Tesar-Reynes

I visited my PRSSA chapter for my last official meeting Monday. Afterwards, me and other members of the executive board went out to grab a bite. We chatted about how our marketing and public relations internships were going.

As we opened up, we got into an interesting conversation about our fears. The added pressure of hiring freezes and the competition that brings for jobs can make the workday stressful.

We of course would always perform our duties to the best of our abilities. We had to admit, however, lurking deep in the back of our heads existed legitimate, insecurity driven fears. Here are four of the fears we discussed. I hope this post helps our readers better …

In the course of interviewing senior management, there has been a constant buzz about the quality of the entry level people who have been recently hired and supervised by them. I suspect that this conversation is very parallel to when I came into the work force. I also believe that the accusations and frustrations surrounding the Millennials are more thought-provoking and different from the previous cohorts.

Almost all of the comments rotate around the generation’s sense of entitlement. There appears to be an almost universal sense that this generation sees themselves as unique, the best and the brightest that ever existed, and should be treated that way. The issues below tend to flow from this attitude:

Work Ethic

I will work when I want, I am able to multitask so I can text …

When I wanted to move to Chicago from New York, I did it all the wrong way! I did not keep my wife up to date on the firms I was looking at, whether they required relocation or what their status was. My rationale was that why jerk her around with possibilities when there was nothing certain.

The only thing certain was the mushroom cloud in the kitchen when I mentioned the probable offer from Chicago…she had never even been there.

Now I am not the brightest star in the sky, but I am not alone. There are a number of candidates that I have talked with that have said, “Don’t worry, my wife is cool.”

In reality, I don’t know if they are cool. Because I’m a recruiter, I could be dealing with a prideful candidate or a fearful one.

One …

I was talking to a friend of mine who was interviewing for a senior vice president position in corporate communications.

He was steaming mad. The company had flown him into their town the night before the interview and put him up in a nice hotel. The next morning he took a cab to their location. When he tried to check in, security did not have him on their list so he had to wait in the lobby 20 minutes.

Eventually he was escorted by a junior HR person to the first appointment. He then had to wait 15 minutes for his person to finish a meeting. The interview went fine. He was then told to wait in a chair in the hall for someone to pick him up for the next interview. And so it went.

At lunch, …

I have a confession to make. As a graduating senior, I am paralyzed with fear at the thought of getting a job.

I hear bad stories about this whole category for entry-level positions: lower pay, 10-hour workdays, cutthroat coworkers, not to mention, GULP, the recession.

I’m wondering if our resident guru can provide some advice to all of us dealing with the same fears.

Tony, can you help us out here? We’re kind of freaking out.

Tony’s response:

The pressure and the anxiety of landing the first job are amazing. Everyone handles this differently. I was fortunate to be able to defer the process for a while. After I graduated from college, since I was NROTC, I went into the Navy. When my time was up I extended for 6 months to figure …