The nightmares of a self-entitled generation and employment

[peacetraveler22]

Every spring, I find myself in the same position. I'm tasked with interviewing and hiring summer interns for our office. In the process, I have to weed through a lot of resumes, or CVs as you call them. :) I'm constantly amazed by the way young adults portray themselves to potential employers. Most of them have just graduated high school, or completed their first year of university, so I never expect some grand list of achievements. But there's a common scenario that repulses me, and it's symbolic of the newer American generations.

I will immediately toss in the trash any piece of paper that even remotely suggests a sense of self-entitlement. This is a personality I despise more than most - those who think they should be worshiped and praised only because they exist, and for no other reason. In other words, there's no foundation for their bravado or arrogance, except that their parents have coddled them since well past their baby years. We call them "helicopter parents," because they constantly hover over their children, watching their every move in order to protect them from pain, disappointment and failures in life. Yet no human can ever escape these things.

Of course, all parents should protect and instill a strong sense of self-esteem in kids, but this quality has now drifted into a very sick realm of narcissism, in my view. What else can you expect from an American generation who grew up playing in sports leagues where every kid is handed a trophy - they are taught there are no winners or losers, and it's a brutal slap in the face when they quickly discover life isn't fair. They lack the coping mechanisms to deal with rejections and challenges, because they have been shielded from such things their entire life. Now, I'll show you an example of a CV I immediately tossed away.

This is a 19 year old girl named Rachel Williams. I redacted most of her personal information, but she works at Subway, a fast-food chain in the U.S. There's nothing wrong with this job, as most young people have worked in the retail or food sectors at one point in life. In this position, she makes sandwiches, fills catering orders and cleans bathrooms.

Rachel created a grand term to describe her position by calling herself a "sandwich artist." :)) Then she goes on to make sloppy grammar errors and poor word choices. For instance, there's double capitalization in the short word "AS", she mistyped two commas at one point, and there are other errors. The mistakes would have been obvious with one quick review, yet they are still there. This implies Rachel is lazy, sloppy and careless. Who wants to entrust their work to someone like this? Not me. This is only one example of many horrible CVs I've forced to review.



We live now in a "me, me, me" world, where people want a lot out of life, but aren't willing to give much. Just hire me, just pay me, yes, I'm great...!! This is the over-arching mentality of many people, but it's especially prevalent with millennials.

Btw, I've noticed that for a lot of job listings in Russia, it's necessary to put your age and a photo on the CV. This is very strange for an American, as it's not customary to place pictures on CVs. What's the point? Also, many times the job description will state that the person must be highly attractive, very young in age, etc...I've never seen these requirements in American job postings. Unattractive, middle-age people don't deserve to work? :))

Comments

[stan podolski (from livejournal.com)]

hmm. Leaving aside the sloppy grammar, but I would like "sandwich artist", at least the person has some imagination. What would throw me off is the formatting, I believe this is the MUST for working in a paper-oriented office. I can not go around and reformat each letter for my interns, can I.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

"Sandwich artist" is okay and creative, but still a bit pompous. :)) That's why I put smileys after my sentence when I referred to it. In general, I think people must take pride in their work. So, yes, I'm anal about formatting glitches and stupid grammar/spelling errors. The final work product should be aesthetically pleasing and orderly. Especially if it's going to an existing, or potential, client.

[stan podolski (from livejournal.com)]

then it is not about ME generation, it is just lack of skills required to work in your(mine) office

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Her resume is still symbolic of the "me" generation - she expects someone to hire her, but is not willing to put in any effort to make herself a viable candidate. It takes less than 5 minutes to review and edit this resume to correct mistakes. At least in my mind, maybe you view it differently and this is fine. :)

[stan podolski (from livejournal.com)]

ah, that.

No, I was not thinking of that as about 'me' culture (it exists, I do not disagree), but general sloppiness. So I would not hire her just the same way.

I do not know why it was all that sloppy, I do not have time to correct her mistakes. Every living person is bound to make stupid mistakes, nobody is an exclusion, but ...

"Next, please"

[qi-tronic.livejournal.com]

Not today when people get used to exchange small notes via email or even twitter.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Lawyers do not communicate with clients via Twitter. :) It's true everything is done via email now, but this not negate the duty to proofread before clicking "send" and still write in a coherent, well-structured manner.