I’ve been hearing for years about ‘Generation Y’, mostly from professionals who are members of ‘Generation X’, moaning and whining about the ‘poor work ethic’, the demands for ‘work life balance’ and the expectations regarding quick promotions (amongst other quirks) of their staff or team members who are in the ‘younger than 30’ age bracket.
I must admit that I’ve wondered whether this ethos was a combination of urban legend and work-place myth….generalisations that make it easy to explain why younger professionals see the world differently from the oldies.
But recently, our global partners, IRC Global Executive Search Partners, put out a piece of research that pretty much confirms the generation gap, and how this manifests at work.
I was still a bit sceptical….and then this week I experienced the ‘multi-generational workplace’ first hand….a couple of days ago, I received feedback from a client on his interviews with a group of 6 shortlisted candidates. What was interesting about this group of interviewees was that their ages ranged from late 20’s to late 40’s – which his is pretty unusual; mostly, candidates shortlisted for a role will have a similar number of years of work experience and will therefore likely be within an age range of no more than 5 to 7 years among them.
What was even more interesting was that the younger candidates without fail were far less prepared for the interview than the more senior individuals. They had done much less research on the organisation, the role, or the interviewer, and their attitude seemed to be ‘so what can you do for me?’.
Now one could put this down to the fact that the more mature candidates are….more mature! They have more experience….with everything, including job interviews, and they are more knowledgeable about business because they have been around longer. Which is a valid argument, and one which would then explain the ‘differences’ in approach and style as an issue of maturity and experience.
The bit that can’t get explained away, though, is the attitude of expectation, the approach of the Gen Y-ers that says ‘what can you and your job do for me and my career?’
Being a Gen X-er myself, it’s hard to remain objective about this…..at best, I can try to reserve judgement (which is HARD). At worst, I can stand on my soapbox that has a big black X emblazoned on it and shout ‘Get your act together and prepare better, be respectful, pay your dues, work hard and sacrifice a bit for the rewards up ahead’!!!
Did I just say that????
