Why millennials can't land jobs

[Mixolydian]

Ah, it's time for another thread shitting on millennials, I see.

Don't worry - the baby boomers will all be in diapers soon.

 

[MongGrel]

I resemble that statement, and I'm not going anywhere soon

 

[78787878]

Couldn't put it better myself. OP sounds anal-retentive and I would prefer not to work with someone with such strict, narrow-minded, and old fashioned ideals.

morons

assholes.

than the second rate criminal organizations ... works for.

moron

brain dead

thinks he's intelligent

Because his life sucks and he's just another weak worker bee in a fucked up system.

fat ass

your retarded wife happy so she'll give you an annual blowjob

Anandtech admins

I won't be back to check. Okay.

mentally ill morons hanging out in the off topic sections.

Because that's just fucking stupid, and wreaks of jealously.
I left a little of his first and last post behind, in case someone was questioning where he went. -Admin DrPizza

 

[Fatdog]

I'm a toolbox.

Yep, we get it. Bye

 

[JManInPhoenix]

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.

:awe:

 

[PenguinPower]

The real reason a majority of millenials can't land jobs is because a majority of hiring managers are boomers or early born Xers.

 

[bradly1101]

The problem I have is while I fully understand multitasking is less productive, I still must juggling between a few ongoing jobs to show progress on each, .

Having to focus on many things is very different than attempting true multitasking. It's not that it's less productive, it's really impossible.

Attempting it is especially problematic when dealing with employers and clients. There's something viscerally offensive when someone doesn't have another's full a attention. After all you're giving them yours. It feels like a respect thing.

I'm sure your clients get everything they need when they need it, again that's different than attempting true multitasking. I think the word is misused and implies a power we don't possess. Our inventions can do it though, perhaps aspiring to it inspired us.

 

[Whisper]

Yep, we get it. Bye

:thumbsup:

I think in some ways, it's hard to divorce societal trends from the generation(s) currently exhibiting them, as I think some of these things are due more to cyclical workplace/employment zeitgeists than they are specific to a group of people. That is, the trends would've possibly occurred regardless of the characteristics of the up-and-coming generation.

The best example I can currently think of: "work-life balance." I've heard the phrase so often that I pretty much cringe whenever someone mentions it. But I feel like its popularity is due as much to the current generation of experienced workers and the workplace as a whole (at least in the US) as it is to millennials.

 

[sze5003]

Out of college I got a development internship for 11 bucks an hour. You can find them, but you need connections. The professor that taught the coding classes also worked at payment processing company. That's where I interned so I was able get some decent experience. It's always good to make good connections and keep in touch because you never know when you may want to be doing something new.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

but the point still remains - dedication and hard work is not always rewarded with a secure future.

This. I only work extra if it is something new to me / challenging for my future benefit and generally try to drop busywork when I can.

Also, $50K out of college? I would not have been happy with < $90K, although granted, "straight out of college" for me was after the better part of a decade

 

[Harrod]

I work with 3 people that landed jobs where I work straight out of college, they habitually walk in late a few times a week. One day one of them asked if I ever heard anything negative about him, I told him besides being late a few times a week, not really. He said that he was pretty upset that someone would say that about him, and that he's only 10 minutes late each time.

Other things that I've noticed is stuff like seeing people leave in the middle of the day for obscure reasons.

This video reminds me alot of what it's like working with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz0o9clVQu8

 

[MongGrel]

morons

assholes.

than the second rate criminal organizations ... works for.

moron

brain dead

thinks he's intelligent

Because his life sucks and he's just another weak worker bee in a fucked up system.

fat ass

your retarded wife happy so she'll give you an annual blowjob

Anandtech admins

I won't be back to check. Okay.

mentally ill morons hanging out in the off topic sections.

Because that's just fucking stupid, and wreaks of jealously.
I left a little of his first and last post behind, in case someone was questioning where he went.

Personally Overclockers has gotten very anal lately and I even Folded there.

They seem pretty ban happy at the moment and Anal after I'd been a member 7 years and lurked long before that.

Received a 3 month ban there awhile back over trivial shit, GL there and I probably won't be going back.

 

[Ruptga]

The real reason a majority of millenials can't land jobs is because a majority of hiring managers are boomers or early born Xers.

I wouldn't call that "the real reason," but that sure isn't helping.

 

[MongGrel]

That would be like Baby Boomers griefing over the decisions of THE GREATEST GENERATION guys in hiring decisions, there are still some about.

And why I have not retired at the last Aerospace company I was at and making much less at the moment from the decisions of corporate Post Hole Diggers, (translation, PHD's) that went through the area at the time and weren't even aware of what many machines even did at the time while asking questions about the things used in the areas at the time and over may Senior Engineers objections.

I could name many of the ones that had a fit at the time, but I would not want to embarrass them on a forum, where some of the best ones in the world.

 

[amddude]

While I think that millenials do suck more in general (I'm 28), I notice that a lot of the salaries out there today are laughably low. You get what you pay for.

 

[PenguinPower]

I wouldn't call that "the real reason," but that sure isn't helping.

Except that it is. Boomers/XGeners can't look past the immature personality traits of the younger generation because they were brought up differently. It doesn't change the skillset that these Mils have, and a lot of companies that focus on questions/traits that the OP is talking about are going to wind up losing the war for talent.

I used to think the same as the OP until about 2 years ago, and I'm technically a Mil.

 

[nageov3t]

I've literally never showed up to a job interview with a pen/paper... do I ask questions? sure. but it's not like I'm being quizzed on it -- I'm asking to show my interest, not detailed, factual questions whose answers I'd need to document.

 

[sze5003]

I've literally never showed up to a job interview with a pen/paper... do I ask questions? sure. but it's not like I'm being quizzed on it -- I'm asking to show my interest, not detailed, factual questions whose answers I'd need to document.

A lot of interviews have white boards if they ask you to write some code or diagram something. A lot of times I've been asked to solve a problem without drawing or writing some code. I hate the crazy technical questions, a lot of times the company doesn't even do half the stuff they test you on.

 

[MongGrel]

A lot of interviews have white boards if they ask you to write some code or diagram something. A lot of times I've been asked to solve a problem without drawing or writing some code. I hate the crazy technical questions, a lot of times the company doesn't even do half the stuff they test you on.

I'm not a fan of the segment of the economy that labels itself as HR myself either these days.

Mostly people that do not produce anything that large corporations employ because the CEO's too busy raking in the cash, rather than bothering to do their own interviews these days.

 

[nageov3t]

I'm not a fan of the segment of the economy that labels itself as HR myself either these days.

Mostly people that do not produce anything that large corporations employ because the CEO's too busy raking in the cash, rather than bothering to do their own interviews these days.

is it normal for HR to do interviews?

at least in my company, HR only acts as the first line of filtering for resumes (after which they get passed on to the department heads, who selects the candidates he wants to interview and actually does the interviewing, along with perhaps a senior level guy from the department).

can't imagine the CEO would be involved either way, though, unless they were filling an extremely high-level position (CFO, CTO, head of Legal/HR, etc)

 

[sze5003]

is it normal for HR to do interviews?

at least in my company, HR only acts as the first line of filtering for resumes (after which they get passed on to the department heads, who selects the candidates he wants to interview and actually does the interviewing, along with perhaps a senior level guy from the department).

can't imagine the CEO would be involved either way, though, unless they were filling an extremely high-level position (CFO, CTO, head of Legal/HR, etc)

HR asks you basic question like are you good with teams, how do you describe yourself, where have you worked, what languages what projects, they just filter you so your not a psycho or socially inept.

 

[sandorski]

Most of these points seem to simply be Ignorance of what's to be expected from an Interview. Somehow they never learned these procedures. Whether that's a Parental or School failure I dunno, but either of those could remedy such problems.

 

[nageov3t]

honestly, if I were to attribute this semi-existent phenomena to anything, it might be the declining youth employment rate... instead of having their first job interviews at 16 in McDonalds, they're having them at 24 in corporate offices.

 

[OverVolt]

The real reason a majority of millenials can't land jobs is because a majority of hiring managers are boomers or early born Xers.

See? All these guys with 600 word posts missing the point while you and me are on the same page with a sentence. Lots of wisdom can go into just a single sentence. So many facets of how the world works underlie the quote, some probably disagree with some of the assumptions required, but they'd be wrong. Its really that simple.

 

[MongGrel]

HR asks you basic question like are you good with teams, how do you describe yourself, where have you worked, what languages what projects, they just filter you so your not a psycho or socially inept.

You've validated my point right there....