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 from them into the requirements of the position. That is understandable since the position involved a solution-based, $500K sale that typically went through a top level executive.

The screen call ended soon after that line.

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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 people that are desperate to do something meaningful before they retire.

Gen X
This is the generation that is skeptical of offers of security or long-term commitments. Leaders are suspect, and cynicism is common. They will leave you for a nickel, as the saying goes.

Gen Y
This is a generation that values balance and moderation. They want time to be with friends. They are conformists and team players, more than any other generation, and they will be very loyal if the organization provides them with a few things…

Some of the commentary paints in broad strokes, but, of course, that is needed when characterizing a generation. Motivations and rewards (i.e. money, social causes, leadership, etc.) vary in intensity in each of us. Measuring that intensity is the fine detail needed to select the strongest candidate from any generation.

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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 training: under 35 – 4.34 36 to 55 – 4.04 over 56-3.62

Employer commitment to professional development: under 35 – 4.34 36 to 55 – 4.01 over 56 – 3.77

Flexibility to balance life/work issues: under 35 – 4.57 36 to 55 – 4.44 over 56 – 4.36

As you can see, younger generation expects a company to be committed to providing opportunities for professional development along with a distinct desire to balance personal and work life.

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