This morning I stopped by my local cafe to grab a coffee. For the past 7 days there has been a “We Are Hiring” poster in the window (they opened 3 weeks ago). Business is booming according to the energetic, upbeat resident barista/owner, who greets us with her warm smile in the mornings. She’s never short of a story, especially since putting her “We Are Hiring” poster in the window.

You see she’s looking for someone who shows initiative, is presentable and has experience as a kitchen hand or wait staff. She’s the boss of the cafe and also a damn good barista, She clearly states to us Barista’s need not apply, as she "runs the coffee machine." (That didn’t stop several hipsters from applying for the role.)

She wants to hire, young experienced staff but the problem is they don’t seem to be out there. She’s put advertisements online, which clearly states “must have 3 years experience.” Obviously this is a “selective requirement” from the applicants who sent their resumes through.

She’s been bombarded with applicants who come in to talk with her. Thought they’ve not even sent their resume prior to stopping by the busy cafe. Which if they had, they would have clearly have not gotten a job, due to their lack of experience in the hospitality industry.

One girl pulled up out front of the cafe with her mum in the drivers seat. She then walked over with her casual attire and hair resembling a bird's nest and handed in her resume. The fact this girl had the audacity to show up essentially to a “face to face interview", without consideration of her professional presentation or lack of hospitality experience, left the owner scratching her head.

Then there was the girl who came after the cafe closed and began banging loudly on the window. After scaring the boss through her actions, she proceeded to say “you make the best coffee in the area...here is a copy of my resume.” Upon looking at the resume the cafe owner noticed, she had just finished a job as a designer at a large retail brand. This didn't stop the applicant from trying to talk herself up even though she did not have the relevant experience. With a look of dismay the owner let the girl know, she’ll keep her resume on file for when the “next cafe” opens.

Then there were the applicants with poor personal hygiene, that hadn’t been seen or accepted since the 60’s. You see the present Australian hospitality industry has tough regulations and rules to follow in order to keep a kitchen and venue open and as much as activism and free spirit is allowed, there are still requirements that need to be filled.

Then there was the staff that did make it through to the first round trial, of course they cracked at the first sign of pressure. The lack of their multitasking abilities and just general sense of direction was enough to get them the move on notice. Why is the new generation of workers finding it hard to run out orders, make basic sandwiches and just generally engage with customers? ( I was doing it at the age of 15.)

Is it the dreaded case of being brought up as a later Gen Y/Millennial ? Is this who we are relying on to fill our future workforce. The general consensus is people who were brought up during Gen Y (1980’s and 90’s) are often seen to be a lot more susceptible to what we like to call “entitlement”. It seems the latest millennials ( born late 90’s to 00’s) have no hope of getting out of the age of entitlement. If you are not familiar with what this means, here is a brief definition. Entitlement is the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding why the later of Gen Y seem to not want to work. Was it that baby boomers who were too attentive as parents and therefore children began to lose their ability to to fend for themselves? Or could it be we have been brought up in a world that is heavily reliant on technology, we’ve forgotten how to live in the real world? or can we blame reality TV shows who encourage the 15 minutes of fame life by posting racy photo's on the social media accounts.

Gen Y have been brought up in a world where there is too much choice, convenience and where instant gratification is a part of our everyday life. Has this lead to the current attitude of today’s workforce? It seems society is at a point where we are more interested in getting likes on our social media pages or making something go viral as opposed to getting out there and getting real life work experience. I’m not saying that being online doesn’t give you skills, especially if you are wanting to get into marketing, IT, multimedia or advertising, but this doesn’t help give exposure to people interaction. Which in a lot of jobs, is an integral skills set to have.

When I was at the legal working age in Australia I was working at a local cafe, gaining a great deal of customer service skills. I was also volunteering my time to extracurricular activities through my local community. Even if at the time I really didn’t want to. I was glad my parents pushed me to do it.

The thing is overall Gen Y and Millennials seems to not understand the importance of work experience and volunteering. The more experience you gain during your schooling, the better your resume will come across later on in life. Australian Bureau of Statistics show that school and university students are less likely to pick up part time work while they’re studying with only 31 per cent of 15 to 19-year-old students employed.

We get sent a great deal of resumes everyday and the main key points we look for is recent work experience. Seeing that you’ve worked or volunteered within the past few months is integral to have on your resume. It shows you are keen to work and keen to keep learning. If Gen Y and Millennials don't see the benefit in gaining experience, our future workforce may as well be run by programmed machines.