#duties

Recently this funny video of a Millennial being interviewed for a job has been trending around, so I picked it up from my LinkedIn feed and watched it with two expectations:  it’s going to be very amusing, it’s going to have some truth. I wasn’t disappointed and that’s what happened, because if you have worked in different environments you will immediately catch the drift.

The interview is a stereotypical gag of a busy young Millennial girl who is being interviewed by a Baby Boomer while using her smartphone. Standard questions on competences comes in on what tech skills the candidate has, but they are not your typical Microsoft Office package as the girl lists all social platforms she knows how to use.

One thing that struck me there is the gap between the two roles which represents the two sided of software each comes with: old VS new, spreadsheets VS tweets. It’s obvious the difference of tech understanding instantly pops out to highlight a current phenomena in the workplace.

The video continues with the stereotype of the easily-distracted Millennials that cannot put a way for a second the phone: it’s their totem that convey their social and communicative power and without it they are like Superman with Kryptonite. However, there’s a subtle message in this video which is not what appears to be the constant use of technology, but rather the inability for those two generations to connect and come to terms with their differences.

Please, don’t see this as a pernicious way to defame Millennials, but rather to point the fingers over those who despite their age haven’t caught up with how society interacts with the presents whether old or young. Side effects on the personal behavior can impact those who drown in technology or starve from it.

My personal experience with some Millennials struck me at different levels where young adults working in retail are lacking the social skills to communicate their knowledge. I’m writing about retail because that’s where you would see Millennials working while interacting with the public, places like the hardware store, the local restaurant, the supermarket; that’s where their early work experience starts.

Millennials might be introverted and awkward, it also comes with the age they are in; however, there is a large portion of them which has been living in a sheltered environment from their birth, overly protected by their parents and their early educational system, unable to experience the sour side of life. The result is the entitlements and high demands many wait to receive on the workplace.

This is not a trial on who is bad and who is not, but rather an instance to understand how to resolve this issue. Parents cannot expect to raise their kids without disappointing them or even without them to fail at some point in their life. It’s part of being human to let your guard down or to miss the target. What’s important is to get back on track and learn from what went wrong.

On a darker tone the last portion of the video highlights the worst part some Millennial might exhibit: pandering to imaginative external elements to justify their shortcomings. Blaming others without justification is the line of defense to use to make up for the lack of principles or knowledge and eventually personal responsibilities. 

The Millennial girl asks to speak to a HR director for assistance after facing the fact she is not qualified for the position the job interview required. Millennials don’t take well rejection because difficult situations have been fixed by their parents during their years at school -if there’s a problem call the manager or mod and dad-.