WK11: Interview with a Millennial

Luis Castro   

Below is the perspective of a millennial in the workforce. 

Luis Castro is a 27 year old employee at a prestigious telecommunication company located in Mexico City, Mexico.  

1. Please describe your current position and some day to day tasks you do.

My current position is Business Development Executive. 

Basically I sell satellite products as communication solutions to existing and new customers.

http://www.elara.com.mx

My everyday tasks include: quote our variety services to many clients, develop solutions to satisfy their needs, follow up and customer service calls, research and develop business proposals for new markets and solutions, face to face negotiations with the clients, and presenting my ideas and solutions to decision makers.

2. You’re someone who can be characterized as “high performer” in your current position – you go above and beyond to impress your boss and reach company goals. Research shows that just because someone has high performer it does not mean that they have high potential (Martin & Schmidt, 2008). If you were offered a promotion tomorrow, what attributes would you highlight to prove to your boss that you are also a high potential candidate?

Efficiency, punctuality, I’m a natural leader, organized, short and mid-term objective oriented, self-starter, with new ideas and with no fear to express well fundamented points of view.

3. As human we are motivated by the emotional needs to acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend. Here are descriptions of these terms and where they fall in the organization. How is this fulfilled or not by you in your current position? (Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee, 2008)

	Description	Organizational Level	In Your Company
Acquire	Gain experience and/or material things	Rewards System	Experience wise it is fulfilled because I’m learning new things every day, like improving my negotiation and my business development skills. Income wise it’s not because there are no monetary incentives when you make a sale.
Bond	Feel belonging to organization or people in your close proximity	Culture	I have a great relationship with everyone I work with, but I’m not related to the organizational culture. I consider them only as my co-workers and not as the family they want everyone to be, they just have different moral values and education.
Comprehend	Desire to make a meaningful contribution; feeling challenged and opp. to grow	Job Design	I feel like I do make meaningful contributions by increasing the company’s annual income. I also have the power to make decisions that will affect that income with our clients. My ideas and comments are considered when it comes to make those decisions. There is no real growth opportunity though, because it is a small company and at this point, there are no positions above me but my direct bosses’.
Defend	Feel a sense of trust and transparency in your organization.	Performance-management & Resource-Allocation Processes	I defend where I work because I think it is a transparent and ethical company. They rather do what’s right than doing what’s easy. The company has everything that it needs to continue a successful path. It’s a shame there is no growth opportunity.

4. What are the top five characteristics you want out of your boss? (Meister & Willyerd, 2010)

1.     Leadership

2.     Knowledge

3.     Mentorship

4.      Education  

5.     Delegation

5. Do you work for anyone over the age of 35 (A “baby-boomer”)? Do you enjoy working for this person? Are there any belief differences that you feel between you and your boss due to your age difference? (Erickson, 2010)

I work for a 46 year old boss; I enjoy learning from his experience and ways to approach a business opportunity. Because of the age difference I would like to do things on a face to face basis, he’s too formal (only serious office meetings) and I am the kind of person that wins them over and then sell everything I can to them. I would also increase the employees’ salaries, I believe that a well paid employee is a happy one, ergo a hard worker. I wouldn’t be so cheap and would see for the people that make everything happen, even the smallest part of the chain.

 

6. What do you think of the idea to have performance assessments look like a twitter feed? Do you like it? Or do you not like it? (Meister & Willyerd, 2010)

Small and concrete assessments are a great idea, but I think sometimes they could be a little harsh because of the lack of information in them.

Personally I would like it because it would show what you are doing right or wrong without trying to make it look not as good or bad. It is what it is.

7. Do you have faith in the corporate ladder or are you cautious of corporate commitments? (Erickson, 2010)

I have faith in an honest corporate ladder; I think that hard work and exceptional attitude will take you up in a corporate environment. I believe in surrounding yourself with people that are motivated and designed to work in a corporate ladder to reach any kind of goal by working together. I think that a satisfied employee will follow a company anywhere, therefore an honest and conscious corporate ladder.

8. Coveted leadership attributes used to be setting direction, having all the answers, controlling performance, and running a tight ship. Nowadays the business environment is constantly changing. What do you think are the new generation of leadership attributes? (Erickson, 2010)

1.     Multicultural

2.     Charisma

3.     Ethical values

4.     Constant learning and updating

5.     Organized

9. Are you intrinsically motivated (doing something for it’s inherent satisfaction and the interest of doing it) or are you extrinsically motived (doing something because it gets you something else) to do you work? (Ryan & Deci, 2000)

A little bit of both; intrinsically motivated because I like the challenge of creating new ways to sell and having to convince others that it is the best solution possible for their problems, and extrinsically because I’m working here to get a paycheck, experience and contacts to be ready for the next step of self-employment.

10.  Does your company offer incentives besides getting paid? (programs, contests, ways to prevent people from slacking, improve relationships, teams, easy ways to communicate your ideas to upper management, etc.)

We have company cultural incentives by making different bonding contests that involve learning about the company and also about different cultural topics. There are also capacitation programs that are paid by the company to get you certified in specific topics. The company is open to listen to everyone’s opinion, every door is always open to go and communicate your ideas.

This perspective of a millennial gives great insights to what motivates a younger employee, what expectations he has of a company, and what qualities he finds important in leaders. In regards to motivation, Mr. Castro pointed out that his current position drives him, but he expressed limitations to the drives (e.g. no monetary incentives, not a family, no opportunity growth) which based on the research leads me to believe that his organization may want to reconsider their cultural expression and job design if they want to secure employee commitment.

          Mr. Castro briefly described his experience working for a baby-boomer CEO. He expressed the formality of interaction with him feels is outdated. This may be a common theme among the millennial generation, who want to enjoy their workplace as they enjoy their social life. When discussing new leadership qualities, Erickson points out that appreciating diversity is key. Mr. Castro suggested the same when he included multiculturalism in his ideal leadership qualities. Insights such as those given by Mr. Castro in this interview could be utilized to help companies better understand the needs of the new generation of employees and in turn, help them frame their culture, jobs, and incentives systems to maximize worker commitment.