Voices

Does Gen Y Set the Bar Too High During Job Interviews?

When your firm interviews a young candidate today, does it seem like the prospect is asking more questions and outlining more expectations than the person conducting the interview?

You’re not alone.

I stumbled across a blog containing a transcript of a mock interview to help relieve some of the frustrations of an employer attempting to hire a Gen Y employee.

The candidate pretty much sets the stage, dictating to the boss exactly what that boss must do to make the employee happy: Let him start at 9:30 a.m., provide him with an office, put “executive” on his business card and give him a copy of the company’s green policy.

The dialogue is hysterical. But is it true?

Well, the blogger—who happens to be a Gen Yer—posed the question, and interestingly most of the people who answered admitted that it was, at least to some degree.

One even asked whether the blogger had copied the transcript from their last job interview.

So is Gen Y “setting the bar too high for themselves,” as the blogger suggests, or should Boomer employers lighten up and try to appease them?

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