Sample Interview Questions for Those Hiring Millennials
The vast majority of recruiters and hiring managers would agree without hesitation that it would be foolish to ask during an interview the same questions of a potential fast food fry cook as a financial analyst, brain surgeon, or anyone else whose qualifications, job, and work product will be dramatically different. Yet how many modify the questions they ask based upon the generation of the candidate? Many questions which are designed to elicit relevant, informative answers from a Baby Boomer candidate and perhaps do a passable job with a Gen X'er are doomed to fail with a Gen Y'er / Millennial because their perspectives, needs, wants, and way of working are so dramatically different. Not better. Not worse. Just different.
William Pisano of Stephen James Associates wrote a great article for ERE about this very issue and went so far as to provide examples of specific questions to ask Gen Y candidates. For example, William writes that Gen Y'ers "aren't as likely as their elder colleagues to have a clear vision of their professional selves in five or 10 years, but that doesn't mean they won't have an answer. Rather than asking them what job title they want to have in the future, it might be more telling to determine a candidate's perceptions of how one gets ahead in your industry, and how quickly."
Other questions that he recommends are:
- After you're hired, how will you advance from this position to the one just above it? More specifically, what qualities and actions do you believe are necessary to continue moving up in this organization?
- Where do you see yourself in two/five/10 years? Explain how you'll get there.
- What do you expect to get out of this job?
William recommends that interviewers "incorporate more personal questions that expose a candidate's personality, work ethic, and personal motivations" because "how a person approaches life is often indicative of how they'd approach work." He therefore recommends rephrasing typical interview questions in a way that they better apply to the personal lives of your candidates. Sample interview questions in this area include:
- How do you primarily communicate with friends? How often?
- When you have a dilemma to solve, how do you approach it?
- How do you spend your free time? (Do you prefer doing activities solo, with friends, or in groups?)
Finally, William recommends that interviewers ask questions that speak directly to the strengths and weaknesses of Gen Y'ers. Today's college students and recent graduates are "used to giving and receiving feedback on everything from online purchases, to blog and message board posts, to quick exchanges via IM and text messaging. Constant interaction is their way of life, and they'll probably expect it to be their way of work." So William recommends that interviewers ask straightforward questions which are designed to predict a candidate's work style:
- When you do an outstanding job, how do you want to be rewarded?
- Describe your ideal feedback scenario (i.e., What format? How often do you want to receive it? Who should provide it?)
- Describe the ideal work/life balance.
- Is the concept of "paying your dues" outdated?
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