I\u2019m only addressing this generation because there are more of you in the workplace than any other generation, and, at this writing, the 75 million of you (surpassing the baby boomers numbers of 74 million) are beginning to begin settling into your careers. As with previous generations, you\u2019re going to change jobs more often early in your career (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) and you need to be aware of some of the issues you are facing relative to getting a job. Please PAY ATTENTION!!!<\/p>\n
So, I\u2019m going to discuss some of the perceived traits that you, as a millennial, have and how they impact, for better or worse, your job search.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tYour expertise and reliance on technology
\nMost of us would agree that 99% of the advancements of technology are good for business. However, in the real world of getting a job, being \u201cconnected\u201d is only of value if you can get you an interview. Somewhere along the line you\u2019re going to have to have real-world conversations with people, i.e. interviews in order to get a job. Many of you rely on \u201cjust text me\u201d to communicate. You cannot get a job by just texting. Speaking with people face -to -face, learning to look them in the eye and expressing yourself verbally in more than 140 characters is going to be necessary. This takes practice if you are not used to it. <\/p>\n
\u2022\tConfidence
\nIt is said that you have been raised to believe that everyone gets a trophy for participating and that has given you confidence. Well, in business most people DO NOT get trophies. Now it\u2019s true that the first step in being successful is actually showing up, but you don\u2019t get confidence by simply being there. I have no problem with confidence but it needs to be tempered with humility. As Dizzy Dean (Google him if you don\u2019t know who is) was quoted as saying, \u201cIt ain\u2019t bragging if you can do it.\u201d So, let your successes and accomplishments give you confidence. But, realize that your confidence will be interpreted as arrogance without performance.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tMultitasking
\nIt is said that you all think you can do this well. If you research the studies on the subject of multitasking, you will soon discover that success at it is not only a myth, but it is actually a deterrent to quality work. So, don\u2019t go into an interview touting the fact that you\u2019re good at multitasking. Any interviewer with any brains will discount you if you tell them this is one of your workplace attributes.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tFriends come first
\nTry convincing a prospective employer that your friends are more important than the job you are applying for and you will continue to be unemployed. A few years of working in the real world, a spouse, a mortgage, a car payment, a couple of kids and the realization that it is likely that their college tuition per year is going to be more than you make in one, your friends will be far down the priority list. So, don\u2019t embarrass yourself by even mentioning how important your friends are in the same breath as your needing a job.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tPlay then work
\nCommon sense should tell you that communicating anything like this in interviewing situation is disaster. But I have recently had candidates of the millennial generation say things like, \u201cWell, my personal time is very important to me,\u201d and by never bothering to explain what that means, be quickly eliminated from consideration. In fact, since your generation has a reputation for this trait, you better be damn sure you communicate in the interviewing process that work has an extremely high priority in your life.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tFocus on involvement and participation in teams
\nOkay, being a team player is important. Everyone in business has to be able to get along with everyone else. However, you better be able to perform on your own, by yourself, individually, regardless of what the team does or doesn\u2019t do. It\u2019s true that interviewing authorities are going to be interested in your ability to work in a group setting. No company wants a maverick that\u2019s going to piss everybody off. However, if your focus on involvement is more important than your individual performance, this isn\u2019t what business is about. You\u2019re going to be accountable for your own performance. The team will take care of itself if each individual performs their duties well.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tDon\u2019t worry about failure
\nYou guys got this notion when everybody got a trophy whether they won or lost. But, in the real world you damn well better worry about failing. This doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re not going to fail. In fact, you\u2019re going to fail a lot. But not to worry about it, as though it was no big deal, will keep you living at home and certainly without a job. Be aware that you have to put failure in the right perspective. (Read the quote by Michael Jordan about failure.) Learning from your failures is what\u2019s important, but to blow it off as though you shouldn\u2019t worry about it will not get you a job.<\/p>\n
\u2022\t“Respect my skills.”
\nWake up! No one is going to automatically respect anything about you, especially your skills, unless you can demonstrate successful performance applying those skills.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tConnection to parents
\nThis trait can be a good thing but also not so good. It\u2019s not so good when your parents continue to let you live at home rather than forcing you to get out on your own nomatter how difficult or painful it may be. It\u2019s not good when your parents keep giving you advice about the job market and what kind of a job might be available to you when they have no idea what the job market is really like. I\u2019m sure they love you, but encouraging you to take nothing less than a VP job won\u2019t help you. (Obviously, I\u2019m being facetious when I say this. But I can\u2019t tell you the number of times I\u2019ve had well-meaning parents give advice about the kind of job their prince or princess ought to get, regardless of their knowledge of the job market.)
\nIt is good when mom and dad insist that you get off the dole by taking the best job you can find and go to work. They need to realize that the door to opportunity is open from the inside. No employer is going to automatically love their children the way they do. But that has nothing to do with the job or the opportunity that might be available to you. <\/p>\n
\u2022\tThey want to \u2018develop\u2019 themselves
\n There\u2019s a part of this trait that might be viable. If you begin to look at job opportunities from the \u201coutside,\u201d judging them by how you can personally \u201cdevelop,\u201d you are going to have a rough time. There might be a slim possibility that you can judge a job during the interviewing process regarding how it might provide personal growth. But most of the time, most companies aren\u2019t really that interested in your personal growth and will neglect to talk about it during the interviewing process.
\nIt is more likely that after you get a job, you will figure out for yourself how you can personally grow. It is not likely that the incentive for this is going to come from your job or your employer. It\u2019s going to come from you, intrinsically. Finding ways to grow personally in your job should be a lifelong endeavor. The sooner you develop it the better.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tConstant feedback
\n You don\u2019t have to worry about this trait too much. You\u2019re going to get plenty of it, especially if you don\u2019t perform very well. The needing of constant feedback however, can be a deterrent to your success. Constantly asking your superiors, \u201chow am I doing,\u201d is simply annoying. In the job search process you\u2019ll get pretty damn quick feedback. Either you get a second interview after your first interview or you don\u2019t. Either you get a job or you don\u2019t. Pretty simple! After a while\u2026 a very short while\u2026 either in looking for a job or performing on one once you have it, you\u2019ll get plenty of feedback. You won\u2019t have to seek it. After all, feedback is the breakfast of champions.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tPersonal relationships\u2026 with boss\u2026 with coworkers
\nThis is a nice, idealistic thought and they can be great if you can find them. But, one, there is no way of knowing in an interviewing situation whether you\u2019d be able to build a personal relationship with the person you\u2019d be working for, and, two, be aware of this, that person you are interviewing with, who would be your direct boss, who might be close and caring could leave their job and the company in a heartbeat. Don\u2019t go overboard with personal relationships at work. If you get good, valuable ones, that\u2019s great, but remember, this is business not marriage.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tI\u2019ll Google it myself
\n We all know you\u2019re independent and feel like you can find things out on your own, either on the Internet or by asking friends. However, the organization you are interviewing with or working for will have made a tremendous number of mistakes which result in policies, procedures and \u201cthis is the way we do things\u201d practices. Please refrain from thinking you need to reinvent the wheel or enlighten the whole company with your discoveries. Don\u2019t be so stubborn as to not stop, listen, and learn what goes on in the company before you start \u201cchanging\u201d it.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tFeeling entitled
\nYour helicopter parents might have raised you this way and the college or university you attended may have gone out of their way to make you feel special (You Really were special to them. You paid them more than $33,000 a year in private school tuition, almost $10,000 a year in tuition for an in-state public college or university and almost $25,000 for out-of-state tuition at a public college. And these figures do not include room, board and other kinds of fees. Pay me that kind of money over six years, which is how long the average college graduate goes to school and I\u2019ll be more than happy to tell you that you are special.)<\/p>\n
To most companies that are going to interview you and hire you, you aren\u2019t special until you perform. You aren\u2019t entitled to a job, a paycheck or continued employment. You aren\u2019t entitled to a pay raise or promotion until you earn it. Working is a privilege, not a right. The mantra of these organizations is that, \u201cif you do your job, you get to keep it!\u201d
\nView work as something to be done between weekends. Approach interviewing and a new job like this and you\u2019ll get to have one permanent, long weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll market myself to the highest bidder\u201d.<\/em> And, parenthetically, \u201cI can leave in a heartbeat, you know!\u201d This is the height of solipsism and egocentricity and unless you are the center of the universe, which you are not or a draft pick in the NFL or NBA, in this job market you probably don\u2019t have another \u201cbidder.\u201d So, stop this silly business, take any reasonable job you can and work your ass off.<\/p>\n Some of you are just beginning your career. Some of you are in your late 30s and have learned all of these lessons which the marketplace has taught you. The longer you\u2019re in the workforce, the more you realize that all of these \u201cgenerational characteristics\u201d melt away and we all advance and decline in our job search and our professional life based on the same rules.<\/p>\n One last thought which only applies to the male millennial\u2019s\u2026 You\u2019d make a lot better impression when you interview if you shave. Just a thought!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m only addressing this generation because there are more of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n