Gen Ys are not poor communicators appeared this month on ZDNet Asia. Thought you’d like to see what I and other practitioners had to say.
http://bit.ly/bYgek2
Your thoughts? Please share your comments below!
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5 Ways to Get More From Your Interns
June 12, 2010 By
Business communication skills top employers’ list of what they value most in campus hires — and what they find most lacking. As a manager, you have the opportunity to model business communication skills, starting with your interns. Here are 5 tips:
1. Be forthright about what the work entails. A financial adviser I know says his firm attracts interns with one set of messages — lots of golf outings and that sort of thing. Then once they’re hired the tables turn, and new hires see their role for what it is: endless hours and lots of pressure.
2. Challenge your interns. Set the bar high, and chances are they’ll leap over it. But of course interns also need support. A weekly meeting allows for mentoring to take place while making sure projects stay on track.
3. Once in a while, pitch in. Stuff envelopes with them. Talk with them. Take an interest in their lives. Gen Y is big on a sense of community. While you don’t owe it to them to create that, you might find the investment worthwhile.
4. Treat them like a member of the team. Do your interns attend staff meetings? Do they get to see how decisions are made? How you interact with clients? The more exposure you can give them (without necessarily giving them free rein), the more your interns are likely to contribute.
5. If you can’t hire them, at least treat them with respect. I know a student who poured countless nights and weekends into the (unpaid) internship of his dreams. When a full-time sales position opened up, he spent a day shadowing the boss as part of the interview. Weeks later, he still hadn’t heard a word. Finally, after following up with HR, he received a (mealy-mouthed) rejection via email.
Better approach: Give credit where credit is due. Offer to write a letter of recommendation and/or serve as an enthusiastic phone reference.
Your Thoughts?
Do you manage interns as part of your job? Are you an intern yourself, or a former intern? Please share your thoughts and success strategies in the comments box below!
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Employee Entitlement Started Long Before Gen Y
June 4, 2010 By
Need proof? Here are three classic, real-world examples of workplace entitlement that didn’t come from Gen Y. The details have been changed to protect the innocent, but the essence of each story is spot on:
1. A national sales manager for a pharmaceutical company challenges his team to hit an aggressive sales goal, and offers them a performance bonus if they achieve it. During a team meeting, someone raises her hand and asks, “What if we only hit 70% of the goal? Can we still get 70% of the bonus?”
2. To celebrate their achievements for the past year, the boss invites her team to dinner and a local play. A few days later, she receives an expense report from one of her employees — for mileage to and from the celebration.
3. A graphic designer asks his boss to attend a weekend seminar, out of town. The boss says yes, and tells him to keep track of his expenses. When the designer returns, he announces he’s taking a comp day to make up for having “worked” over the weekend.
Hello?? In future posts, we’ll be discussing other facets of entitlement — innocent or otherwise — and how to deal with them constructively. For now, please post a comment below to share your own observations of workplace entitlement and how it affects employee morale.
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Gen Y: Name That Boundary
May 7, 2010 By
Last Saturday at the USD alumni banquet, the man seated next to me asked, “What do you do?”
I told him I help large companies improve employee performance, and that I especially enjoy coaching and training Gen Y. He gave me a puzzled look. He had never heard of Gen Y, and wasn’t aware of the intergenerational dynamics of the workplace.
Then his wife chimed in: “I raised my son to call me by my first name.” Big pause. Now I don’t want to imply that a fight broke out — it was an innocent comment on her part. But clearly we were on different wavelengths. I would no more call my parents Jim and Judy than I’d call my bishop “Bob.”
So I’d like to hear from you: What did you call your parents, growing up? What do your kids call you? How about your kids’ friends?
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Introducing my new blog for young professionals
August 28, 2009 By
Here at Real-World Etiquette, things are shaking up a little–in a good way. I’ve recently launched a new blog, just for young professionals. Check it out: www.brightyoungprofessionals.com.
I look forward to rebranding this blog to look more like realworldetiquette.com.
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Network with Gina