Placing Millennials in Contract Positions? Be Prepared for Surprises!

We discussed in a previous blog post how Generation Y workers make excellent contract candidates because they are eager to travel and collect a multitude of work experiences rather than work for the same employer for their entire careers. Well, according to a recent article on the recruiting community Web site www.ere.net, you could be in for a few surprises if you conduct any interviews with “Millennials.”The article highlights actual questions asked by Millennials (those born roughly in the mid-70?s to the early 2000?s) in real interviews, revealing that many of the characteristics attributed to this generation in the media were pretty much spot on. For example, questions regarding how many hours they are expected to work, whether or not they can use Facebook while at work, and whether they can do work-required reading at the gym provide evidence that Millennials really are focused on work-life balance and are accustomed to multi-tasking as has often been stated in the media.The bottom line? Generation Y may provide a plentiful supply of contract candidates, but be prepared for some surprises. While this is not necessarily bad, they may ask questions that you have never heard before or that you may have even previously considered inappropriate in an interview setting. And you may also want to prepare your clients and slip them a copy of the www.ere.net article as well so they have an idea of what to expect!