Interviewing During Hunting Season

[JEL]

I guess I have a little different take. I hired a lot of people during my career and I always liked to chat with candidates at the end of the interview process about availability. I always asked the candidate when they could start if offered the position. That opens a dialog about prior plans or commitments they have. It was almost never a problem to accommodate if hired. I guess if you are not asked at the interview you could wait till offered but as the interviewer I always appreciated when candidates are up front during the process.

 

[TOGIE]

The number one quality missing in young candidates these days it seems is ambition. So many 40 hours in and checked out type of people.

i just think the culture has/is shifting and i highly doubt it's gonna change.

the younger millenials and gen z'ers have been watching or watched their parents just work work work, lose sleep, and become unhealthy, hardly have time for anything else, develop chronic disease in their 50's and 60's etc, and for what? to retire with a big of lump money that you've become too unhealthy to even enjoy? and they want nothing to do with that. i feel that to some degree. corporate culture in america is on a permanent bearing shift IMO. and like the titanic, it's slow to move, but it's moving.

 

[TOGIE]

I go into every interview assuming I will be underwhelmed by the candidate. I hire the ones that surprise me. Admittedly, I'm not that much fun to be around.

eh you're not alone. it's always better to learn someone doesn't suck, than to think they don't and learn they do.

i might just be better at pretending to be more fun to be around

 

[RobG]

Definitely not during the interview if you want the job. I would not be impressed if someone hired in and shortly thereafter took more vacation than they had accrued.

 

[RobG]

 

[seeth07]

i just think the culture has/is shifting and i highly doubt it's gonna change.

the younger millenials and gen z'ers have been watching or watched their parents just work work work, lose sleep, and become unhealthy, hardly have time for anything else, develop chronic disease in their 50's and 60's etc, and for what? to retire with a big of lump money that you've become too unhealthy to even enjoy? and they want nothing to do with that. i feel that to some degree. corporate culture in america is on a permanent bearing shift IMO. and like the titanic, it's slow to move, but it's moving.

There is just a huge difference in that work ethic though from those "old timers" you are referring to and the generation starting into the work force now.

Its not all about putting 40 hours in. Its about having pride and responsibility for your work and the deadlines set. Some of the new guys its the end of the world to them if there is a project due on a Wednesday by end of day and its 3pm and I ask them to stay late with me to work to get the thing done. The result I get from those that hem and haw about it is just absolutely garbage rushed work that takes me just as long to redo it that night at 8pm to get it done.

 

[nrpate05]

The number one quality missing in young candidates these days it seems is ambition. So many 40 hours in and checked out type of people.

I think this is partially true, but I also understand that lack of ambition. You go to school and accrue $100k+ of debt, maybe more. You come out and can't get a job making more than $20/hr. Maybe you do get a decent job and want to buy a home. Interest rates are out of control and you can't afford anything but a shitbox. Unless you've got family money, forget about raising a family. I'd rather just go move to a small western town and skate by while hunting, fishing and skiing all the time and look for a wealthy wife...

No incentive to work more than 40 hrs/week. Most people who do that may get praise but few actually get a tangible benefit.

I'm not saying that is what someone should do or that that is the right attitude, I'm just saying I understand where young folks today are coming from. I think the person you mentioned certainly has a bit of ambition for even thinking about a job during their last semester of college. That time is generally designed for messing around.

Maybe I've watched Office Space a few too many times. That could explain a lot.

 

[SAJ-99]

The number one quality missing in young candidates these days it seems is ambition. So many 40 hours in and checked out type of people.

I think it is a generation thing. I generally have had that impression for decades, but employers are just as much at fault. Bad bosses suck the ambition out of people and lack of incentives to participate in the upside will finish off whatever is left.

Definitely not during the interview if you want the job. I would not be impressed if someone hired in and shortly thereafter took more vacation than they had accrued.

Agree, not during the interview unless they ask, but it has to be brought up at some point. Don't plan on doing it the Friday before you are scheduled to leave for the trip.

 

[TOGIE]

There is just a huge difference in that work ethic though from those "old timers" you are referring to and the generation starting into the work force now.

Its not all about putting 40 hours in. Its about having pride and responsibility for your work and the deadlines set. Some of the new guys its the end of the world to them if there is a project due on a Wednesday by end of day and its 3pm and I ask them to stay late with me to work to get the thing done. The result I get from those that hem and haw about it is just absolutely garbage rushed work that takes me just as long to redo it that night at 8pm to get it done.

i think there is a difference between people who don't want work to run their lives and people with bad work ethic. i would posit the latter has been present in similar amounts in every generation. maybe it's ticking up, very well could be, in the current younger generations.

but people have been complaining about the youth since the existence of the youth, so i tend to feel like it's the bias of every generation to think it's only the ones below them that can't get stuff done.

 

[seeth07]

You come out and can't get a job making more than $20/hr

Are wages where are you from really that low? Holy cow. You can get a job on the warehouse floor at the local canning company by my house with starting pay at $24 an hour. We are paying fresh out of college engineering students about $42/hour

 

[Addicting]

i think there is a difference between people who don't want work to run their lives and people with bad work ethic. i would posit the latter has been present in similar amounts in every generation. maybe it's ticking up, very well could be, in the current younger generations.

but people have been complaining about the youth since the existence of the youth, so i tend to feel like it's the bias of every generation to think it's only the ones below them that can't get stuff done.

@wllm is twitching trying to read that. Lol

 

[Jwill]

You just need to time this to take a month or two off during hunting season.

 

[RobG]

Agree, not during the interview unless they ask, but it has to be brought up at some point. Don't plan on doing it the Friday before you are scheduled to leave for the trip.

I agree, it does have to be brought up at some time. Perhaps the hiring date could be moved out or he could tell them he didn't expect the hiring process to go that fast and has prior commitments that need to be worked around. I wouldn't be impressed, however, to find out those commitments were hunting. Maybe I'm chicken or times have changed, but I wouldn't hire in and then ask for more vacation time than I accrued, especially for recreation. If it were me I'd rebook the trip.

 

[2rocky]

 

[SAJ-99]

i think there is a difference between people who don't want work to run their lives and people with bad work ethic. i would posit the latter has been present in similar amounts in every generation. maybe it's ticking up, very well could be, in the current younger generations.

but people have been complaining about the youth since the existence of the youth, so i tend to feel like it's the bias of every generation to think it's only the ones below them that can't get stuff done.

I think employers should just be honest in the job description. We will pay X, expect you to work 50-60hrs each week, want at least 4 months notice on all vacations and sickness, your future raises will be half of CPI, and there is zero room for advancement or profit sharing. Apply here...

 

[TOGIE]

I think employers should just be honest in the job description. We will pay X, expect you to work 50-60hrs each week, want at least 4 months notice on all vacations and sickness, your future raises will be half of CPI, and there is zero room for advancement or profit sharing. Apply here...

"oh, we forgot, you'll actually accrue that 5 days of vacation you get over the course of your first 12 months of employment, so, like, yeah, have fun not going on your honeymoon or enjoying christmas with your family. oh and be grateful you jackwad, now get to work."

oh yes, i worked for an engineering consulting firm once. started looking for jobs within like a month of starting.

 

[SAJ-99]

I wouldn't be impressed, however, to find out those commitments were hunting.

Agree, but your employer doesn't need to know. It might be a basket weaving convention in Tulsa, none of their business how you spend your free time. If he really wants the job, a hunting trip can be changed or cancelled, unless it is some impossible to draw tag he used 20yrs of points on. Then all bets are off.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

@wllm is twitching trying to read that. Lol

I think the greatest generation would agree with me that boomers on average were/are the laziest generation of humans to walk the planet.

 

[Hunter4Life78]

I guess I have a little different take. I hired a lot of people during my career and I always liked to chat with candidates at the end of the interview process about availability. I always asked the candidate when they could start if offered the position. That opens a dialog about prior plans or commitments they have. It was almost never a problem to accommodate if hired. I guess if you are not asked at the interview you could wait till offered but as the interviewer I always appreciated when candidates are up front during the process.

Same thought process. Tell me so it can planned for, also gives a chance to see if any other employees have time off scheduled during that time and what arrangements need to be/can be made.

 

[seeth07]

I think the greatest generation would agree with me that boomers on average were/are the laziest generation of humans to walk the planet.

Not many of those left to actually agree with you