The Wall Street Journal provides an article that does a nice job of laying out the upcoming shortage of workers.  The focus is upon the different generations and the general drive behind each.  The article is rather rudimentary, but it provides a clean view of the problem.

First:

Americans of childbearing age simply are not producing enough kids to meet the economy’s future need for workers, notably in fast-growing fields such as medicine and engineering. The shortfall is coming largely because the fabled baby boom generation was so huge—75 million Americans born in the 18 years from 1946 to 1964—that no other generation can be expected to match it any time soon.

Ok, that point leads to this:

They are being replaced by two younger generations, each with its own desires regarding the opportunities and rewards available at work. The challenge for hiring managers is to figure out what these workers’ needs are, so that employers will be able to find them, hire them, and keep them on the job.

Retention is going to be a top business initiative over the next couple of decades which is a simply outcome of supply and demand.

The baby boomers: They place a heavy emphasis on work and successfully climbing the corporate ladder. Work is an anchor in their lives.

The Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1980: They enjoy work but are more concerned about the work-life balance.

Generation Y, also known as Millennials, born after 1980 and now age 28 or younger: They often have different priorities than their Gen X and baby boomer counterparts, Smith says.

“Because of their reliance on technology, [Millennials] think they can work at any time and any place and believe they should be evaluated on the basis of work produced—not on how, when or where they got it done. Curiously, most Millennials want long-term relationships with employers, but on their own terms,” Smith says.

And finally, here is the rub we have seen between Baby Boomer managers and Gen Y employees:

The Millennials respond poorly to those who act in an authoritarian manner and those who expect to be respected due to higher rank alone. They believe they can learn quickly, take on significant responsibility and make major contributions far sooner than baby boomers think they can.

Exactly.  There has to be a balance between the boomer manager allowing the Gen Y worker to grow quickly in the role and the Gen Y worker not expecting too much, too fast.  There is distinct tension between these two goals.

As they see, read the entire thing.

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From CollegeRecruiter.com’s Sample Interview Questions for Those Hiring Millennials:

William recommends that interviewers “incorporate more personal questions that expose a candidate’s personality, work ethic, and personal motivations” because “how a person approaches life is often indicative of how they’d approach work.” He therefore recommends rephrasing typical interview questions in a way that they better apply to the personal lives of your candidates. Sample interview questions in this area include:

• How do you primarily communicate with friends? How often?
• When you have a dilemma to solve, how do you approach it?
• How do you spend your free time? (Do you prefer doing activities solo, with friends, or in groups?)

Excellent advice for interviewing a Gen Y candidate.  The questions will lead to revealing insight into the candidate.  The secondary benefit that now you appear to be speaking their language which is valuable in itself.

If you were to tie these questions to an assessment, you would have an in-depth view of this candidate like you have never seen.

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Another good article here from WSJ titled New Career, Same Employer.  The gist of the article:

Ernst & Young LLP last year named Nancy Harley director of career mobility for the Americas, a new position designed to help employees of the accounting firm move into new roles. “The longer someone stays intrigued and challenged, the longer they’re going stay with the firm,” Ms. Harley says.

Observers say employers are creating or expanding these programs to improve retention rates in a competitive job market, particularly as Baby Boomers begin to retire.

The initiatives typically include Web-based programs for evaluating employees’ career goals and suggesting relevant paths.

Interesting title - director of career mobility.  That position, or some form of it, may become quite common in the next 5 years.  Evaluating skills, talents and motivations is already a common tool used today by companies in both hiring, evaluating and promoting.

Here is an example from the article of how a large company handles this topic:

Accenture’s career-change initiative includes resources such as an online skills-assessment tool and a Web page featuring video clips of workers who have changed careers at the company. Every Accenture employee has an internal career counselor. Employees are urged to work with these counselors to develop a plan, including searching the company’s internal online job board.

I like the idea of an internal career counselor.  Obviously, Accenture is large so they have the ability to offer these resources.  However, managers can still be tuned into these topics with their employees.  This management skill will surely become more important as Gen Y increasingly becomes the largest generation in the workforce.

On a related note, I wrote an article a couple years ago that talked about Gen X and Y desiring a skills path for their personal development.  You can read it here.

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That title is for John Sumser - one more colloquialism for the recruiting world.  The Wall Street Journal offers up this article to discuss mothers re-entering the workforce after taking extended time off (years) to raise their family.

I have a soft spot in my heart for this topic since my wife recently reentered the workforce after taking 8 years off.  It took her some time, but she landed an ideal position at a medical clinic.  That isn’t always the case:

Though 74% do find work, only 40% say they are gainfully employed in full-time, mainstream jobs. “There is still a tremendous amount of stigma and suspension when employers see a hole in a resume,” says Ms. Hewlett.

I would hope that hiring managers do not equate being a full-time mom with being unemployed.  I would argue that being a mom does not constitute a hole in one’s resume (but I am not objective on this topic).

And, to facilitate that transition, a whole new industry of coaching and staffing firms as well as corporate and educational programs have popped up. “This talent pool is more and more necessary” and there is a growing recruiting effort to target parents returning to work, says Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, vice president of advisory services at Catalyst.

This is a great talent pool that should be tapped as the boomers retire.  Finally, one piece of advice from the article that worked well for my wife:

In your resume and—and later in interviews—be sure to take the mystery out of the time away from work. If you’ve taken on projects at schools and charities and used some of the skills from your career, highlight those volunteer experiences and any bottom-line or eye-catching results from the projects.

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Yesterday I posted on this “determine your own vacation time” approach to management.  It is totally foreign to me.  Today I come across another company with the same approach.  This HRE Online article - In Their Own Words - contains comments provided by Gen Y workers on a recent survey.

First the vacation comment (my empahsis):

CarMax

“Time away from work policy instead of vacation and sick days. There is not a set amount of time you can take, you just work it out with your manager. The office’s atmosphere is very bright and open. Management is very accessible and will answer any questions that you have. They encourage management throughout the company in order to give you a better overall understanding of the company.”

This one is rather astounding:

Quicken Loans

“When I was in training, it was mid-winter. On the first very cold day of the year, I had an amazing experience. I pulled into the very large parking lot and saw about eight people driving golf carts around, picking up employees. It was none other than the owner, CEO and president along with other executives of our company out there in the freezing cold picking us up and driving us to the front door. Upon walking in, there were donuts and warm apple cider waiting for us. If that’s not employee appreciation, I don’t know what is.”

We are up here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota so I am rather appreciative of this effort.  Owners, CEOs and Presidents that are willing to actually give of their time and effort for their employees reap greater retention rewards than just monetary rewards.  Yes, I know money goes a long ways, but imagine combining a monetary reward with this effort.  If I were an employee at Quicken Loans, I would be blown away with this effort.

You know, sometimes the best retention efforts are not wrapped in strategy, planning committees and focus groups.  They are simply people serving their employees in an unexpected, thoughtful manner.

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The retiring Boomers and the lack of X’ers to replace them is a well-documented problem in the labor force.  The Herman Trend Alert speaks to this problem, and more importantly to a solution, in their latest newsletter:

Many Baby Boomers retirements are, in fact, often “recareering” instead. See our previous Herman Trend Alert http://www.hermangroup.com/alert/archive_5-23-2007.html. All of the major players: Adecco, Manpower, Kelly, and Spherion now offer their clients the options of rehiring their retired employees as “consultants”, thus protecting them from certain legal liabilities. Many recareering Boomers are looking for project-based work, giving their employers the advantage of not hiring them as full-time, permanent employees on the payroll.

The bottom line problem is that there is still a widespread skilled labor shortage. Employers in most industries still have a hard time finding qualified workers. Wise employers are already looking for other opportunities for their valued employees within their organizations; thus, Baby Boomers may leave their high stress, high responsibility jobs and still benefit their long-term employers with their service. A recent Spherion Emerging Work Force Study reported that 80 percent of Boomer retirees “really do want to work again in some way”. They want to keep being productive.

I’m no expert on the generations, but this strikes me as the best short-term option to solve the skilled worker shortage.  Bringing Boomers back as consultants for project-based work puts a band-aid on many problems that are sure to appear in the upcoming years.

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Last week I posted on an article that discussed generational trends and specifically Gen Y and the effect of video game playing on their work habits.  Steven Rothberg from CollegeRecruiter.com added a comment to that post that I wanted to share.  Steven provides the most insightful commentary on Gen Y that I have read so I always consider his expert-level commentary.

I thought his comment on my post was as good or better than the original article:

Some may argue that video games are ruining the minds of this generation, but I feel that they’re not ruining the minds but instead changing them. The mind of someone of Gen Y age simply works differently than that of a Gen X’er or Baby Boomer.

Video games teach you how to think very quickly, collaborate (the most popular games are multi-player but even if you play single player mode you’re still collaborating with the computer), and executive decision making. Watch kids when they play video games. Yes they’re looking at the screen and can sit on the couch for hours but they’re also continuously talking with their friends and working together to solve problems. Sometimes they succeed and that’s great. But sometimes they fail.

The opportunity to fail is refreshing for a generation of kids who have grown up not being allowed to fail by their helicopter parents some teachers who mistakenly feel that everyone must succeed all of the time in order to have high self-esteem.

Now look at those same kids once they get into the workplace. You’ll find a group that is able to think quickly, decisively, and collaborate to reach goals which are optimal for the group. Sound familiar to their video game experiences? You bet.

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These definitions are from Selling Power’s Talkin’ about Different Generations:

1. The Silent Generation
   Consisting of workers over the age of 60, these folks tend to follow traditional patterns; they take their work seriously, expect to do this job for the rest of their working life, and feel comfortable working alone, knowing that they are trusted to perform up to or beyond expectations.
2. Baby Boomers
   Born between the years 1943 and 1964, Boomers currently comprise almost half the workforce in many organizations. They tend to be a bit more individualistic than their elders, and struggle with workaholism and work-life balance issues.
3. Generation X
   Born from 1964 to 1981, Gen X-ers have been causing managers to run for the Maalox ever since they began entering the workforce a little over 20 years ago. Frequently more tech-savvy and resourceful than their forebears, these folks tend to value highly personal relationships, time with the boss, and the chance to explore volunteering opportunities.
4. Generation Y
   Those born after 1981 are typically lumped in the Generation Y category – they frequently make less distinction between their jobs and personal lives, and often embrace 100 percent telecommuting. Money is not their prime motivator – what they’re doing and whom they’re working with tends to excite them. A better motivator than more money for Gen Y-ers is more time off, perhaps to take a three-day weekend for an outing with friends.

Ok, so those are some apt descriptions in general terms.  However, this is the pull quote from the article (emphasis mine):

While some might be quick to attribute this “slacker” phenomenon to an increased laziness and narcissism among younger people, Nelson argues that the real increase is in the need for immediate feedback.

“From a behavioral standpoint, playing a video game, which all kids grow up on today, the amount of feedback averages 60 times a minute,” Nelson says. “You take the same kid who’s had years of that type of instant feedback, drop him into a job and tell him to say, ‘And do you want fries with that?’ – of course he’ll be bored out of his mind.

I haven’t heard that analysis before but it certainly makes sense.  We don’t own a game system so I am somewhat unfamiliar with them.  These systems definitely hold sway over my 8 year old son though.  The interaction between the game and the player is frequent so many years of this reinforcement would have some effect.  Interesting premise.

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That is a term coined by Citrix and one I suspect we will see with some frequency.  If gas goes to $4/gallon, I suspect these articles will publish daily.  ManageSmarter.com offers up an article discussing the preference of today’s workers to have technological flexibility in their job.  The key here is the demographics of the results (emphasis mine):

…U.S. workers aged 18-34 prefer flexible working conditions two-to-one over other age groups.

In fact, 70% of survey respondents agreed that working remotely would be a welcome opportunity. In an era where acquiring and retaining good employees is a challenge, and the workforce is becoming increasingly young and mobile, offering the ability to Web commute can serve as a competitive edge for recruiters.

We encounter this fact daily in our sourcing activities.  In fact, we are seeing the web commute question coming up in discussion with older candidates too.  In sales, these tools are essential.  Sales has always operated outside of the company walls, but these tools allow outside salespeople the ability to have a completely mobile office which is a relatively new capability.

We have placed a handful of Gen Y salespeople recently and they all highly value remote tools.

Overall, the younger the respondent, the more apt he or she was to perceive value in online tools and services that enable them to work remotely.
The difference between the values expressed by younger workers versus others makes sense, given the proportionally higher familiarity with the Internet among Generations X and Y than among older workers. “As Baby Boomers retire, employers will be forced to compete for younger workers, for whom technology is a native tongue,” says Kellyanne Conway, CEO and president of the polling company, inc. “Offering the ability to Web commute is an easy way to provide a valued benefit to this age group.”

Today, it is difficult to compete for younger workers if you do not offer the technology that is their “native tongue.”  In the near future, you will not be able to compete at all for their services unless you offer these tools.

One item that often gets overlooked is that these younger workers use the tools at all hours.  We work with these salespeople to help get them onramped during their first few months at the new job.  I am always amazed at the hours I can reach them electronically.  They do not confine their work day to a traditional 8 to 5 schedule.  If you provide them the tools, they will use them well beyond your assumptions.

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As a Gen Xer, this article caught my attention on the Selling Power website.  Some of the points from the article:

Do remember this group has an entrepreneurial spirit. “They are individualists,” says Fishman. “Treat them as independent agents. They like to be in charge of things. If you have 100 people at your sales meeting, you have 100 entrepreneurs there.”

Don’t hire motivational speakers. “This is not a group that needs to be motivated,” says Fishman. “They don’t like spin, hype, or touchy-feely. They want something that they can take back to the office that will help them sell. Sharpen their skills; that’s what they’re there for. Give them tactical information.”

We are not an easy generation to manage - I speak from my own experience.  I am not manageable, just ask Lee.  The entrepreneurial mindset is fairly prevalent amongst many of my Gen X friends so I think there is something to that statement.

We are a bit of a cynical group and spin does not play well with us.  However, I’m wondering if there is a generation where spin is enjoyed?  Motivational speakers are disdainful so I am with the author on that topic too.

Sweeping generalizations are always a bit risky when trying to categorize such a large sample (i.e. an entire generation).  However, I think these types of articles do help open up cross-generation discussions so there is value to them.  The greater importance is to understand selling/communication styles and to identify your own preferences.  This knowledge does more to open up communication than any other item we have found.

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