The majority of managers say millennials lack the core qualities most crucial for success at work, according to a new study by learning software company Instructure. The study found managers take attributes such as work ethic and attitude into the highest consideration when hiring millennials, but find entry-level employees lack in these key areas.
For example, 70 percent of managers say teamwork is important to success, but only 19 percent find entry-level employees very competent in teamwork. In addition, 85 percent of managers place the highest emphasis on hiring candidates with fundamental — and often untrainable — skills such as attitude and hard work. And finally, only 8 percent of managers say millennials are very prepared to contribute immediately at work.
Instructure Vice President of Corporate Markets Davis Bell led the workforce readiness research. I reached out to him to learn more about the findings and what they mean for employers. Here are the highlights of our conversation.
Companies reported that candidates oversell themselves in interviews. How can interviewers better discern a candidate’s actual skill level?
The common advice is to ask the candidates specific questions about past experiences. But we think there is a better way: Give candidates assignments and see how they do. You learn a lot by not only seeing what they produce but by observing how they go about solving the problem.
We’ve done this at Instructure as we’ve hired developers. Before deciding whether the candidate is a good fit, we give the candidate a challenging technical problem where they have to write lines of code to get the answer. We let them code on a whiteboard and through the process learn very quickly what kind of skills they have, both hard and soft.
How can companies most effectively recruit millennials with the soft skills they need?
Millennials want to be part of a bigger cause, a mission. You can have success finding the candidates with the attributes you need if you get the word out about the values and the intangible things that drive your company. We have a strong culture at Instructure around openness. No one has their own office, not even the CEO or CFO. Everyone is evaluated based on the quality of work. The openness has helped us attract the kind of talent that aligns to our mission and values.
There seems to be a disconnect between what skills are needed for success, entry-level employees’ competencies, and employer effectiveness in developing those competencies. How can companies better manage employee development to get employees up to speed?
Individual organizations will need to take a close look at their training practices to see where they can make meaningful improvements. The training processes that worked in a business 10 or 15 years ago may not be relevant today. Managers will need to look for new tools that can engage entry-level employees and millennials and motivate them to make the changes needed for success.
They also need ensure that training is a bi-directional process; most companies just push learning out and then have no clue how it’s being received by employees. It’s critical to ensure that employee’s reaction to training — as well as company mission, vision, values, goals, policies and procedures — is collected and analyzed. This enables managers to diagnose problem areas and remediate accordingly.
What have you observed about millennials’ work skills? What challenges and successes have you experienced helping get millennials work skills up to par? Share your stories in the comments!
