the gen y problem

We are currently hiring staff for the bakery. The key position we are trialling for is a second baker. It's really, really hard to find the right person. Our bakery is a very small family business and this is our first big appointment. It's really personal to us. This new employee will be eating from our food bowl, if you get me. They are a significant part of us. No drongos, no drug addicts, no baggage please. You can see we are going to have a problem.

So far we have had responses from bakers with significant amounts of experience (15-20 years), or international students with a baking training qualification (the course runs one month) and a masters degree in IT. The first group is over qualified. They can do everything and so want more than $1000 a week. We cannot afford them. Apparently no one can, they're looking for work. The second group are working for their residency visa and I suspect they may lack the conviction necessary to work at our bakery. We are serious bakers. We think our bread is very important.

We actually need a young, unattached, qualified baker with about 5 years experience. Someone ready to climb the ladder to success, have a shot at the title. But we have had this person in too, and they also did not work out. Why? Two words. Gen Y.

It wasn't until I started bleating on to my friends about what a disaster this gen Y kid was that I discovered I was up against a cultural phenomenon. My experience is a shared one. There are HR and management essays, whole courses devoted to the hiring and handling of gen Y! The further I have delved, the more I understand them. No that's not true, I absolutely do not understand gen Y. But I can recognise the symptoms of being one.

Here's some tips on spotting a gen y, and this is not a spoof..
-intense focus on their feelings, need to discuss how they feel about stuff
-exaggerated sense of the importance of their opinion, lack of sense of when it is appropriate to express it.
-exaggerated sense of entitlement, they want the best position for the best money.
-Gen Y are the 'training' generation, so they have little regard for the importance of demonstrated skills and experience. Afterall they did pay to do the course. Also remember, they are the generation who have never heard the word fail, never got a graded (A-F) school report, were always let down gently by their educators, given extensions, re-sits, special consideration. Attendance at school was enough for gen y to pass. Sorry, not pass. To obtain a grade of 'satisfactory'.
-they lack 'persona'. This is a bit of management training jargon from a friend of mine. It means gen Y's don't get that you wouldn't speak to your boss the same way you speak to your friends. As an employer you will hear about their full on weekend, what they are planning for their next 'sick' weekend and probably why they'll need a sickie in the near future.

That's a few pointers. However, now I can recognise them, I have absolutely no idea about what to do with these people. I want to hire them, they could be the future of my business. But they all seem to be so unwilling to commit to anything, they can't tell me what they want to be doing in six weeks, let alone longer term (for god's sake people, when an employer asks you a long term goal question, lie! Develop your persona! I'm not going to hire you if I think you're just going to work until you can afford your next trip too Byron Bay.) One foot out the door, always looking over their shoulder for the better opportunity that they all think is coming. The attitude sucks.

Hiring in the current day- oldies, internationals or gen y. And they say it's an employers market!