My Gen Y Life

Last week I saw perhaps the most brilliant interviewing technique and wondered "why didn’t I think of that myself?" I was asked to be one of the interviewers for an opening on my team and was blown away by how well this one candidate did across the board despite being the underdog on paper.

Don’t stress out. "How do you deal with stress?" is one of the top ten interview questions (in some form or another). It’s because no one wants to work with someone who is going to freak out easily. This particular candidate could have easily been stressed out from being at the wrong building and then the wrong conference room (on accident because of last-minute changes on our part) making him 20 minutes late to the interview, but instead he just smiled and said with a chuckle how great of a start it was for the day.

Do show your passion. Despite my frustration with the beginning chaos I couldn’t help but like the guy. His passion and enthusiasm were infectious. I found myself trying to think of how his ideas could work for our team and picturing him sitting in the empty cube across from me. Providing examples of your innovation and strategic thinking do wonders for your interview.

Don’t be perfect. Nobody’s perfect right? If you have the perfect answers and ask the perfect questions and appear to always be successful the interviewers are not going to believe you, even if they smile and nod. Instead, be honest about a time when you were unsuccessful and how you dealt with it. Show your tenacity by examples of how you challenged a manager or project team on something that you knew wasn’t right, even if your idea didn’t win out in the end. Be willing to work in an imperfect workplace and be adaptable to change.

Do brag about how much you’ll be missed. Demonstrate how valuable you are to your company in a casual way. This candidate was the only one who told us how disappointed his teammates said they would be if he left – and how they all agreed to take the others with them if one ever left. I came in to the interview wanting him to prove to me what he could do for our company and left feeling the exact opposite.

Don’t send a thank-you note right away. Don’t skip this vital step, but do wait at least 2-3 days. E-mailing the people who interviewed you the very next day may seem a little too eager. Being seen as overbearing and borderline desperate is that last thing you want. Showing them that you’re in no hurry can be your best negotiating tool (even if you are itching at your heels to leave).

The candidate’s technique to make me feel like we were recruiting HIM instead of him looking for a job with us was exactly how it should be. The hiring process is a two-way evaluation and I think we early careerists sometimes forget that.

Millennials are a new breed of consumers who are well connected – to their families, friends, and online "communities". They spend time with the people that matter to them, whether virtually, on the phone, or in person. These connections are influential to Millennials at work, home, and in the consumer world.

TV is no longer king
A Forrester.com study on next generation consumer behavior shows that Gen Yers sacrifice watching television to use the internet and other media such as, cell phones, watching DVDs, and playing video games, compared to Gen X and Boomers. I personally find myself jumping for the internet first when I get home from work even though I’ve been staring at a computer screen all day (which probably attributes to my eye fatigue!). If I do turn on the TV it’s usually for background noise or to watch my favorite reality show.

'Friends' opinions matter more
Millennials have so many media messages being thrown at us that the only sane thing to do is to turn to other people like us. Smart retailers like Amazon.com and Target allow shoppers to post reviews of the products online and with mitigation I usually go for the item that got the best reviews. The same goes with shopping for cars or finding a place to stay for a trip. When my husband and I took a trek to Europe for two weeks of backpacking we went to hostelworld.com and narrowed our search for hostels and B&Bs to only include user ratings of 80% or higher. On eBay users get to know sellers not by the traditional name, phone number, and address, but by their ‘personality’ and ratings from other buyers.

Don't underestimate social networking
Getting connected with this generation is less push and more pull. No longer does one-way communication work. Instead you have to tell us "what’s in it for me?", and then we might include you in our comparison process. The result if you can connect with our generation is a very loyal and influential network. Something not to be underestimated.

The Employee Evolution post "Unpaid Internships are a Waste" says:

"Everyone knows you do next to nothing at most unpaid internships. College students should all do themselves a favor and refuse to accept these unpaid resume builders. Know that in the grand scheme of things, selling yourself and building a strong work ethic will take you much further than a stupid internship on a resume." -Ryan Healy

Some might call me an “internship whore” but during college I completed six internships: four unpaid (two of which I received college credit) and two paid internships. The very last one paid well and also got me a job in the company. Some companies foster their internship programs and some don’t, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get something out of it. I really disliked my first internship because it wasn’t what I expected to do and I didn’t take advantage enough of the opportunity while I was there. Actually most of these internships helped me to realize that they weren't the companies and/or fields of work that I wanted to get into, which is valuable in itself. My last one I loved, and not just because it was paid.

Here are five ways to make your internship worth it:

• In the interview, ask detailed questions about what types of tasks you may be doing. Don’t just go for the internship because it would look good on your resume. For example, if you detest telemarketing then make sure that “calling prospects” is not part of the internship or you’ll regret it.
• Write an internship journal. This might sound trivial but it really makes a difference. I still look back on mine to remember my impressions of people or things that I encounter today. Besides, you’ll probably have at least 15 minutes a day to do nothing and your supervisor will be impressed that you’re writing a journal.
• Read industry news and career books. Your supervisor will probably be more than happy to hand over some newspapers, industry journals, books, and better yet Web sites that they reference on a regular basis. This will give you the advantage in understanding what’s going on at work.
• Network, network, network. You want to be the Chief Marketing Officer or the Vice President of [insert department here]? Ask your supervisor to set up a casual information interview with them. If they decline, try the next in line. You would be surprised at how willing people are to talk to interns about what makes them successful.
• Learn everything you can about the company. If you chose to intern there, you likely want to work there. Surf the intranet to learn more about the company and the various departments. Ask people questions. Attend annual meetings, department meetings, and other events.

To sum it up – be proactive. Whether internships are paid or not, it’s really the intern’s responsibility to make the most of it, not the company’s. Too many of my peers have come into internships thinking that the company will cater to them and guide them, but that’s rarely true. Tell your supervisor what your interests are and he or she will likely try to steer your tasks in that directions or at least hook you up with someone who does them. Don’t be the intern that takes advantage of “doing nothing” either – unless you’re a good brown-noser to the big boss, you likely won’t get called back for a job.