Poll: One-third of Millennials Would Text During Job Interview

Are you so addicted to your smartphone that you actually text during a crucial job interview? At a time when the labor market remains on shaky ground and the availability of jobs is limited, a significant number of millennial workers have the temerity to text throughout a job interview, says a new poll.

A new survey by the Center for Generational Kinetics Analysis and Ultimate Software Key finds millennials say it’s OK text, arrive late and hand in your resignation letter if you’re being asked to close your social media account.

Here are the major findings from the report that is garnering substantial attention:

  • 33 percent of millennials believe it’s perfectly acceptable to text at a job interview.
  • 30 percent of millennials say it’s fine to arrive late for a job interview by five minutes.
  • 34 percent of millennials would quit immediately if the boss asked them to delete their Facebook page.

Oy vay…

In addition, the survey discovered a generational disparity when it comes to employee loyalty. The report noted that 25 percent of millennials purport that working for a company a minimum of seven months suggests loyalty, compared to 17 percent of Baby Boomers who cite more than five years.

man texting

Forty-five percent of millennials would quit an employment opportunity if they did not foresee a career path they initially wanted at the company, while one-third can determine if they’ll stay on a long-term basis with the company in the first week, and 63 percent in the first month alone.

Millennials are also changing the way jobseekers are finding positions in their fields.

Nearly half of millennials find their jobs online, 43 percent of millennials think it’s acceptable to apply for a job on a tablet and 39 percent supported applying for a position on a smartphone.

Finally, it seems that millennials want to be coddled at work as 42 percent of millennials welcome feedback every single week, which is a lot more than any other preceding generation.

These results could be viewed as fantastic, but they aren’t anything new. According to a 2013 report published in USA Today, human resource professionals and hiring managers have been disgruntled with the lack of interview skills among college graduates, citing too much reliance on smartphones and social media.

“It’s behavior that may be completely appropriate outside the interview,” said Jaime Fall, vice president of the HR Policy Association. “The interview is still a traditional environment.”

Fall also believes that parents are to blame as well because they have smothered and given a false sense of self-esteem and entitlement to their kids: “It’s (a mindset of) ‘You’re perfect just the way are,’ ‘Do whatever you’re comfortable doing.'”

In the article, the industry professionals cited millennial job applicants taking calls and text messages; bringing in their parents and having their mother or father negotiate their salary; and even taking their pet to a job interview as reasons for not gaining the job.

It may be no wonder then to read that 40 percent of HR executives say recent grads are not professional in their first year out of post-secondary educational facilities.