GenYNetworking.com

What Did You Just Ask? Interviewing Gen Y

So you’ve connected to Gen Y online, tweeted about your job opportunities and decided on a few possible candidates. Now you’re faced with conducting the interview and understanding the differences between generations — it seems like a daunting task.

We’ve discussed the different approach that Gen Y’ers take when approaching the job search. The same goes for the interview process as well. For example, instead of the typical fact-finding mission to determine long-term future goals of the employee, Gen Y is more focused on the short-term. In William Pisano’s article for ERE.net, he highlighted many differences between Millennials and older generations when communicating in a job interview. His suggestions were simple:

• Rephrase the common interview questions in a way that allows you to see the employee’s short-term goals or career vision (i.e., “After you’re hired, how will you advance from this position to the one just above it? More specifically, what qualities and actions do you believe are necessary to continue moving up in this organization?”).
• Include more personal questions to determine their communication style (i.e., “How do you spend your free time? (Do you prefer doing activities solo, with friends, or in groups?”).
• Don’t shy away from asking how they find satisfaction in their career (i.e., “Describe your ideal feedback scenario. What format? How often do you want to receive it? Who should provide it?”).

After discussing the applicant’s strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to let them ask the questions. When I’ve interviewed potential colleagues, this is the point of the conversation where I generally relax and breathe a sigh of relief because my work may seem to be finished. However, as Diane Spiegel pointed out in her ERE.net article, this shouldn’t necessarily be the case.

As we would expect, Gen Y can come up with some very creative responses to the way they approach work – and this fact can easily be applied to their interview. Spiegel posted a list of seven of the most random questions that Gen Y have asked on interviews. Here are a few of them:

• “How many hours per day am I expected to work?”
• “What does the company do to make work fun?”
• “Who will be my mentor and coach while I learn the new job?”

While these questions, at face value, seem to be a bit shocking, Spiegel states that Millennials see the employer/employee relationship in a different way than we might expect. I agree with her belief that we need to understand where Gen Y is coming from, and that knowledge can help us connect with Gen Y in new ways. And, we won’t be surprised when they ask if they can use Facebook at work (which, I contend, is a really great idea!).