Interviews a great place for millennials to assess culture
Key questions can help figure out if workplace expectations will be met
“Never lie to a millennial,” author John Green wrote. “They can smell it.”
So what does a lie proffered to a millennial jobseeker by a potential employer smell like? How about: “We believe communication with our employees is a pillar of our workplace”? Or “Our managers will be held accountable to develop our people”? Or “We put a lot of emphasis on culture”? Uh-huh.
If you’re a millennial, there are valid reasons why companies might contort themselves (and the truth) in an effort to gain your trust.
These days, talent is more important than customers, and the talent pool is dominated by millennials: People born between the early 1980s and 2000 now represent the single largest demographic group in the workforce. It’s also a matter of skills.
In an era of online content and tech-heavy products, companies need young, engaged thinkers like you.
There’s a hitch, though. More than any previous cohort, millennials arrive at the workplace with expectations of their own. They want work that matters. They want a clear path toward advancement. And they want to know how they are doing, all the time. These days, a lot of ink is being spilled telling managers of a certain age how to deal with
millennials and their expectations (I should know — I’ve done it myself). But there’s been far less focus on the other half of the equation: How should millennials assess companies that are still, by and large, run by those managers of a certain age?
My advice: Look for workplaces that practise servant leadership. In essence, companies that follow an ethos of servant leadership put people first; the leader’s goals and practices are in alignment with their employees’.
Millennials can save themselves a lot of grief if they are confident, before they accept the job, that their employer shares their values and their approach
to advancement and feedback.
The job interview is a great opportunity to find out. Let’s say you’re sitting in the interview room of Acme Digital Corp., and you’ve come to the inevitable part of the conversation where you’re asked if you have any questions.
Don’t waste the chance to sniff out the company’s culture in a way that goes beyond truisms and feel-good statements. Here’s a sampling of questions you can ask: á What does one-on-one coaching look like at Acme?
Too many companies don’t have any coaching program at all, but a few, the progressive ones, see the benefit of regular,
scheduled coaching that doesn’t stop when the employee has a few months under their belt. Ideally, these coaching sessions happen every week. Just as important is coaching “on the shop floor.” Do Acme’s managers know what challenges their people really face in the moment? Find out. á How are employees developed for new challenges and promotions here at Acme? What structures and mentorship opportunities are in place to help employees grow?
If your manager doesn’t know where you want to go in your career, they can’t help you get there. Managers should hold regular discussions about career goals and develop plans to help you achieve them. Ask if development involves mentoring and coaching from other team members. It definitely should. á
What should I expect from the onboarding process?
A manager should (but too often doesn’t) hold what I call a “connection meeting” within the first 90 days of employment. The idea is not to tell you what’s expected of you, but rather to discuss what you expect of your manager. á
How does Acme support internal candidates?
Yes, hiring an external candidate makes sense sometimes. But most of the time, servant leaders look to promote from within, and they should actively groom current employees for future in-house promotions.
If the answers you get don’t pass the sniff test, you can try something millennials are famous for: shop the reviews. Glassdoor and Indeed offer plenty of insights, as can people who once worked for the company.
And, if you still don’t get the answers you’re looking for, you can do another thing your generation is known for: walk away and go to work for a company that really values you. more than three decades in construction,
Coaching and the author of “The 50