Gen Yer? Stand out in your job search by bucking the stereotypes about you.
This is a guest post by Kirsten Fife. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines.
First off, I want to be transparent.
I’m a member of GenX.
That being said, my own career and resume are much more reflective of current GenY statistics, something which has actually helped *me* professionally so I tend to be more more forgiving of short work stints although this is not the norm.
I recruit in the technology sector, which is generally much more in “tune” with the younger workforce.
But there are some stereotypes about GenY that are based on truisms that are giving young professionals a bad rap.
4 Ugly stereotypes about Gen-Y job seekers
1) Rude
If you are applying to an established company, chances are good you will be going through a formal application process. This generally means applying online. This process is uniform and required so that all candidates are considered as objectively as possible, so trying to circumvent the process only gives recruiters and hiring managers a reason to start off with a bad impression.
It may seem cumbersome, but if you are looking for someone else to pay you, just play by their rules.
In the last three months, my company has been hiring interns and I cannot tell you how shocked my hiring managers and my recruiting colleagues are at the rudeness of candidates that we have scheduled for interviews.
Emailing us hours before an interview loop is scheduled to start and saying you’ve taken another job is unprofessional. It’s happened several times with my company in the last few months, and I’m hearing similar stories throughout the recruiting community.
At the very least, you should give a potential employer the courtesy of advance notice; time that busy professionals carve out to meet with candidates means that other work-related meetings cannot occur.
Even better, go on the interviews even if you have another offer in hand; it never hurts to have more than one offer.
2) Lacks Critical Thinking Skills and Self-Motivation
I’ve been seeing a couple of trends in phone screens and interviews the last few years that are leading companies to “no hire” what appear to be great candidates.
Most companies are looking for highly self-motivated and driven professionals. When I was at Microsoft, I was screening recent MBA candidates, and all-too often I heard them say that they are looking for “mentoring” from the organization that hires them.
It’s vital for GenY professionals to understand the difference between “the opportunity to be mentored” and a formal, structured, mentorship program, sponsored and run by Human Resources.
I don’t know of any company that doesn’t encourage their employees to establish a relationship with other, more experienced leaders and to learn and grow. But in a company that values self-motivation, saying you are looking for “mentorship” sends the impression that you are, quite honestly, looking for someone else to tell you what, when, and how to grow your career. And if you cannot do that yourself, you come across as lacking critical thinking skills and indecisive.
Given how ambitious most GenY’ers are, this is a major paradox.
I also have found that in interviews, many candidates talk about the successes and experiences of collaborative projects they have worked on. It’s vital for candidates to remember that they are being considered *individually*, not as a group. Interviewers want to know about you and your contributions and successes, not your teammates.
3) Commitment-phobic and Lazy
The average GenY professional statistically stays at jobs less than two years. Whatever the reasons, this gives the impression that you are only interested in money or the “cool factor”; you seem to be someone with either a short attention span or that doesn’t care about what they are doing enough to become invested in your career and employer.
It takes a lot of time to recruit, hire, and train one employee, so longevity is huge to employers.
You need to seriously think about your motivations and what you are looking for. It starts with your resume, and moves into your interview skills.
I mentioned earlier that I have a lot of short stints on my resume; in my case, it is because I contracted for a long time at Microsoft, where there is a 1-year cap on each contract. I’ve also had the same part-time job for over nine years. Put the two together, and I can show a steady history of commitment and growth. This is what employers are looking for.
4) Unrealistic Expectations
Finally, probably the most damaging stereotype is that of being both lazy and entitled. They go hand in hand.
Most companies have processes in place that are proven successful over the long haul. While having great ideas to contribute is always positive, going into a new job and convinced that you know the way to overhaul the company in the first three months isn’t practical.
Be patient, get to know the processes and the business landscape and don’t be shy about questioning them (Why? What? Who? When?). Do it respectfully, and if you can make a business case supporting your ideas for process improvements, start with the appropriate channels (generally your manager).
Leaders want improvement, but they want it to be backed by data as to how it positively impacts the bottom line.
When you are interviewing, keep this firmly in the back of your mind when you are answering “tell me about a time when” questions. The truth is, in a few years, you’ll be in management and will start to make as many changes as you want and the rest of the world will be able to watch in amazement.
True stories: where Gen-Y stereotypes come from
I sent a “shout out” to my recruiting community for additional feedback and experiences. Below is a response sent to me by a fellow recruiter just finishing up interviewing interns for a Fortune 100 company.
This is an object lesson in why these stereotypes exist:
- Not showing up and calling days after the scheduled interview asking to reschedule. Typical excuses are food poisoning and grandmother died.
- Showing up late to the interview and not apologizing.
- Bringing family members with you to the interview including siblings. Family members not being respectful of the fact this is a place of employment.
- Dressing inappropriately for the interview (wearing jeans with holes in them, low cut blouses’, flip-flops), overwhelming smells of smoke and or perfume or cologne, chewing gum.
- Not having a properly formatted resume – pasting job descriptions into the resume vs. showcasing the value and contributions they have provided.
- Sense of entitlement: I have a degree, why are you not moving forward with me?
- Excessive calls to the recruiter asking for status updates, decision status etc. Multiple calls within a week and emails.
- Not being respectful of a recruiter's time: rambling on about personal problems or trying to sell you on why they should have the job, unable to take no for answer.
- Unrealistic salary expectations: “I have a degree therefore you should pay me this amount” even though they do not have the actual work experience.
- Unrealistic work experience: School projects do not necessarily translate into actual work experience
- Lack of follow-up when action is requested or required from the applicant
- Coming to the interview unprepared: application, not researching the company
- Job hopping: boredom, dissatisfaction with their manager
- Not acknowledging team work vs. individual collaboration. In most jobs we work with a variety of team members and to position yourself and the sole contributor doesn’t showcase your ability to work in a cross functional manner that most employers are looking for. And in some cases it comes off as bragging about your contributions.
If you can act professionally and create a great first impression, you have a chance to overcome the stereotypes that are perpetrated by your peers, and blow your competition out of the water.
About the Author
Kristen Fife is a recruiter, resume consultant, and employment expert based in the greater Seattle area. She has worked at companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Volt Technical Services, and the University of Washington. You can find her job seeker blog at http://kristen.fife.conquent.com/blog.
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Wow, that list is sure an eye opener!
I am blown away by the poor presentations during the interview. It’s an interview for a job–wear a suit! Wash your hair!
As a person who is part of Generation X and unemployed, I seriously doubt that this article is addressed solely at Generation Y. I believe this expresses your attitude to the unemployed in general.
So I have edited parts of this article (see sentences in parentheses) to be more reflective of the whole truth. I won’t even address the many grammatical errors in it, which is typical of the many correspondences that I have received from recruiters and other HR professionals. These correspondences also contain many spelling errors.
From Section 1 under Rude:
If you are applying to an established company, chances are good you will be going through a formal application process (a process that takes as long as a billing cycle, which makes paying the bills more difficult). This generally means applying online. This process is uniform and required so that all candidates are considered as objectively (As the process is run by humans and as humans are less than 100% objective, I would remark on the subjectivity of the process as well. Read Malcolm Gladwell’s article on interviewing for evidence. He calls interviewing “sexless dating.”) as the as possible, so trying to circumvent the process (Circumventing the process is called networking, which HR constantly reminds us as the treasure trove of jobs.) only gives recruiters and hiring managers a reason to start off with a bad impression.
It may seem cumbersome, but if you are looking for someone else to pay you, just play by their rules.
In the last three months, my company has been hiring interns and I cannot tell you how shocked my hiring managers and my recruiting colleagues are at the rudeness of candidates (Their rudeness is only matched by the rudeness of the recruiters who don’t return phone calls or emails, lie outright about jobs, who put jobless applicants, etc.) that we have scheduled for interviews.
Emailing us hours before an interview loop is scheduled to start and saying you’ve taken another job is unprofessional. (First come, first serve!) It’s happened several times with my company in the last few months, and I’m hearing similar stories throughout the recruiting community.
From Section 2 under Lacks Critical Thinking Skills and Self-Motivation
I also have found that in interviews, many candidates talk about the successes and experiences of collaborative projects they have worked on. It’s vital for candidates to remember that they are being considered *individually*, not as a group (This is true except when the job description expressly states otherwise. Applicants tailor their interview approach to the job description, especially when items are clearly expressed. However, the recruiter often does not. Does the recruiter even read the descriptions?) . Interviewers want to know about you and your contributions and successes, not your teammates.
From Section 3 under Commitment-phobic and Lazy
The average GenY professional statistically stays at jobs less than two years. Whatever the reasons, this gives the impression that you are only interested in money (No shit, Sherlock! This is an employee “at will” society. We are free to give our loyalty to whomever, for whatever reason. The cold hard truth is that most of us are mainly interested in the money and benefits. Plus any loyalty we extend to a company is often dismissed during layoffs or reorganizations.) or the “cool factor”; you seem to be someone with either a short attention span or that doesn’t care about what they are doing enough to become invested in your career and employer.
It takes a lot of time to recruit, hire, and train one employee, so longevity is huge to employers.
You need to seriously think about your motivations and what you are looking for. It starts with your resume, and moves into your interview skills.
I mentioned earlier that I have a lot of short stints on my resume; in my case, it is because I contracted for a long time at Microsoft, where there is a 1-year cap on each contract. I’ve also had the same part-time job for over nine years. Put the two together, and I can show a steady history of commitment and growth. This is what employers are looking for.
Elly,
The points I addressed specifically are related to GenY. I would recommend a book to you to read:
“The Trophy Generation Grows Up” by Ron Alsop.
GenX has a much different work and communication style in the workplace.
So we should suck it up and act like our Boomer parents? Pft…
If I know I’m not taking a job, it would be rude to waste the interviewers time, and pointless to waste my own. I’m not going to put on a happy face and pretend to care about your job if I already have the one I want.
Nothing is more frustrating than getting a job and not getting the resources and organizational support to do that job well. Gen Y has heard this mantra about being great and special our whole lives, and we want to be great. I suspect we don’t like the whole trial by fire routine. Call it a “lack of critical thinking” if you like. Maybe we just expect to get the right tools for success so we can… wait for it… succeed. Shocker. Don’t give us the right tools, and meaningful work to which we can ply those tools? Then yeah, we will bail. Bore us and we are gone. As long as there is somewhere to go, we’ll go there. Doesn’t strike me as our problem, since to get a new job every two years someone has to want us every two years.
Interesting article and it points to a number of issues that Gen Y job seekers face but I’d like to raise a point with the job hopping angle. My career is littered with stints here and there with several companies featuring on resume. Not that I was bored or unsatisfied but my life seemed to move fast. After undergrad I got a job at a newspaper and was headhunted for a website which I left a year later because I got a scholarship to study abroad where I have interned aggressively to gain experience. Now would my resume appear schizophrenic to a hiring manager because I seemed to move from one area to the next or more dynamic because I have a multimedia career?
Siya- that’s a great question. Change to a functional resume format which de-emphasizes gaps and focuses more on achievements.
http://jobmob.co.il/blog/resume-gaps/
Cynical Y- if the job doesn’t give you the tools to succeed, you’re right in looking for a better job. Sometimes though, a little perseverance can improve your own work conditions and if appreciated, lead to promotion.
This completely reminds me of the new post “Generation Hogwash.”
Pingback: Generation Hogwash | JobMob
Tweeted for my college students.