What an unpaid internship at 31 taught me about Gen Z

The generational divide often frames Gen Z as difficult, but Garcia-Morales found their approach to labor to be both practical and vital. Her younger colleagues challenged the ingrained corporate belief that constant availability equates to dedication. While she had spent years conditioning herself to sacrifice personal time for the sake of appearances, her peers treated working hours as a finite, protected resource. They clocked out at 5 p.m. without guilt, balancing academic and personal lives with a discipline that made her own habits of perpetual overwork look like a liability rather than a virtue.

Beyond boundaries, the interns challenged the status quo with a relentless curiosity. By consistently asking why specific processes existed, they stripped away the procedural inertia that often stifles innovation in established companies. Garcia-Morales realized she had long ago stopped questioning the "how" of her work, assuming that senior roles required silence rather than inquiry. These interactions served as a mirror, revealing that she had unlearned the very skills—critical questioning and self-respect—that were key to a healthier career. By the end of the program, she stopped viewing these traits as obstacles to professional advancement and began treating them as the foundations of long-term performance.