Amazon AI exec’s top career advice is always pick up your phone—it’s a disaster for Gen Z

Success·Gen ZAmazon AI exec’s top career advice is always pick up your phone—it’s a disaster for Gen ZBY Orianna Rosa RoyleBY Orianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, SuccessOrianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, SuccessOrianna Rosa Royle is the Success associate editor at Fortune, overseeing careers, leadership, and company culture

SEE FULL BIOZorica Nastasic—Getty ImagesGen Z hate picking up the phone—so much so, that they’re getting lessons in how to handle telephone conversations

But ignoring unknown callers could cost them their big break

Take it from Amazon’s AI exec Rohit Prasad

Rohit Prasad is one of the most influential figures at Amazon right now

He jumped from being Alexa’s head scientist to running its AI team and reporting directly to the CEO Andy Jassy

And it’s all thanks to a random phone call he received in 2013. “When Amazon called to build Alexa, I had no idea what that was going to be, and if I hadn’t picked up the call, then I may not have gotten that opportunity,” Prasad exclusively told Fortune at the Viva in Paris. “They reached out and they said, ‘There’s a ject that (former CEO) Jeff Bezos’ driving,’ and I said, ‘really, Amazon wants to get into AI. ’ I was trigued, it was a very green field opportunity. ” Of course, Prasad took the job—and today, over 12 years later, he’s still not entirely sure how Amazon’s hiring team got a hold of his number

But he knows what inspired the call: “I learned later that someone had come across a re paper of mine on far-field speech recognition,” he added. “They were particularly interested in my background leading cutting-edge R&D jects in the DARPA space, which aligned well with Amazon’s ambitions. ” It’s why he there’s some amount of luck to career success

Control the controlables, sharpen your skills and when opportunity rings, say yes. “I don’t think I’m smarter than anyone else

I think the smartest person in the room recognizes that he or she has something to learn

So I will always say, be curious all the time, be true to your passion and of course, I picked up the call. ” Gen Z’s telephobia is so bad that they’re ghosting employers—colleges are stepping in While Prasad’s career advice is more metaphorical, Gen Z really could be missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime if they don’t learn to pick up their phones

In fact, re shows that a quarter of the youngest generation of workers are too anxious to answer any type of phone call—even if it’s from someone they know, but it’s out of the blue

Gen Z’s telephobia is so bad that Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) was forced to scrap key employment data because young people just would not pick up their phones

Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics duction and analysis at the Office for National Statistics, blamed the internet and social media for stealing young people’s attention while emphasising that it appears to be a global phenomenon

Meanwhile, a college in the U

Has now stepped up and started offering classes on making and taking phone calls to help Gen Z overcome this fear

After all, not every call is bad news—despite what the surveys suggest Gen Z might assume

Amazon’s Prasad isn’t the only exec whose big break came thanks to an unexpected phone call

GHD boss Jeroen Temmerman told Fortune he wasn’t even job hunting when the haircare giant rang out of the blue with an offer

And Bob Iger never thought he’d return to Disney—until the call came, and his wife convinced him to say yes

Opportunity doesn’t always arrive with a calendar invite

Sometimes, it just rings

Are you anxious of picking up the phone

Has it impacted your employment opportunities

Fortune wants to hear from you

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