I am intrigued by the differences in the generations, the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Y. I am proud to be a boomer. Sure there are a lot of us and it made competition fierce, but we were the majority and because of that we influenced culture. Some describe us as the lump in the snake.
Now the Boomers are influencing culture with more retirement homes and rehab centers. I refuse to view this negatively. Boomers, remember when we didn’t have to lock our homes or our cars? But now on to the Millennials.
This blog was motivated by an article in USA Today, called “Managers to Millennials: Job interview no time to text.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/04/28/college-grads-job-interviews/2113505/
Generation Y, also called the Millennials, range in age from 18 to 34 (born between 1978 and 1995). They grew up with smart phones, texting and Facebook.
The USA Today article reads, “Human resource professionals say they’ve seen recent college grads text or take calls in interviews, dress inappropriately, use slang or overly casual language and exhibit other oddball behavior.” “Life has gotten more casual says Mara Swain, executive Vice President of the staffing firm Manpower Group. “They don’t realize the interview is a sales event.”
According to the article Millennials have been coddled by their parents. Jonathan Singel, director of Avery Dennison, says, “It’s a mindset of your perfect just the way you are.” I blame it on the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood TV Show. Mr. Rogers said everyone was a winner. Well everyone isn’t automatically a winner. Giving every kid a trophy that played Little League may have been a mistake. Everyone can’t win. And everyone doesn’t get a job just because they show up to interview.
While I am gripping, there is too much multi-tasking. Multi-tasking means that whatever multiple tasks you are doing; you are doing all of them half ass. Examples include texting while driving, putting on makeup while driving, surfing the internet while talking on the phone, ect., ect., ect. In order to truly do the job right, you have to concentrate and that means one thing at a time. In 670 years our brains may have adapted to multi-tasking, but for now, our brains can’t.
The internet is making us more self-centered. When checking Twitter and Facebook, you are thinking about yourself, and with no human interaction.
Millenniums taking phone calls and checking texts and e-mails during their interview seems unreal. What are they thinking? Unfortunately it may make sense when you realize their world has human reactions via the internet and wireless connections. All facial expressions and other cues are omitted. Millenniums may not know how to read cues or what is appropriate behavior in the business world.
If you can’t refrain from checking your phone during an interview, what would your attention to your job be? That is an easy answer. No one wants an employee that makes this type of first impression.
I do not want to pick on the Millenniums too much. The Millenniums represent the extreme of what we are becoming. Do you feel the urge to check your e-mails? I know I do and I am going to go into therapy for it soon. But first I need to check my e-mails.
