By Peter Keseric
Now I may be shooting myself in the foot with this one. However I feel, at times, I am the one embracing the digital world while the millennials are living a fine analog world when the opposites you’d imagine be true. ~The Organic Recruiter
Fair or not, most Gen Xers see themselves as the older, responsible child doing dishes and taking out the trash while the baby boomers and millennials argue over the TV remote.
While the smartphone might personify millennials, and Woodstock exemplified Baby-Boomers, Gen Xers were raised with less pleasurable cultural markers.
Is it any wonder that Gen Xers have the lunch-pail, roll-up-the-sleeves, work ethic most companies should crave?
After millennial Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook, did he hire a millennial class-mate to run it? No. He tapped a Gen X COO born in 1969 who not coincidently is a woman.
Is there a person who personifies baby-boomer success more than Richard Branson? What generation does he trust for the heavy lifting? Virgin Group’s CEO, COO, and CFO all are Gen Xers.
Gen Xers don’t have time for Kardashian-style drama.
How to Hire and Retain a Gen Xer Preach long-term stability in the interviews:
- Preach long-term stability in the interviews.
- Be ready with any answers about former mass layoffs or past division closings.
- Don’t expect them to push back in an interview.
- Don’t mention ‘lofty goals” or a product that will “make the company HUGE money.
- Tempered growth. Loyalty.
- Buzzwords are for millennials, not Gen Xers.
- Talk about the 401(k), not the sales goals that get them a trip to Maui.
All Gen Xers know people who had to cash out their retirement savings after their Fortune 500 Company let them go. If a Gen Xer disagrees, she will politely say “Interesting” out loud, but think “No way am I working here” to themselves.
~ for complete article: http://www.eremedia.com/ere/gen-xers-skills-strengths-and-shortcomings/
