5 Essentials to Cover When Interviewing Gen Z
Fresh graduates often have little to no job experience and require guidance from the hiring manager.
Beyond professional conduct, Gen Z job candidates may need coaching on workplace expectations and demands.
A five-step process ensures hiring managers gain insight into a Gen Z candidate's character.
Are you hearing what I’m hearing? Hiring managers are encountering some interesting job candidates these days, and the interview process is… well… stranger than it used to be.
Often, a candidate has never done a job interview before; they don’t understand professional conduct; or sometimes, they’re just young and nervous. A survey from CareerBuilder and Harris Poll of more than 2,500 human resource managers shared the most memorable job candidate mistakes:
One job candidate sang her responses to the employer’s questions.
Another raised his voice, yelling that the job interview was taking too long.
When asked why he wanted the position, one interviewee replied that his “wife wanted him to get a job.”
Still another stood up and put her hand on the employer's chest, saying she wanted to connect “heart to heart.”
Lastly, one candidate did a virtual interview while in the bathroom… and flushed.
While these accounts seem surreal, let me remind you of the current landscape for Generation Z in the job market. First, they feel empowered. When employers laid off thousands of young staff during the pandemic, Zers now wonder why they should display loyalty when those employers didn’t show any loyalty to them. (Gen Z was among the first to be let go.) Second, they feel needed. They come in choosy about entry-level jobs and won’t take positions earlier generations of young candidates took. In fact, they often interview........
