Young job seekers need to get over their sense of
entitlement.
There was the young job seeker who showed up at
his interview 15 minutes late, failed to apologize,
and thenasked if the interviewer had a garbage can
so he couldthrow away his gum. There was also
the 20-somethingapplicant whose call to the hiring
manager went dead in the middle of the
conversation. The young woman
didn't call back
for two hours, only to explain, without apology,
that she had dropped her phone in a tub of water
while she was getting a manicure. Then there was
the mother who called her son's boss when he
wasn't hired at the end of his internship, and
demanded to know why.
Dani Ticktin Koplik, 58, an executive and
performance coach in Englewood, N.J. has lots of
stories like these. For the last several years, half of
so-called Generation Y, or Millennial, job seekers.
This group, age 20-32, makes a series of job-
searching mistakes that stem from their sense of
entitlement, lack of deference to authority and
over-involvement by their parents. Kopliksays in
her own practice, parents frequently call and email,
and try to micro-manage the coaching process. To
run interference, Koplik schedules a monthly
meeting with parents, mostly to tell them to stop
meddling. She also coaches them to give their
kids a consistent message. Too many parents tell
their offspring that they have to earn a living, and
then let them live at home indefinitely rent-free.
Koplik recommends timetables and limits.
1. Acting entitled
One of the consequences of over-involved parents
is that young people feel as though they deserve
an easyride. Koplik tells of an intern who, on the
first day, informed his supervisor that he had to
leave early that Thursday for a horseback riding
lesson. "It didn't dawnon this person that he was
being totally inappropriate and sabotaging his
career," says Koplik.
2. Starting the process too late
Ideally, college students should start looking for
meaningful internships for the summer after their
freshman year. Students who assume that they
will get a job without too much effort, wait too long
to begin the process.
3. Under-utilizing the alumni network
Though parents and their friends can provide good
contacts, the network of professionals that comes
through a college or university should be one of
the first places a young job seeker turns.
4. Using a résumé that's sloppy and too self-
centered
Young job seekers are often weak on résumé
basics, like clear, tidy layout, careful proofreading
for grammar and punctuation, and use of keywords
from the job description. Another big problem: the
"objective" section tends to be too much about
what they want, and not enough about the potential
employer. For example, young applicants often say,
"entry level position where I can use my skills,
ideas and enthusiasm and I can learn a lot."
Instead, the emphasis should be on what they can
contribute to theemployer. Applicants should also
leave off menial jobs like camp counselor, unless
they can quantify their achievements, like saying
they organized waterfront activities for a group of
150 campers.
5. Writing cover letters that repeat the résumé
Many young applicants regurgitate their résumé
accomplishments in their cover letters. Instead,
cover letters should be short and vivid, and say
something particular about what the applicant can
bring to the job.
6. Doing poor research
Young job seekers often just glance at a company
website before an interview. Instead they should
read everything on the site, search for news
clippings aboutthe company, and track social
media information, like Twitter feeds, on company
managers.
7. Failing to clean up their social media profile
All of those drunken, bikini-clad pictures on
Facebook should be removed, or locked down with
privacy settings. Everyone, including college
students, needs a polished LinkedIn profile.
8. Not showing enough appreciation for the
interviewer
Young applicants often fail to conclude an
interview with an expression of gratitude for the
interviewer's time. Always thank the interviewer in
person, make it clear you would consider it a
privilege to work at the company and ask about the
next step in the process. Then follow up with a
handwritten thank-you note or email that
references specifics discussed in the interview.
9. Failing to show generational deference
Koplik tells of the summer intern who, at the end of
his time on the job, marched into the office of the
chief diversity officer at a big company and said,
"Could I give you some feedback on my
internship?" Young people are so used to being
included in conversations, they fail to grasp their
position in the pecking order.
10. Relying too heavily on listings and job fairs
I write this in every article about job search
mistakes, because it's a chronic problem. Koplik
says that young job seekers are just as guilty of
spending too much time applying to online
listings, and through anonymous job fairs, as their
more senior peers. We say this over and over:
People find jobs through people they know, rather
than through advertisements.If you see a listing for
a job, try to find a personal connection to the
employer and use that as your entry point.
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