Why millennials can't land jobs

[BikeJunkie]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101531415

Interesting read; I've seen weird stuff from all ages, but interviewing millennials has been the most challenging.

Casual Clothes

Me: "Do you usually go to interviews in jeans and a polo shirt?"
Best answer: "When it's a casual work environment I do."
Me: "But you don't work here."
Best answer: "Not yet..."
Other interviewer: "Probably not ever."

I laughed pretty hard at my colleague's retort. That was the end of that.

Late without any explanation or apology

I actually only had this happen once. About half way through the interview, I asked the candidate why she was so late:

Me: "I'm sorry, I have to bring this up... you were almost 30 minutes late to this interview."
Them: "I work at [company in building next door]."
Me: "Okay... doesn't really answer the question though."
Them: "I had some things to take care of."
Me: "... and?"
Them: [silence]
Colleague (same guy as before): "And you're really sorry for making a poor first impression?"
Them: "Oh yeah sorry about that."

We did the whole interview. At the end she asked if she got the job. Colleague said "we'll call you later today and let you know." At first I was a little put off by this because we don't do that and this was my candidate, not his. But it hit me a few seconds later what just happened :twisted:

No printed copies of resume

Normally this wouldn't be a cardinal sin. I still think it's stupid and demonstrates a lack of preparation, but it's not a deal killer if you're good. But this assclown's response did him in:

Me: "May I have a copy of your resume?"
Them: "Don't you have it already? You guys called me here, remember?"
Me: "Do you remember your way out?"
Them: "Are you serious?"
Me: "Quite."

No padfolio/pen

If you're being interviewed for anything, you ought to be prepared to take notes, jot down questions, etc. But if you're interviewing for a developer position, wouldn't you expect to need to jot down some pseudocode for a test problem? It amazes me how many people showed up with nothing to write on or with. No fun stories from this one, though.

I was usually a pretty easy going interviewer. I don't like making people uncomfortable. I interviewed developers, so I'm not interested in how well you can sweat through stupid off-the-wall questions or how well you hold up under hard questioning against a 10 person panel. I just want to know if you can solve problems without getting "creative," know the tools available to you to solve those problems, are resourceful, and will fit well with the group. But if you're a cocky, lippy, disheveled, entitled twit, we'll turn on you hard.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Almost forgot: I did have someone show up with her father. He wanted to come back to the interview with her.

Him: "I need to be in the room with her."
Me: "Absolutely not."
Him: "Why not? What do you intend to do back there."
Me: "Interview her, of course. But since you won't be coming to work with her, we'd like to see how she does on her own"

He dropped the issue and she actually did a fine job. Since it was a case of a helicopter parent and not a needy/clingy young adult, we hired her.

 

[Cattlegod]

Almost forgot: I did have someone show up with her father. He wanted to come back to the interview with her.

Him: "I need to be in the room with her."
Me: "Absolutely not."
Him: "Why not? What do you intend to do back there."
Me: "Interview her, of course. But since you won't be coming to work with her, we'd like to see how she does on her own"

He dropped the issue and she actually did a fine job. Since it was a case of a helicopter parent and not a needy/clingy young adult, we hired her.

lmao!! was this a college grad?

 

[BikeJunkie]

lmao!! was this a college grad?

No, that's what was so surprising. She was young - probably mid twenties - but she had several jobs before coming to us (as a general rule, we didn't hire directly out of college unless they were interns first). I quit shortly after this happened, but I didn't ever see him with her again.

 

[Mixolydian]

It's sad how few people, young and old, have any kind of work ethic these days.

 

[unokitty]

Almost forgot: I did have someone show up with her father. He wanted to come back to the interview with her.

Him: "I need to be in the room with her."
Me: "Absolutely not."
Him: "Why not? What do you intend to do back there."
Me: "Interview her, of course. But since you won't be coming to work with her, we'd like to see how she does on her own"

He dropped the issue and she actually did a fine job. Since it was a case of a helicopter parent and not a needy/clingy young adult, we hired her.

I hope that you at least gave them a trophy for participating in your interview.

Uno

 

[BikeJunkie]

I hope that you at least gave them a trophy for participating in your interview.

Uno

If by "trophy" you mean "job," yes. She got a trophy... ??

 

[Mai72]

I blame it on a couple of reasons.

1. Parents over coddled and over protected their children. The helicopter mom. Have you had mothers come in and sit with their child during the interview yet?

2. Lack of real life socializing. Facebook and Twitter do not count. It's amazing that so many young people think Facebook is actually socializing. When they have real face to face interviews they fail miserably.

3. They do not want to pay their dues. They want to immediately make $50k a year and have an office window. Life doesn't work that way, unless your daddy owns the company. I was watching a news show a few weeks ago, and the newscaster discussed how a Millennial left work because she was told to get coffee for her boss. She eventually blew a great chance to learn the ins and outs of working at a major news show because of her pride. I don't care what your mommy told you. You are not special. Get over it.

Older generations are going to bitch and complain about younger generations. Maybe we have gotten softer over the last 30 years. I think that's it. When you live comfortably, have food, and mommy takes care of everything else it's very hard to keep motivated. They need to buckle down and make the sacrifices that previous generations have made in the past.

Let's talk about sacrificing. People always talk about how they want to be successful. How are you going to do that when you spend your leisure time playing video games. My parents owned two restaurants. They didn't have time to play video games. My dad was working 12-14 hour days. He'd wake up in the morning at 5am, travel to the restaurant, prep the food and clean the floors. After that he went down to the beach and sold ice cream until 6pm. I don't see too many Millennials making the sacrifice needed to succeed. Instead they would rather bitch and complain. My mother was reluctant to hire young people because of their work ethic. Most of her help came from Romania. They would put in 10 hours a day, and ask for more.

I know I'm making a generalized statement. There are Millennials who work hard.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

As a gainfully employed millennial, I have to ask:

Aren't these people just your everyday idiot? I mean, except for issues born of inexperience, what does their age really indicate?

Because I've put in the time, heard the stories, and I'm pretty sure most of the boomers were feckless twits in their 20s too.

 

[CPA]

They strangest thing that happened on one of my interviews was an interviewee who brought financial reports and statements (internal not externally reported statements) to an interview I had. Working in a financial department, that didn't make a good impression. Wonder who else he was showing this private information to.

My wife works in retail and has story after story about helicopter parents. It happens most when someone calls in sick. Let me rephrase that, when an employee's parent calls the employee in sick. My wife usually asks for the employee to get on the phone or call in sick. If the parent says no, then my wife tells them to give the employee a message: "then let so and so know she/he doesn't have to come back to work again".

 

[Sonikku]

Fucking Millennials. Their greed and sense of entitlement has left their country and economy completely in the crapper. They just don't get it like the baby boomers did.

 

[ImpulsE69]

LOL. This sounds like what my wife deals with all the time in her interviews. People coming with holes in their jeans, coming late, etc etc. The worst though are the people she DOES hire, and basically once they get the job, they just never want to work. Always calling in for the most absurd reasons.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Aren't these people just your everyday idiot?

I've wondered that, myself... but when I think back to when I got my start, I was prim and proper as can be, as were my similarly-aged peers. I think I conducted my first interview at around 25, and I never saw that stuff. I didn't start seeing this until just a few years ago, and it was like someone flipped a switch.

That's not to say there were never the occasional gen-X'er who didn't make the same mistakes, but the sheer quantities in which I see these things happen makes me wonder if there's something more significant at work than just viewing our pasts with rose-colored glasses. Frankly, I think it all boils down to shitty parenting: hand-holding helicopter parents who want to be their kids' friend.

I mean, except for issues born of inexperience, what does their age really indicate?

Their age alone indicates nothing, really. Trust me, if I'm seeking out a junior developer, I REALLY want a young wet-behind-the-ears type who's eager and malleable. I don't want to spend $70k on a mid-level person who's already got their own habits and such. My budget probably only allows for a newbie, and I'm prepared to teach... so it's not like I'm trying to avoid a youngin' in that scenario. I just can't have a total clown for whom I'm responsible.

 

[Paratus]

I blame it on a couple of reasons.

1. Parents over coddled and over protected their children. The helicopter mom.
Have you had mothers come in and sit with their child during the interview yet?

2. Lack of real life socializing. Facebook and Twitter do not count. It's amazing that so many young people think Facebook is actually socializing. When they have real face to face interviews they fail miserably.

3. They do not want to pay their dues. They want to immediately make $50k a year and have an office window. Life doesn't work that way, unless your daddy owns the company. I was watching a news show a few weeks ago, and the newscaster discussed how a Millennial left work because she was told to get coffee for her boss. She eventually blew a great chance to learn the ins and outs of working at a major news show because of her pride. I don't care what your mommy told you. You are not special. Get over it.

Older generations are going to bitch and complain about younger generations. It's inevitable. But I really think Millennials have a lot of issues that the other generations didn't have. They are facing globalization, a bad job market, and automation.

They need to buckle down and make the sacrifices that previous generations have made in the past.

Let's talk about sacrificing. People always talk how they want to be successful. How are you going to do that when you spend your leisure time playing video games. My parents owned two restaurants. They didn't have time to play video games. My dad was working 12-14 hour days. He'd wake up in the morning at 5am, travel to the restaurant, prep the food and clean the floors. After that he went down to the beach and sold ice cream until 6pm. I don't see too many Millennials making the sacrifice needed to succeed. Instead they would rather bitch and complain.

I know I'm making a generalized statement. There are Millennials who work hard.

Um, expecting to make 50K or more coming out of college is completely reasonable depending on your degree.

Any engineering job should pay at least that much these days.

 

[BikeJunkie]

They strangest thing that happened on one of my interviews was an interviewee who brought financial reports and statements (internal not externally reported statements) to an interview I had. Working in a financial department, that didn't make a good impression. Wonder who else he was showing this private information to.

Been there! I was consulting for a regional bank and they needed help ramping up their staff, so I was tapped to build a team. I had a guy show up with actual CODE he (allegedly) wrote at the last bank he worked for. That alone isn't a total sin, as it really depends on what the code contains. But this contained connections to other systems, hardcoded usernames (but config-based passwords, at least), etc. It was BAD.

 

[Mai72]

As a gainfully employed millennial, I have to ask:

Aren't these people just your everyday idiot? I mean, except for issues born of inexperience, what does their age really indicate?

Because I've put in the time, heard the stories, and I'm pretty sure most of the boomers were feckless twits in their 20s too.

As others have said a lot of the issues we see today with Millennials comes down to bad and over protecting parents. If you were to compare grade school in 1950 to grade school today you would have your answer.

 

[Rakehellion]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101531415

Interesting read; I've seen weird stuff from all ages, but interviewing millennials has been the most challenging.

Casual Clothes

Me: "Do you usually go to interviews in jeans and a polo shirt?"
Best answer: "When it's a casual work environment I do."
Me: "But you don't work here."
Best answer: "Not yet..."
Other interviewer: "Probably not ever."

I laughed pretty hard at my colleague's retort. That was the end of that.

Late without any explanation or apology

I actually only had this happen once. About half way through the interview, I asked the candidate why she was so late:

Me: "I'm sorry, I have to bring this up... you were almost 30 minutes late to this interview."
Them: "I work at [company in building next door]."
Me: "Okay... doesn't really answer the question though."
Them: "I had some things to take care of."
Me: "... and?"
Them: [silence]
Colleague (same guy as before): "And you're really sorry for making a poor first impression?"
Them: "Oh yeah sorry about that."

We did the whole interview. At the end she asked if she got the job. Colleague said "we'll call you later today and let you know." At first I was a little put off by this because we don't do that and this was my candidate, not his. But it hit me a few seconds later what just happened :twisted:

No printed copies of resume

Normally this wouldn't be a cardinal sin. I still think it's stupid and demonstrates a lack of preparation, but it's not a deal killer if you're good. But this assclown's response did him in:

Me: "May I have a copy of your resume?"
Them: "Don't you have it already? You guys called me here, remember?"
Me: "Do you remember your way out?"
Them: "Are you serious?"
Me: "Quite."

No padfolio/pen

If you're being interviewed for anything, you ought to be prepared to take notes, jot down questions, etc. But if you're interviewing for a developer position, wouldn't you expect to need to jot down some pseudocode for a test problem? It amazes me how many people showed up with nothing to write on or with. No fun stories from this one, though.

I was usually a pretty easy going interviewer. I don't like making people uncomfortable. I interviewed developers, so I'm not interested in how well you can sweat through stupid off-the-wall questions or how well you hold up under hard questioning against a 10 person panel. I just want to know if you can solve problems without getting "creative," know the tools available to you to solve those problems, are resourceful, and will fit well with the group. But if you're a cocky, lippy, disheveled, entitled twit, we'll turn on you hard.

These seem to be issues with what they said, rather than what they did.

 

[BikeJunkie]

These seem to be issues with what they said, rather than what they did.

It seems that way to you because you're a certifiable moron.

 

[SP33Demon]

Almost forgot: I did have someone show up with her father. He wanted to come back to the interview with her.

Him: "I need to be in the room with her."
Me: "Absolutely not."
Him: "Why not? What do you intend to do back there."
Me: "Interview her, of course. But since you won't be coming to work with her, we'd like to see how she does on her own"

He dropped the issue and she actually did a fine job. Since it was a case of a helicopter parent and not a needy/clingy young adult, we hired her.

hahahaha wtf. That is comedy gold. smh at this current generation of babied pussy millenials trying to get a job.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Yep! Can't say I've had parents call in on behalf of their kids though... I think that's even worse.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

hahahaha wtf. That is comedy gold. smh at this current generation of babied pussy millenials trying to get a job.

That anecdote says a lot more about the dad than the daughter. But go ahead and shake your head at millenials.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yep! Can't say I've had parents call in on behalf of their kids though... I think that's even worse.

I would make an exception for minors working in fast food and stuff, probably. Don't you kinda need a parent/guardian signature?

 

[BikeJunkie]

That anecdote says a lot more about the dad than the daughter. But go ahead and shake your head at millenials.

Au contraire: it's that sort of treatment by parents that produced a generation of people that can't think for themselves or identify their own unprofessional tendencies.

There's no need to take this personally; if you don't fit the bill, send mom and dad an email thanking them for bucking the trend :thumbsup:

 

[BikeJunkie]

I would make an exception for minors working in fast food and stuff, probably. Don't you kinda need a parent/guardian signature?

Yes, but clearly that's not what we're talking about. That said, I've been working since I was 14, and not once did my parents ever accompany me to work or to an interview.

 

[purbeast0]

the most recent one we had at my job for a developer position was someone who said they were proficient in javascript. my coworker asked the guy to white board a small problem and the guy couldn't even get the syntax for a for loop correct. and not only could he not get it correct, when he was asked to explain some of the syntax and how the variable defined in the for loop was initialized, he couldn't do it.

needless to say, the interview was cut short. it only lasted 30 minutes instead of the planned 2 hours.