Anecdote – Comic Relief

It is Friday once again and time for another anecdote. In case you haven’t noticed, the phone screen is the source for most of these humorous encounters. I was recently conducting a phone screen for a high tech company with a complex sale. I asked the candidate what products and services he had sold and how this experience fit the requirements of the position listed in the ad. He replied with: That’s easy – my background fits very well. I’ve been a comic for over 10 years, an agent, sold cars at a dealership and car washes to gas stations. He never tied these experiences nor the skills he gained… Read More

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Generational Differences

Let’s keep the generations topic rolling this Friday. The workplace generations are transitioning as the boomers exit and the X’ers assume leadership roles. This topic is one we have written about here and here. This week I came across an article by Kevin Wheeler titled Generational Differences Make All the Difference. The article is an interesting read as he dives deep into the 3 major generations in the workplace today. I’ll give you a sample from each generation as a preview to the well-written article. Baby Boomers Career advancement is of key importance as are promotional opportunities and the chance to make a real impact. This is a generation of… Read More

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How to Manage a Staff of Young Employees – Part 2

As I was reading through SHRM’s recent survey on Job Satisfaction (subscription required), a couple of stats really jumped out at me that further indicate the gap in what satisfies and motivates the different generations of workers. Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction on 21 different aspects of their work environment. They used a standard 1 to 5 scale (1=very unimportant up to 5=very important). Here are some of the topical results broken out by employee age followed by avg. score: Career advancement: under 35 – 4.41 36 to 55-3.85 over 56-3.53 Career development opportunities: under 35 – 4.49 36 to 55 – 4.09 over 56 – 3.85 Job-specific… Read More

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