Over and over as we try to place new grads with good educational background, we ask the question, "What are you looking for as you start your career?" Half the time from Gen Y we hear the following: Having just finished my MBA I need $70K to $80K to start OR I need at least 3 to 4 weeks vacation time OR I want a family friendly company who understands that my family time is my priority OR It has to be a company that will put me in a challenging role with visibility OR The company should understand that social networking is important to employees and encourage online social networking during the work day OR Flex time and the ability to work from home is a strong need. PAY ATTENTION: The unemployment rate is hitting 10% with experienced people out of work. You are 15 to 25K too high in expectation for salary in a recession. 2 to 3 weeks vacation is above average. Almost everybody has a family of some kind employers look for people who make their job a priority so they can provide for their family. If you want to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and eBay, do it on your own time: the workplace is not for socializing or online shopping or paying your personal bills online. Before you start asking for flex time and work from home it might be good to prove to an employer that you know something, can produce something and have some sort of work ethic. If you give a hiring manager that list of needs and wants your interview will be short, they will move on to someone with experience, a proven track record and who is not looking for more entitlements than the president and will not feel put upon if they are asked to work a 40 hour week in the office most of the year. NEXT! TJNTIY.

At that same small consulting firm, we interviewed a candidate for a programming position who was doing pretty well... until out of the blue, he launched into an impassioned political tirade about a controversial topic. Um, thanks, don't call us, we'll call you. TJNTIY.

Another recent one that cracked me up: A sales candidate told me that he was looking to change jobs because in his current job he was traveling about 90% of the time. He could have left it at that but he added, "Trying to get my wife pregnant between trips is not working out - I even had her meet me at the airport one time because I was only going to be in town for a couple hours." TJNTIY

Responding to questions with hypothetical answers. It's something that I'd never given much thought to but at the pointy end it was crucial and I had a good candidate miss this particular opportunity because of it - and you don't get a second run at it as a candidate. TJNTIY.

We've had a candidate on an interview for a manager's position reporting to the President of the company. The President was a fairly young/early in his career, (mid 40s), and no intention of retiring anytime soon. The candidate who was interviewing had a stellar twenty plus year career and was more senior than the President.