For those who have reached an age where your actions are held to “adult” expectations by a civil authority, financial decisions (credit) become your legal responsibility, and your employment is governed by state- or federal statutes, the “real world” has a sharp learning curve for new adults. Speaking as someone with more than forty years experience dealing with bureaucracies, credit, employers, government agencies, and the like, I recognize that many of the methods the Baby Boom generation, and even the Gen-X were accustomed to using, seem as ancient as the 1960s to a Gen -Z person.

technology that pre-dates most alive today

Most state agencies still use fax machines (facsimile images or print converted to analog signals) which transport information at 1/1000th the speed of the average smartphone, and use the US Postal Service to “mail” official correspondence. These bureaucracies often operate in timeframes that are measured in weeks or months and not milliseconds. After witnessing the vacant look that most sub-25 year olds give me when I ask for a self-addressed, stamped envelope, it resembles the same misunderstanding that the mail may take a couple business days to deliver their reports. The number of youngsters who do not how to address an envelope or affix a stamp may inspire someone to create instructions via Tik-Tok video.

As for the test takers, finding a No. 2 lead pencil – the ones that require sharpening – to fill out a “scantron” answer sheet that faxes – is as unfamiliar as reading the pre-arrival instructions on the postcards and email that the Test Coordinator sends a candidate. These list items a test taker must bring to a test site. One is the date and arrival time (late arrivals often are not seated), the required identification documents, and the previously-described self-addressed stamped envelope. Other than some technical problem when faxing the test sheets, the only response from the testing service (in our particular case, that is Pearson Vue) prior to the state issuing a successful candidate a license (in 2 to 3 months), is the individual results returned on test day. These get mailed if properly addressed to the candidate normally on the same day. Government agencies are slowing adopting social media for public relations and instructions, but never to conduct official business.

Gen-Z is only just becoming aware of identity theft and “real ID”

Why do state certification tests, other agencies, and private employers want you to display a legitimate, unexpired, unlaminated, and legible Social Security card, government-issued identification (passport, military ID, drivers license, etc)? While politicians and lobbyists debate who is a “legal” resident, Government-regulated healthcare, education, finance or other state processes have to meet long-established standards. More than ten (twenty?) years ago, laws requiring presentation of legitimate identification, to gain employment, obtain financial aid, or to take a state certification test – including a valid Social Security card – were made law of the land. Unfortunately for several young candidates in just the last several months, presenting a photocopied piece of paper with a Social Security card, foreign government identification card, or an expired US drivers license prohibited for enrollment in training programs at the time. This is, in part, to prevent fraud and identity theft.