employers.

“The list of criteria for people coming out of college, or in college, right now is so long.”

Although she highlighted her own experience while advising Gen Z workers, her comments were taken out of context and Kinjil faced criticism.

A screenshot of the interview was shared by Alan Macleod and it was captioned:

“What stage of capitalism is this?”

Several netizens accused Kinjil of “exploiting” unpaid labour instead of using her position to advocate for fair pay.

One person said: “My labour was exploited and now that I’m in a position to make a change, I want to force that same barrier of entry to the workforce because I’m a complete ghoul.”

Others stated that “no one should ever work for free”.

Entrepreneur Gary Clueit tweeted: “I’ve always insisted that interns should be paid at least the living wage where many companies not only pay them nothing but charge them for the ‘privilege’ of being an intern at their company.”

On the other hand, some agreed with Kinjil, saying her advice was part of the “learning” and “experience-gaining” process.