"Millennial Mayhem"
The Business of Furniture - 10/12/16 Edition
Stephen Says Column

 Dear Stephen, 

 I'm a hiring manager at an interior design firm, and I'm having an issue that I know other firms are dealing with, too. I think my problem also applies to sales organizations and almost everyone hiring today. I could use a professional opinion from a workplace expert like yourself.
 
 We are always looking for new, young talent, but I have an incredibly difficult time hiring millennials. I know that I'm part of the problem. I struggle to feel comfortable interviewing them, let alone hiring them. I guess I'm turned off by what should be in line with excitement when I see as indifference. 
 I don't know if there is a way to get over this problem or to cope with it. I talk to other senior managers and owners about their experiences, and they sit my realizations. It's ridiculous.
 
 I know the partners at my firm — I've been here for more than 20 years — and I know they will struggle to work with these young people, too. It's also not like I haven't tried to hire some of these millennials. There have been three in the last year, none of them lasted a full year, and each one type of one after only a few months. Two of them quit because they felt underutilized. The other was simply fired because he was so unproductive it wasn't worth propping his salary. And those are the people that I thought were good enough to hire!
 
 I talk to other hiring managers at other firms and they tell me they just have similar problems. All of them think that they're God's gift to the industry. They lack any real interest in the work or in our organizations. It's not supposed to be that way. They're only interested in what they're ideal with they want or any near offer are good workers. The others are their ego seekers. 
 Their portfolios are, the bigger their egos are, and the more difficult it is to talk to them like adults.
 
 All I hear is about how millennials are getting bad-mouthed for no reason (ask them when they're all out with their friends on the weekend), and I can tell you that even when they try to be talented individuals, the other part of their personality stops them cold! Do you see this as a long-term problem, or have you started to hire more, new relationships with these new, motivated useful young are members? I've done numerous interviews on this, but it's come to the point where we don’t have enough junior-level employees to get all the work done. I don’t know what to do anymore. How do I make them work for me? 
 Befuddled Boomer
 

 Dear Befuddled Boomer,
 

 You’re right. It does seem like you have a pretty big problem. You’re also right to acknowledge that you’re part of the problem. Now here’s where you’re wrong. Not only are you part of the problem, you are the main problem. Listen, I get it. I don’t agree with you, but I understand that it can be difficult for people of your generation to deal with bright, young workers.
 
 Let’s start by not calling these young people “kids.” That sets the wrong tone and creates silly expectations. That being said, what used to seem to be under­standable and logical beginnings won’t be able to continue without making an effort. That shouldn’t be an option. Hearing whining has never been a good step forward. You clearly don’t think that hiring the younger talent has been demonized in the past, or you wouldn’t be so frustrated with your current workers.
 
 I firmly believe much of this can be explained by older generations — my generation, your generation — not understanding the particular skills this younger gener­ation can offer. Simply put, this is one of the largest and certainly the best-educated gener­ation to ever enter the workforce, and if you don’t know how to deal with them, it’s your loss.
 
 You and your company can learn a lot from what they have to offer — I have. You have to change the way you think about workers. Hire them and don’t worry about how long they last. There is no expiration date on work that needs to get done, and if some­one works for you two years any­more, it’s a lifetime. Welcome to the new normal of hiring young people by what they bring to the brand and grow. Gone are the days when anyone stayed in one job for life.
 
 I want to help you, though, so let me give you some advice. You should not be the person inter­viewing this next candidate. Let young people (I could tell when this capsule dropped in with this question). You have to change how you are going to be the one working with them daily, make more work for yourself hiring them, and all work with the inter­viewee closely.
 
 I’ll point out that it seems like your key difficulty is connecting to younger workers. Having to hire twice as many because they quit within the year because they feel underappre­ciated and a third who was so un­inspired he just didn’t do his work sounds like a bad pattern. Here’s the story as I see it: You hire this person, throw obvious signs during the interview and hiring process, then fail to embrace the role where they feel like there is room for growth.
 
 The dumbest part about this whole situation is those ambi­tious young designers are exactly the people you want working at your firm. In most firms, you’ll realize the hunger to keep a new generation of workers [re]sourceful, are hungry for ways to learn and looking for mentors who’ll help them. Those who do push them into the arms of smarter and frankly better employers. The one trend you believe is here? Things may get even worse. My side: Many of these ambi­tious designers with great experience need someone who’s achieved a bigger ego so they can follow from it with confi­dence. If you can’t or won’t switch your firm around, it is your baby in which you’ll be schooled. Believe me, invest in these workers or they will leave you for the younger kid doing whatever you’re doing and choices in five years. Your choice.
 
 Stephen
 
 You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@fitlegacies.com.
 
 Questions selected to be answered, will appear in the upcoming weekly issues of the Business of Furniture. Questions are selected solely at the discretion of Stephen, who is a full-time executive recruiter and principal at Michael Alexander Consulting, LLC in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter (@fitrecruiter), Facebook and join the Stephen Says Group on Linkedin, and connect with him on LinkedIn.