PREMIUM SEARCH Search by job title, geography and build a list of executive contacts
Nancy Shenker returned from lunch to find three words scrawled across the office whiteboard: "My butt itches." The culprits? Not vandals, but the summer interns that Shenker, founder of theONswitch, based in Thornwood, N.Y., had hired to work in her small marketing firm.
The incident, and others involving office attire, work hours, and vacation requests, taught Shenker some lessons about employing millennials, another name for today's teens and twentysomethings. She spoke recently with Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein about the good,the bad, and the ugly. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow.
Why did you decide to hire summer interns, and is this something you've seen other small companies doing? I worked for large corporations before I started my own company three years ago, so I was used to managing summer interns. I think more private firms are starting to do this. It's a great way to get reasonably priced, creative talent.
Where did you find the folks who worked for you? I posted an ad on Craigslist, which seems to be the place where most people under 30 look for jobs these days. I received 80 résumés, which really surprised me because we're located 35 minutes north of New York City. The applicants were from as far away as Queens and New Jersey. I wound up hiring five.
What did you learn, aside from the fact that they aren't intimidated about writing on the whiteboard? In general, there are fewer expectations about formality. The scheduling board, for instance. It was a situation where people were joking around, but they didn't think to erase it. They sort of forgot about it. The other thing is the flip-flop phenomenon. The attitude is: "These are my shoes and I'm really comfortable wearing them, so I'm going to do what works for me right now."
Another issue was the vacation schedule. I wanted the interns to write their schedules down for me two weeks in advance. At the end of the summer, if I could get notice even three days in advance, I was grateful. At my first job, I would have felt like I needed the boss's permission to take a vacation. What I got this summer was, "I'm going to be going away these two days, so I won't be in the office."
What else did you notice? All the interns were multitaskers, so if their cell phone rang during a business conversation, they didn't think it was rude to pick it up and start talking or sending a text message. They have so much technological skill, but they didn't seem to know how to use other office machines, like the copier. In fact, the basics of working in an office didn't seem to be familiar to them.
And when I asked, "Can you get me a copy of this?" They might say, "I e-mailed it to you!" In their world, they had given me everything I needed.
How does this generation differ from the way you remember yourself at that age? I graduated from college in 1977. I'd say my generation was much more obsequious, even though we might have been considered part of the hippie era. Once you left college and moved into the adult world, there was tacit recognition that you had to start playing by the rules.
How did you cope with your crop of interns, and what would you do differently next time? I learned to tell them the night before if we were having a client meeting in the office the next day. I'd have to be very, very specific about things like making sure their garbage was emptied, the things on their desks were put away, and they were dressed respectably. Even so, I invited an intern to come to a client meeting with me, and she showed up late (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/20/06, "10 Top Goofs Interns Make").
Schedules weren't so easy to enforce? No, they didn't love schedules. But I noticed that I needed to adjust my management style. Rather than getting upset about the lateness, I would say, "I noticed you came in 15 minutes late. You're going to have to stay 15 minutes later this evening so you can get everything done."
Did you try enforcing rules in a more adamant manner? I did, but that just got me blank stares. I found that they were living in the moment. They're not thinking about whether they'll need me to provide a reference for them two or three years down the line.
From what I understand, this generation is also much more willing, if they don't like what they're doing, to just pick up and do something else, even if it means bartending in the interim. And financial pressures aren't there a lot of times, because moving back home is a viable option now, which was a totally taboo thing to do when we were kids.
What was the upside? What kinds of good things did you learn? They seem to be happy and contented; they're not tortured souls. All the interns who worked for me were very creative, and of course they brought in terrific understanding of new media—things I was tangentially aware of, but not fully.
Also, if they didn't have information, they'd go out and seek it with real fearlessness. And the social aspect was great: The people working for me were very comfortable working in mutually supportive teams and helping each other out.
In a lot of ways, I think they're smarter than my generation was. We struggle with work and life balance, but that's almost a foreign concept to these kids because the line is so blurred for them already. If it's a beautiful summer week and they wanted to go out and do something, they'd say, "I'm not going to be in Thursday." And 99 times out of 100, we'd negotiate it and they'd come in and work on another day.
You have an 18-year-old daughter. Did this experience make you think about your parenting skills at all? I had to recognize that the parents of this generation have perpetuated some of the problematic things because we've given our kids so much autonomy and so much say in decision-making. It's definitely given me pause as a parent. I think you do have an obligation to prepare your kids for real life and real jobs.
Do you have any tips for other entrepreneurs to think about before next summer? Next year I'll ask different questions during the interview process. For instance, what do they think working in an office setting is all about? I will probably also type out a basic office rules sheet and have them sign it before they're hired. And I will put in place some meaningful penalties. That way, I could have the negotiation once, up front, rather than doing it over and over all summer long.
What has become of your interns? Two of them went on to get jobs in the city with larger companies. And one is staying on part time with us, and I was thrilled recently because he has a passion for music, and he identified a potential client for the firm in the music world. He tracked this guy down on the Internet and came up with a great idea. It's that kind of fearlessness that is really terrific.
Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues
Printer-Friendly Version