The Herman Trend Alert touches on the ever-popular Gen Y/Millennial trends and traits in their most recent email (sorry, no link). The perception of this generation still needs some improvement…drastic improvement (emphasis mine): Recently JobFox.com conducted a poll of recruiters with predictable results—Millennials were judged to be the least effective performers of the four generations now in our workplace. A paltry 20 percent of the responders characterized them as “generally great performers”. Compare this statistic to the 63 percent who said Baby Boomers (43 to 62 years old) were great performers and 58 percent who gave high marks to Gen Xers (29 to 42). True confession – I have a… Read More
Continue ReadingGeneration Y-Enthusiastic Or Spoiled?
There is always difficulty when you try to paint an entire generation with one broad stroke. This fact is prominently on display in two different articles from RecruitingTrends.com. The topic is Gen Y. Here is an excerpt from the first one (my emphasis): The millennials share a generational personality that is highly misunderstood by preceding generations, who often misinterpret their motivation as impatience and their enthusiasm as narcissism. Employers who manage millennials need to understand their generational footprint in order to keep this tech-savvy, plugged-in group of employees engaged in their work. Here is an excerpt from the second one (my emphasis): So how do you supervise, lead, and approach… Read More
Continue ReadingGen Y Is Empowered
Not my words, but rather a quote from this Selling Power article: “If I had to use one word to describe Generation Y, it’s empowered,” says Ann Fishman, president of Generation Targeted Marketing Corporation, a specialized marketing firm providing insight into consumer preferences, trends, and buying habits affecting the six generations of Americans. “This is a generation who has a tremendous amount of self-confidence. They are civic minded, optimistic, and want to be involved in their futures. They are going to come on very strong. And now for some tips: Fishman notes a few things to keep in mind when going through the hiring process with this group. First, Generation… Read More
Continue ReadingGenerations 101
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… Read More
Continue ReadingA Different View Of The Video Game Generation
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… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Video Game Generation
These definitions are from Selling Power’s Talkin’ about Different Generations: 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. 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. Generation X Born from 1964 to 1981, Gen X-ers have… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Net Generation
I haven’t heard that description used for Gen Y until I read this BusinessWeek.com article – Netting the Net Generation. The article is a good read for managers who have Gen Y employees. Some of the information is fairly common, but I thought this point was well stated: However, don’t assume this technologically sophisticated generation is made up of solitary video game players. Generation Y is highly relationship-oriented and uses a wide range of media and technology to connect with others. They expect to experience this in the workplace as well. Give them opportunities to engage and share ideas and to work on new things. Traditional behaviors that define power… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Problem With Gen Y
BusinessWeek.com offers up a scathing discussion of Gen Y in Getting to Know Gen Why. I’m no expert on Gen Y, but this article takes them out to the woodshed (had to throw in an old school saying). What you hear is: “They don’t want to pay their dues, play by the rules, or give their best to any project unless they are sure it will get them a promotion, a raise, or some kind of recognition. And then if they aren’t totally happy, or if you look at them wrong, they’ll bolt for the next job!” And this: Today’s students memorize names, dates, and algebraic equations, but they graduate… Read More
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