Generations Blog

Is it me, or are there certain things that shouldn’t be done is certain places? I was in a public restroom the other day and overhead a cell-phone conversation between a young applicant (on my end) and an employer. The applicant appeared to be saying the right things. He spoke with enthuisasm and made his points clearly. Things seemed to be going very well.

Then he flushed the toliet, not just any toliet, but one of those water-saving commodes that goes WHOOSH when you Continue reading “Don’t Flush the Toliet While You’re Interviewing!”

On the front page of the Denver Post this morning is an article titled, “In falling economy, teen jobs get scarce.” In it, the writer reports on teens in the local area who are finding that they cannot waltz into any establisment and pick their schedule. The fact is, this has never been true.  But we have led them to believe that employers are dying for applicants. At least that’s what many in the media would have them believe.  The examples the writer used were all from teens who had Continue reading “Young Generation Alert: You Can’t Just Work Where You Want To”

One of the laments I hear from employers is about the thirty-something professional who completes management training, rotates thru all the learning opportunities and then proceeds to leave for greener pastures within months. As a result, the organization has spent tens-of-thousands of dollars, mostly for naught. When I ask why they think this is happening, most blame it on the perceived lack of upward mobility within the firm.  After all, these young professionals are typically afforded considerable access to those who will impact their future over time. Imagine looking around and realizing that your opportunities for promotion are not all that abundant. “What,” you might think, “will I do with all this training and development if there is no place to go?”

On top of this, there is the well-established belief among those in Generation X that a job is a contract. If the organziation trains them but then places them in a holding pattern, why wouldn’t they leave? This can be especially true if the recruiting function did a good job of selling the promotional opportunities within the firm when they were hired.

So how does an organization successfully retain those in whom it has placed so much investment? Here are five suggested steps to addressing the issue: Continue reading “Solutions to the “Thanks for the Training– I’m Off to a Better Job” Problem”

Isn’t it ironic that we spend ten times as many hours deciding which $5000 piece of equipment to buy as we do hiring the $30,000-a-year person who will run it? As much as many elements of the selection process have changed as new generations have entered the marketplace, the interview seems to have remained the same. Yes, the questions have gotten better in some cases, but we still sit down across the table from the applicant Continue reading “A Better Solution to Sit-Down Screening”

Last week, I spent some time with Roger, the manager of a successful clothing store that targets teens. As you might imagine, most of his employees are 25 and younger. He has the remarkable distinction, however, of retaining his average associate for more than two years. This, in an industry that is known for losing its employees within four to five months.

I asked him, “What is your secret?”

“I guess it’s a lot of little things,” he said. “We’re flexible with hours. We pay a decent wage. We have fun, and I try to make the work meaningful.”

“What do you mean by meaningful?” I asked. Continue reading “A Millennial Retention Secret”