Freaky Friday: Seeing is Believing in Job Description

From News of the Wierd: Sight not Required: In July, St. Mary's Airport on the Isles of Scilly (off the southwest coast of England) posted a vacancy announcement for air traffic controller that added, helpfully, that applications were available in alternative languages, "in larger text (or) Braille." [The Herald (Plymouth), 7-10-08] Least Competent Multitaskers: A Dallas entrepreneur recently created a programmable device for those busy, busy parents who actually need to be reminded that they brought their tots with them in the car (lest their child become one of the several hot-car deaths a year in America). Provided that they're not too busy to set the system up, an alarm alerts them if they exit the car without the baby. Said one Texas woman interviewed by NBC News, "As a mom, you can get really distracted." [WOAI-TV-NBC, 7-30-08] Club College: High Point University (just south of Greensboro, N.C.) is not quite Club Med ("Club Ed," it was called by the Chronicle of Higher Education) but provides free ice cream for students, a hot tub in the middle of campus, wake-up calls and a concierge service, all run by a campus "director of WOW," whose job it is to thrill the "clients" and attract new ones. This is the strategy of President Nido Qubein, a motivational speaker and "customer comes first" businessman, and so far, enrollment is way up (even at higher tuition), new construction is transforming the campus, and $100 million is in the bank. [Chronicle of Higher Education, 7-4-08] Challenging New Products: stilettos for toddlers (though with soft heels), from Bellevue, Wash., designer Britta Bacon, selling recently in Toronto for $39.95 (Cdn) a pair; and [The Star (Toronto), 6-13-08] a rotating ice cream cone on which the scoop gently revolves counter-clockwise, so that lazy people merely stick their tongues out and need not actively lick (sold by Kitchen Craft in the UK). [Daily Telegraph (London), 6-10-08] Please send BM your Freaky Friday entries to blawrence(at)jobfox(dot)com, or just comment here.

Wanted: New Work Rules for Gen Y Employees

By Rob McGovern, CEO of Jobfox

Companies must learn to hire, appreciate and motivate younger workers or they will perish.

Gen Y is the most educated and most technologically savvy generations ever. Yet, companies continue to have biases against younger workers. In a Jobfox poll of more than 200 recruiters, 63 percent rated Baby Boomers as "great" performers in their organizations. This compares to 58 percent who rated Gen X as great performers, 20 percent for Gen Y and 25 percent for our elder workers, the Traditionalists.

In short, companies don't think highly of Gen Y (or older workers). I think it's because companies don't understand them. But those that do will gain a competitive advantage. Just as there were workplace changes made to accommodate Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, I foresee major changes ahead as Gen Y grows in the workplace.

When I worked at IBM, for example, it was an incredibly formal culture. You were not allowed to take your jacket off in the building. My boss's name was "Mr." When I think back to that time, I often wonder: Was the real secret of Microsoft's success the fact that they allowed people to wear sneakers at work? That they created a place where Baby Boomer hippies could go work and be themselves without being stuffed suits?

Microsoft created a company that reflected the lifestyles of its people. As Gen Y begins to take up a greater percentage of jobs — they are about the same size as the Baby Boomer population — more workplace changes are ahead.

I recently interviewed hundreds of younger workers for my book, Bring Your "A" Game, and here's what I found out about Gen Y:

They crave stability.

The Gen Y world is full of instability. Ask them about the world and they talk about hurricanes, tsunamis, 9/ll, Code Orange Alerts, three wars and AIDS. They live in a world with a constant "News Alert" crawling at the bottom of their TV monitors. They watched their parents turn the word "downsized" into a verb.

Gen Y would like to think of a company as a refuge. If we can meet their other needs, which I will discuss next, I think we'll see tenure begin to rise again in the decades ahead.

They want balance.

Younger workers play for different rewards. With Baby Boomers, all you had to do was wave $10,000 more dollars and a promotion to Rochester in front of them and they were on their way. Gen Y doesn't want this.

I once had a young engineer working for me. I asked: "Dude, what are you playing for?"

His response: "I don't want a Lexus! My Dad worked his entire life for a stupid Lexus. I don't want that."

Gen Y, instead, wants a little balance to go with the American Dream. Give them flexible hours.

"Why can't I work 13 hours a day, three days a week? Why does it have to be your way?"

These guys just don't understand the rigidity in the world that the Baby Boomers have created.

They want to take charge.

Gen Y doesn't want to be junior anything. This is the generation that looked out the car window past the "Baby on Board" sign. This is a generation of helicopter parents who told them every day that they are "special and entitled to speak up to make something of themselves." This is a generation that believes everyone deserves a trophy, win or lose.

So, here comes big corporation. What do we do? We put them in a sea of look-alike cubicles and tell them to learn the ropes if they want to make something of themselves.

It's just not them. They want to make a contribution on the first day. As companies, we need to do a better job at talking to their sense of contribution. Gen Y will not be satisfied working inside the machine. We need to work with them to help them see how their actions are connected to organizational goals.

They don't want to wither.

Gen Y understands — better than any other generation — that everything goes obsolete. Quickly.

Everything they buy, they throw away in six months. The iPhone, the cell phone, the PS3, the Xbox.

They also know that their skills are on the same obsolescence curve. They know they have to remain on the cutting edge.

Today's companies must do a better job at letting workers move around so they can learn new things. Otherwise, they will leave.

Who can blame them?

Rob McGovern, CEO of Jobfox, is a regular BetterMondays contributor.  He is also the author of "Bring Your 'A' Game: The 10 Career Secrets of a High Achiever."

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Firm Handshakes Help Job Candidates Land Jobs

By Barry Lawrence

The handshake may be more than just a custom when it comes to landing a new job.

According to new research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology — the first empirical study of its kind —  handshakes matter in employment interviews. More than you might think.

As hypothesized, according to the research report, Exploring the Handshake in Employment Interviews:

"[I]ndividuals who follow common prescriptions for shaking hands, such as having a firm grip and looking the other person in the eye, receive higher ratings of employment suitability from interviews."

Men rated higher than women in their adeptness at handshaking. But women also excel in other nonverbal actions — facial expressions and good posture, for example — that help them overcome the effects of a weak handshake. When women do present firm handshakes, they received higher suitability scores than men with equally firm handshakes, according to the research that conducted mock job interviews and rated handshakes and interview scores of 98 undergraduate students.

"The fact that an interviewer is less likely to receive a firm handshake from a woman than a man makes handshake firmness more salient to the interviewer when he or she evaluates women and thereby increases the potential benefit of a strong and complete grip for women."

A good handshake is more than a bias, the researchers argued. A good handshake seems to be linked to personality traits, such as extraversion, that are communicated and equate to job performance.

"More extroverted interviewees present a firmer handshake and they likely engage in other positive behaviors that reflect their ability to perform work successfully," the report stated.

Other studies have also linked other nonverbal interview behaviors as having influences on job interview reactions. Other than handshakes, other important cues include eye contact, smiling, posture, interpersonal distance and body orientation. (See BM's Tips for Good Job Interview Chemistry.)

Via the collective wisdom of Wikipedia, here are some additional handshake tips:

♦ Generally it is considered inappropriate, if not downright insulting, to reject a handshake without good reason (such as an injured right hand).

♦ In some cultures people shake both hands, but in most cultures people shake the right hand.

♦ In some religions, such as Islam and Orthodox Judaism (according to some opinions), prohibitions against physical contact between members of opposite sexes precludes shaking hands.

Barry Lawrence is the community advocate for BetterMondays. He is also a career and public relations evangelist at Jobfox.

 

Research Reference:

 

Stewart, G., Dustin, S. & Barrick, M. (2008). Exploring the Handshake in Employment Interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 93, No. 5, 1139-1146.

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Freaky Friday: Are Indie Music Fans Bad Workers?

By Barry Lawrence

I once heard someone say that your iPod is a window into your soul. Lo and behold, new research finds that personality traits may indeed be affiliated with fans of various music types. Will recruiters now be asking: "What's currently playing on your iPod?"

Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, polled more than 36,000 people worldwide and found links between personalities and music preferences.

In a Wired Blog Network post, researchers said that listeners with low self-esteem like rock, while fans of blues, jazz, classical, rap, opera, reggae, Top 40 and soul think more highly of themselves.

Does this explain why elevator music is so sappy? (Footnote: In my heyday, I once heard one of my favorite Cure songs set to elevator music and I new my time was up. "What's next," I thought, "Courtney Love?" Actually, I think I heard one of her tunes set to elevator music, now that I think about it.)

Here's the rundown:

♦ BLUES: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease. ♦ JAZZ: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing and at ease. ♦ CLASSICAL: High self-esteem, creative, introvert and at ease. ♦ RAP: High self-esteem, outgoing. ♦ OPERA: High self-esteem, creative, gentle. ♦ COUNTRY: Hardworking, outgoing. ♦ REGGAE: High self-esteem, creative, not hard working, outgoing, gentle and at ease. ♦ DANCE: Creative, outgoing. ♦ INDIE: Low self-esteem, creative, not hard working, not gentle. ♦ BOLLYWOOD: Creative, outgoing. ♦ ROCK/HEAVY METAL: Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease. ♦ POP: High self-esteem, not creative, hardworking, outgoing, gentle, not at ease. ♦ SOUL: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle, at ease.

Conclusion: Load up your Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson tunes at work. Save Death on Mars for rainy days alone.

I am going to stop blogging now so I can go home and shoot my Nano.

Barry Lawrence is the community advocate for BetterMondays. He is also a career and public relations evangelist at Jobfox.

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Jen Says . . . Hire us "because" we're Different

By Jennifer Brown

As a member of Gen Y, let me be the first to admit that we eat, breathe and dream about being socially connected and online.

"Check Internet connection" is the most life-altering phrase in any Gen Y's day.

We are the cutting edge and we don't apologize for it.

So, to all you recruiters: "Hire us because we are different!"

Misconceptions about Gen Y abound. I find offense that — out of all the words in the English language — Gen Y has been coined as "slackers." Look it up on dictionary.com. A slacker is a person who evades his or her duty or work. Speaking for myself and my younger colleagues, we have as much work ethic as our older peers. The difference? We simply view and achieve work results differently.

Rob McGovern's recent speech about recruiting and retaining younger workers was open-minded and one of the most inspiring things I've heard as a 20-something professional. McGovern has a good grasp on the true essence of who we are and what we're looking for — at work and in life. It is refreshing to hear someone embrace Gen Y. After all, we are the future of the workforce.

Here's what we want from work:

Stability. Like most educated people, I was taught that survivability actually increases when people shed their outdated nomadic ways. Gen Y does not want to move from job to job. We thrive on stability. But, like other workers, we have to play the cards we are dealt and that, often, means moving to another job.

Not just money. We believe that money is not the only reason to work. Happiness is also important and Gen Y strives to strike a balance between work and play. Flexible hours, as a result, are important to younger workers. We just don't understand the need for regimented schedules to do great work. After all, some of the best ideas happen on the fly.

Contribution. As Rob noted, Gen Y was raised by parents who told us constantly that we are special and we should never settle for anything less. My generation does not want to be stuck in work roles that do not challenge. We are idealistic, perhaps, but we want to give real input and make meaningful contributions to the well-being of companies. Is that so bad?

Experimentation. When it comes to technology, we are superior. While Baby Boomers are afraid they'll break their computers, we were taught to get our hands dirty and push technology to its limits. Give me a gadget and it's trial and error all the way. No need to waste time reading instructions. If I make a mistake, I simply backtrack and try something new. We've discovered that things are more user friendly when you actually experience using them.

These are some of the things that Gen Y wants from companies. Give us a longer leash. Let us experiment so that we can embody the ideals of companies as our own.

The companies that do, I believe, will be the organizations that have the best and brightest futures.

Jennifer Brown is a voice of Gen Y and a career advocate at Jobfox.

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Recruit and Retain "Slackers"

By Barry Lawrence

Older workers, like me, sometimes make fun of younger workers. We've even been know to refer to our Gen X and Gen Y friends as "slackers." But there's more to younger workers than meets the eye, according to Jobfox CEO Rob McGovern, who challenged older recruiters to rethink their hiring and retention strategies to better meet the needs of a young generation of workers.

Rob was a featured speaker at the 2008 Onrec Global Online Recruitment Conference and Expo held in Chicago, September 9-10, 2008.

View McGovern's slide highlights (PDF).

McGovern called recruiting one of the world's hardest jobs and pointed out that recruiting will only get tougher in the decades ahead.

Why?

Baby Boomers are retiring, he said, leaving a talent gap of millions of professionals. While companies have long had roughly 68 million Baby Boomers to choose from, the population of Gen Xers provides 13 million fewer people. Gen Y will eventually come to the rescue, with a population that nearly equal in size to the Baby Boomers. But with younger workers, recruiters must adopt different reward systems and companies must learn new management styles.

Once recruiters get good people on board, the job is only half done. According to U.S. Labor Department estimates, today's college graduate will have 10 to 14 jobs by age 38.

"Young workers bring new challenges, but they are also the most educated, contribution-oriented and technologically savvy generation of workers the world has ever seen," McGovern told BM. "Just as companies such as Microsoft changed the world of work to accommodate Baby Boomers, the successful companies of the future will learn how to get the most out of Gen X and Gen Y."

One of the biggest challenges, McGovern noted, is that companies have yet to embrace the work styles of the youngest professionals. Or the oldest, for that matter. For example, a recent Jobfox poll of more than 200 recruiters asked: "In general, how do you rate the work performance of Traditionalists, Baby Boomers Gen X and Gen Y?" While 63 percent of recruiters said the work performance of Baby Boomers was "great" and 58 percent said the work performance of Gen X was "great," they were more reluctant to award Traditionalists and Gen Y with high marks. Only one-fourth of recruiters said that the work performance of Traditionalists was "great" and only 20 percent said the work performance of Gen Y was "great."

"In short, companies think that younger workers are not so good," McGovern said. "But I think it's because we don't understand them. They're different, but they're going to do some great things."

McGovern urged recruiters to appeal to younger workers by providing them with a greater sense of contribution, creating environments of greater stability and allowing them to make mistakes. In the days ahead, BetterMondays will spend more time exploring the so-called "slackers" and how companies can better motivate a new generation of workers. BM also looks forward to your opinions on this topic.

Next up: Rob McGovern's advice on how to make a company more "slacker-friendly."

Barry Lawrence is the community advocate for BetterMondays. He is also a career and public relations evangelist at Jobfox.

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