August 08, 2007

First Steps Conference....Networking Dinner # 2 (31st June 2007)

Sand_heart_freeWho was there? - Participants for our second networking dinner

What we explored

  • The different sides of the graduate market
  • Skills gap
  • Funding sources for the First Steps! social conference

Thoughts that were expressed in the networking focus group

Graduate Market - what can students do to make themselves more marketable - what can they do to create work for themselves?Geny1

  • Demonstrate that you can do high value adding work - despite the huge amount of offshoring going on, there is still a need for high value adding work in the UK - typically only jobs of the "number crunching" type are offshored. Graduates need to be prepared demonstrate that they fall into the "value adding" category rather than the "number crunching category" to become more employable
  • Enterprise is needed more than qualifications on the market - the UK market needs more enterprise in order to be successful in the global market. Many employers are looking for enterprise skills and entrepreneurial skills even though they may not have articulated it in their role descriptions. Having these skills will make graduates more attractive to employers in general
  • Do internships - intern experiences with different types of organisations and different industries / sectors will give students salable work experience, as well as allowing students to explore what kind of work they can be passionate about. This is extremely valuable experience to obtain - students should strive to get internships even if they need to volunteer their time to get internships in their target organisations
  • Don't just consider big organisations - graduates need to open themselves up the SME (small medium enterprise) and third sector markets to open up their employment options. Unfortunately, since these since organisations are not on the conventional graduate recruitment circuit, it will be more of a challenge to identify suitable organisations to approach. On the sunnier side, these smaller organisations typically do not have fixed recruitment processes and so will be less likely to discriminate on qualifications. Generally, these organisations will be open to proactive individuals approaching them as they are always on the look out for good people to help their businesses to grow and expand. Graduates who want to work for these organisations will need to demonstrate that they are self-starting and self-learning since these organisations typically don't have huge amount of managerial time or training budgets for graduates who need their hands held
  • Consider big organisations that do not have graduate schemes - many of the bigger organisations do not have special recruitment processes for graduates and so do not appear on the graduate recruitment circuit. However, like the SME market (see the point above), they are looking for proactive good people on a ongoing basis to fill graduate caliber positions that become available
  • Get values - students need to develop themselves more holistically - work experience, voluntary work and other extra curricular activities are all needed to help to show employers the value system that the students are operating from
  • Consider short projects to gain experience - even small voluntary projects (for charities, community groups, for the university etc) that are completed in a couple of weeks can provide invaluable work experience and skills that can be marketed
  • Make volunteering the norm to gain skills and experience that employers want - in some countries like Canada it is expected that students and graduates will have done a considerable amount of voluntary work to get onto the work ladder
  • Be proactive in company research - students need to be more active in their research to find organisations that would be suited them. Students should try to meet people who work in the organisations rather than just relying on the marketing literature that has been provided by the organisations
  • Demonstrate that you can handle work by building a portfolio of experience - graduate employers are finding it difficult to fill their graduate positions even though an abundance of graduates have applied because significant basic work skills are missing. European graduates and students are seen as more employable because it is a norm in Europe to build up a portfolio of voluntary and internship work experience to develop these work skills
  • Hunt down jobs and work experience opportunities like International students - graduates need to be more hungry for the work. Currently domestic students expect everything to be handed to them, whilst international students are actively looking for work experience. UK students and graduates are being outsmarted by those from abroad - and oftentimes the difference is like chalk and cheese in terms of enthusiasm and passion
  • Sometimes it is good to wait if you have work experience to offer - some graduates wait 6 months or so after they have graduated before looking for a job. Good graduates who already have work experience will still be able to find work and be paid several thousand pounds over the market rate for positions that employers have been struggling to fill
  • Raise your graduate caliber - the phrase "graduate caliber" no longer means what it meant a decade ago - the employers on the market feels that graduate caliber has dropped considerably over the past years. The time has passed where graduates had jobs handed to them on a plate. Successful graduates are the ones that have worked at being seen to be more than the "standard" graduate by demonstrating that they can perform and deliver with relevant experience and attitude
  • Exceed employer expectations if you have high standards - if graduates have high expectations that they want their employer to meet, they need to make sure that they can prove that they can exceed expectations of their selected employers
  • Think differently about yourself - you are more than a qualification - graduates need to determine what makes them unique as person (values, strengths etc). This assessment will help the graduate to determine the organisations which would value the whole package the graduate has to offer
  • Work experience is better than backpacking experience - actual work experience has more value on the market than the experience gained as a result of backpacking trips
  • Use "gap" year to differentiate yourself - working abroad in Brazil is no longer a differentiator in the graduate market because "everyone is doing the Brazil thing". This kind of working / volunteering abroad is considered the easy option by employers - finding a job in the local market to gain work experience will be more attractive to future employers. If students do want to volunteer in their gap year, they would be better off being active in their local communities (helping out charities, communities, other third sector organisations) rather than volunteering abroad
  • Get the right attitude - graduates need to work at developing a proactive attitude so that they come across as having spark and passion - graduates who have the right attitude are more attractive to employers. Having a great attitude can also make up for not having all the skills that the employer is looking for as employers will be more disposed towards recruiting on attitude and training for missing skills
  • Get rid of apathy - many students and graduates on the market are considered to be "too apathetic" and nonchalant by employers - apathy is not an attractive quality for employers no matter how great your qualifications are
  • Use personal development to differentiate yourself - graduates will become more attractive to employers in general if they show that they have the ability for self-analysis and self-learning
  • Value your education - higher education is not "business as usual" for the majority of the world who need to make huge sacrifices to gain a higher education. Students need to value their higher education more and to be hungry for the opportunities that they now have access for as a result of their degree. The current apathy and lack of care from students and graduates is making higher education a commodity rather than something to be valued
  • Don't go for high pay - graduates that choose work based solely on what they will get paid will often find that they are in the wrong job
  • Control your helicopter parents - helicopter parenting is now creeping into the UK - students are advised to not let their parents become too involved in their job searching activities. Parents need to be kept away from potential employers!
  • Understand that employers want to work with people rather than qualification - once graduates have passed the filters that employers have put into place to reduce the number of people that they have to consider, employers will then select based on attitude, passion and fit with the organisation's culture. If graduates have not developed themselves as a unique people who are something more than their qualifications and resume, they will not get past the final round to achieve a successful job offer
  • Understand you will have multiple careers - generally most graduates will need to explore several different careers to determine which career they want to focus on in the long term. This tendency can have a negative impact with potential employers if it is not managed well. Whilst graduates are not expected to stay in a job forever, they will still need to demonstrate to potential employers that they will stay long enough in the job so that the employers can reap the benefits from the training and effort provided to get the graduates up to speed
  • Working for corporates will require a certain mentality - if graduates are passionate about being highly creative and innovative in their work, they will be better off with a smaller organisation since larger ones are more set in their ways. Graduates will also need to watch out for organisations that are only paying lip service to creativity - these organisations will recruit for creativity but they do not have a culture that supports creativity
  • Look for intelligent organisations - all companies are not the same - there are big cultural differences between organisations. Some employers are intelligent about how to work with young people, others are not so intelligent. Some will see graduates as a cog in the machine, others will see them as a whole person with strengths, weaknesses, hopes and desires
  • Use your network of friends and family to find work - 40% of jobs in the USA are filled by internal recommendation by staff. Graduates and students need to leverage their network rather than solely relying on conventional graduate recruitment paths. To be successful in this method, graduates need to ensure that they are the type of person that their network will be happy to refer to employers. This is the best route into organisations who do not normally recruit graduates and students
  • Why are graduates and students so passionate in their "life" activities and apathetic about "work" activities? - Generation Y is an authentic generation. Graduates and students typically do not feel excited about work/professional life because they do not see work as an authentic avenue for expressing what they are passionate about in life. They see work as something to be tolerated so that they can live the rest of life as they like. When young people get to see that their work will help them to achieve what they desire from life, they can move from "apathetic and switched off" to "hungry and switched on" overnight...it is all about finding the right context

Graduate Market - What can employers do to make the most of student and graduate resource available on the market?Geny1_2

  • Understand labour market dynamics more and take advantage of the graduate resource available - we are approaching a demographic challenge - there will soon be shortage of people in the UK who can work to deliver the current economy when the Baby Boomers start retiring on mass. Since this demographic shortage is also a global phenomena, the UK shortage cannot be fully solved with back-filling strategies such as offshoring and migrant labour
  • Use a bottom up approach - employers will be able to get more value from graduates if they are able to assess and creatively use the skills that are actually available on the graduate market to deliver their business objectives rather than moaning about what is missing. At the moment, most employers are operating from a top down approach where they dictate what they want without taking into consideration what resources and skills are actually available
  • Use technology to facilitate digging into the skills that applicants have - the technology is now available to facilitate employers to have a more bottom up approach in their recruitment process
  • Even Government need to be less choosy - the Government is a large employer of graduates and even it is currently struggling to fill its graduate positions despite the large number of applicants. As a example, Government recruiters are even filtering out candidates if they do not have Power Point skills....Power Point skills can typically be gained with a one day course. Employers need to do more work to identify skills that are essential and skills that they can train for in order to expand the pool of suitable candidates available to them
  • Employers need to see themselves as sellers rather than buyers - employers need to market the opportunities that can offer in order to attract the kind of graduates that they want rather than waiting to be approached as customers
  • Graduate recruitment programmes need to have more intelligence - many graduate employers are just not looking for the right skills - they are looking for outdated skills and they do not take account of the new skills that are coming on to the market. This is resulting in graduates becoming frustrated because the newer skills that they have to offer are not being considered by employers
  • The opportunity to giving back for Generation Y is more important than employers think - employers need to provide graduates with more opportunities to contribute back to community - Generation Y is very socially minded generation that is driven to make a difference in the world. The top graduates in the market are not prepared to "do the time" before they have the opportunity to give back - they want to do it as soon as they start and they do not see why they need to wait to do it
  • CSR is not a hygiene factor - it is more than a tick box - given a choice, most graduates will prefer to choose employers who see CSR activities as an integral part of their business rather than employers who see CSR as an activity that they need to pay lip service to please the government and other stakeholders. Employers need to ensure that they walk their talk in CSR spiel that they give to graduates whilst recruiting them - otherwise their recruited graduates will walk!
  • Reshape jobs to include some CSR - good graduates are looking for jobs with high levels of CSR activities. Since CSR includes running "business as usual"(business processes, supply chain, recycling, sustainable workforce etc) more responsibly as well as giving back to community, employers should find it relatively easy to reshape existing graduate roles to include CSR activities
  • Realise that the ambitions of the graduate market are changing - graduates are now less motivated by the opportunity to earn lots of money. Good graduates are now starting to go to lesser brand names and smaller firms so that they can have more work-life balance. Graduates are also looking for work in organisations where they are able to gain a variety of skills in a more unstructured way that suits their personal aspirations rather than joining a fixed career track
  • Design jobs better - there is a lot of potential for jobs to be designed better so that people are able to get more personally out of work and life. Graduates are more likely to be retained if their job roles are balanced and designed to suit human beings
  • Make your company information more attractive - the current information packs that employers offer about their organisation are boring and just do not play the role that they are supposed to - they are outdated and not geared towards the needs of Generation Y
  • The search for bright sparky people - many companies are now getting their staff to look for young people in their network of friends and family who have the right attitude and have a bright and sparky energy. In doing this, companies are acknowledging that their current recruitment processes do not fully deliver that kind of people that they are seeking
  • Understand that young people are on a journey - employers need to understand that young people need to try out different things before they get a clearer vision of what they want to do with their working lives in the long term
  • Provide portfolio working - many of the top end graduates are looking for portfolio working - look at providing this as an option when recruiting graduates

Graduate Market - What role can universities play to improve the employability of their students?Geny1_3

  • Balance the skills required by industry - too many people are doing courses like media and not enough people are doing the sciences. Universities should do more to ensure that core skills that the market needs are made more attractive to potential students - they need to liaise more with the different industry sectors to do this
  • Universities need to do more than they have done in the past - in the past, universities mainly concentrated on research activities with the education of students was seen more as sideline something done on the side to support research activities. This attitude worked in the past when a degree was seen then as the "key to riches" and students found it relatively to place themselves in the employment market. However, a degree now no longer has this status with employers mainly because the numbers of graduates have increased substantially over the last decade. Students need to have more support from their universities to get employed after their degrees - universities need to change with the times and get more interested in making their students more employable
  • Support students to choose courses that make them more employable - students are generally clueless about what skills the world of work actually needs - they need to be supported to make course decisions that fit their personal strengths and will maximise their employment opportunities
  • University is a not a "three year holiday" - university needs to be seen more than a place where you go to do an easy course so that you can have "fun" for three years
  • Improve university career services - most careers advice provided by universities is considered to be "rubbish" that does not meet the needs that the students have. The focus group estimated that 90% of students do not use their University career service at all

Thoughts on the skills gapGeny1_4

  • Close your skills gap by using selling skills - graduates can actively use selling skills to determine what prospective employers (customers) want and actively develop themselves to match that need
  • Make the most of programmes that develop employability skills - there are many programmes available (including volunteering) that are designed to improve employability skills - students need to become more aware of them and get themselves onto the ones that best suit their needs as early as possible
  • Get the best job you are capable of getting to gain employability skills - any work experience is a start to make students more employable. Even a lower grade job will help students to start to develop basic employability skills - the students can work themselves up to get better work experience as they progress through their university career
  • Close your skills gap by going for the "right jobs" - go for roles that roles that suit your strengths - graduates that go for jobs that maximise their inherent strengths will find it easier to find work. A role that uses a graduate's strengths will ignite the graduate's passion as this will be role that they will be excited by. Furthermore, the graduate will be more able to demonstrate more solidly that they have the skills that are required for the role because they will have many examples from their life to pull from

Gallup in their StrengthsFinder book define a "strength" as a skill that a person enjoys and uses frequently when they have a choice. It is estimated that 80% of people in the UK are in the "wrong job" where they are working in roles that do not maximise their strengths and hence do not capture their motivation and passion. People in the "wrong jobs" are considerably less productive than those in the "right jobs"

  • Close your skills gap by mapping your skills - most graduates have more skills than they are aware of - these are the skills that have been gained in non-work work related context (volunteering, social projects, personal activities and projects) that can be mapped to working context
  • Close your skills gap by being responsible for your own learning - graduates should not expect to have their hands held in their first jobs. Graduates will considerably improve their employability if they are able to show prospective employers that they are willing to be responsible for their own learning and personal development to help support the delivery of company objectives
  • Improving the specification of skills will close the skills gap - skills need to be broken up and better defined. Employers need to do this when they are specifying the skills that they need so that prospective employees can see if they realistically match what is required. Graduates who are able break down their skills in more detail will be able to sell themselves better. The low level of specification of skills on both sides of the market is causing the skills gap to be larger than it really is in many situations
  • Recruitment agencies need to improve - recruitment agencies need to be more truthful - they often try to fit people into the wrong jobs to make up numbers - they often try to make a square peg to fit in a round hole
  • Close your gap by gaining skills from a mentor - one of the best ways to learn skills is hook up with a mentor who has done well
  • Close your gap by gaining sought after entrepreneurial skills - many organisations are looking for entrepreneurial abilities. Graduates who have developed these skills with entrepreneurial projects will immediately improve their employability.
  • Close your gap by developing the right attitude - having a good attitude is a the biggest tool that graduates and students have available to close their perceived skills gap. Most employers have realised that employees with the right attitude is an extremely valuable asset to their organisation. Employers are more likely to forgive a skills gap if the graduate has the right attitude. Developing the right attitude is bigger challenge than it seems because the right attitude can only be cultivated from inside out rather than with superficial inauthentic behavioural changes. Unfortunately, the right attitude cannot be taught since it is more about "a way of being" rather than "a way of doing"
  • Be motivated to close your skills gap by linking skills with passion - students and graduates will be more motivated to close their skills gap if they can link the skill that they want to improve with achieving their "secret passion / ambition". An example was given of a "D" high schools student in English become an "A" student practically overnight when the student realised that having this skill would help them to fulfil their ambition to be an author
  • Careers advisers need to understand the context of "secret passion / desire" - careers advice needs to be focused more around "unleashing" passion in students rather than giving advice based on what the student has studied
  • The current education system is not creating the right skills - the education model is the wrong model - it is more concerned with churning out identical people like a sausage making factory, rather than creating enterprising, passionate unique individuals that employers actually desire to have
  • Employers are underestimating Generation Y skills - Generation Y are hitting the workforce and we are still not fully aware of what Generation Y are capable of. Employers are penalising graduates because they are not the same as previous generation graduates - they see more about what is "wrong" with current graduates rather than looking at how they can fully exploit the unique talents of Generation Y that have been enabled by the technology and the Internet
  • Graduate social networking skills need to maximised by employers - students and graduates are on the leading edge of technology based social networking - they can help organisations to be more connected up and effective
  • Resumes and CVs need to change - the current formats are not working - how can the new media be used so that individuals can express themselves as human beings as well as what they are able to do? How can resumes be more expressive of the core competencies and skills that the employers are looking for?
  • Skills gap vs information gap - much of the perceived skills gap is actually an information gap due to lack of clarity on both sides

Thoughts on fundingGeny1_5

  • Having employers as sponsors will compromise the event - employers will most likely try to monopolise the event to follow their agenda
  • Have employers pay for tickets rather than as sponsors - employers will find it easier to pay a ticket price rather than a sponsorship because it comes from different budgets
  • Make sure outcomes are clear - for people to attend and sponsor, the outcomes for each group attending will need to be distinctive
  • Price it differently for different groups - the best way of raising funds is to charge for tickets for all participants - and vary the price point for the different groups to make it attractive
  • Make sure it is different from other conferences discussing graduate employability - there are many other conferences operating in this space, we need to make sure that we are different
  • Focus on innovative solutions - be different by being a solutions orientated conference - show participants the innovative employability solutions that have already been implemented
  • Potential funders - Dfes, LSC, Hefce

Posted by: Hina Patel

Posted at 06:25 PM in First Steps! Networking, graduate conference | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Gen Y@Work 7 - Recruiting Generation Y

Geny5Recruiting and retaining Generation Y will become more and more important over the next few years

There will be large competition for new Generation Yers entering the workforce as the labour market tightens up. See post on intergenerational conflict for more information about demographics.

Over the next few years, most employers will have realised that the rapid retirement of the Baby Boomer shortage means that they will feel the pressure to accommodate for the needs of Generation Y. Companies will need to be able to attract and retain Generation Y more effectively if they want to remain competitive in the market.

Currently, many companies are finding it a struggle to recruit and retain good Generation Y workers.

The main key to recruiting Generation Y is to show them that you can help them to lead a more meaningful life

Be authentic

  • Employers need to be authentic and straight up in their interactions with Generation Y
  • Generation Y will be able to pick up if an organisation is paying lip service and are not "walking their talk" - and they will happily use social media tell the rest of their peers that this is the case
  • Generation Y would prefer the unvarnished truth rather than something that sounds good

Use Generation Y marketing techniques

  • Recruitment needs to be treated as a marketing effort (with Generation Y being the buyers rather than the sellers) - see post on Managing Generation Y
  • Generation Y is fickle and very attracted to what is hip and cool - employers will need to keep ahead of the times to recruit the best Generation Yers
  • Maximise the use of websites, social media and other popular technologies in recruitment campaigns
  • Start employing "Myspace" type recruiting - go to where the Generation Yers hang out

Make your sector attractive

  • Sectors that Generation Y find naturally attractive
    • Generation Y's social awareness makes the third sector very attractive to them
    • Also Generation Yers are intrinsically very attracted to cutting edge industries (media , technology etc)
  • What about the other sectors?
    • In general, Generation Y's knowledge about different industries is poor because they think more in terms of a portfolio of skills rather then specific industry focused career paths (see post on Generation Y & careers for more information).This means that employers cannot rely on Generation Yers specifically targeting employement in their particular industry without any proactive marketing. Employers will need to work actively to make their industries attractive to the Generation Y workforce if they want to draw them in the numbers that they require
    • Even graduates with vocational degrees cannot be expected to look for jobs in the vocation that they have trained in - there are many other jobs that they can do in the market that do not require specific degrees (for example the IT industry is currently suffering from a skills shortage even though enough graduates have been trained in IT) - vocational employers will be competing against generalist employers for good Generation Y resource

Make your organisation attractive

  • Employers need to be prepared to actively communicate their vision, values, culture and organisational structure in their marketing
  • Employers need to recruit to culture and values - the best way to recruit and retain Generation Yers is to those who are are aligned to the organisation
  • Employers should not pretend to have an organisation that they do not have to attract Generation Y - even if employers are in the process of cleaning up their organisation, they need to be authentic about where they are and where they want to get to with Generation Y candidates

Make the roles offered attractive

  • Offer balanced roles that are well designed and provide work-life balance
  • Show them that they will be managed well
  • Offer the opportunity for Generation Yer to gain a variety of different skills in your organisation
  • Upgrade internships to include coaching and mentoring
  • Work with candidates to determine how the opportunities available in your firm will help them to achieve their personal objectives and passions
  • Take advantage of their tech savvyness (Internet, mobile technology, computer games, gadgets etc) - most of Generation Y is highly technically literate not matter what they have studied at university. Generation Y is ideally placed to drivers of product development, sales, entrepreneurship in the organisation. Furthermore they are ideally suited to generate innovation by challenging the way that your organisation and your industry operates

Effectively manage Generation Y expectations

  • Generation Y are looking for a lifestyle whilst working that is in alignment with their expectations (work-life balance etc)
  • Generation Y are very idealistic - do not be disenchanted with what Generation Y are looking for them - work with them to create win-win solutions. A perceptions survey in USA has shown:
    • Pay - salary is primarily an attraction tool, it is not a retention tool. Even though Generation Y can come across as overly concerned about money, they are prepared to shift if employers can support them to create the lifestyle that they desire
      • Gen Y - $45k
      • Employers - $28k
    • Promotion - the mismanagement of this expectation will result in your recruited Generation Yers leaving in droves when they are disappointed
      • Gen Y - after 6 months
      • Employers - after 18 months
  • What Generation Y want from work:
    • purpose
    • meaning
    • responsibility
    • promotional opportunity
    • increased responsibility
    • individuality and creativity
    • flexibility & fun
    • ethical commitment
    • belonging and engagement
    • up-to-date work environment
    • passionate & optimistic workplace
  • What they want from their boss
    • empowerment
    • mentoring rather than direction
    • fairness / recognition
    • personal connection
    • involvement & demonstration of values
    • demonstrated competence
  • Educate candidates - help them to understand your corporate culture, the lifestyle that they will have, the values of your organisation and the expectations of your organisation
  • Have an effective candidate management system where all candidates are treated as individuals

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (1),(13),(15), (21), (23), (28), (30), (31), (32)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

Posted by: Hina Patel

Posted at 06:23 PM in Generation Y, graduate conference | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 03, 2007

Gen Y@Work 6 - Generation Y & Career

Geny4Generation Y's concept of career

"Career is not for life but for time being"

Generation Y's view of career is significantly different from what has been normally accepted in the past.

Generally Generation Y believe that work and career need to be integrated with the rest of life rather than being distinct and separate from it. Generation Y are advocates of work-life balance and for the majority of them, work is not their top life priority.

The ambitious generation

Generation Y is hungry for success, but their approach is different from previous generations. Generation Y prefer to see themselves as a "business" rather than as a "job".

Generation Y top line career goals

  • Developing skills that they want to learn and experience in order to increase their work fulfilment from work
  • Making a difference to the world in areas that matter to them

Anything is possible

Generation Yers have a high level of social consciousness that is supported by high levels of self esteem developed from highly nurturing parenting (see post on role of Generation Y parents). Generation Y have high expectations of their "career" because they have been bought up to believe that if they dream big and work hard, then they can have anything that they want - that they can be anything that they imagine.

Generation Yers aspire to leadership very early in their working lives - they are yearning to have responsibilities that help them to make a tangible difference in the organisation that they are working for and in the world. Their career choices are typically driven by the quest for opportunities to play meaningful roles in work that help others.

Believe in ability rather than hierarchy and £££££Geny2_5

Generation Y value skills and abilities more than hierarchy. Generation Y is more incentivised by the opportunity to develop a diverse range of skills rather than being promoted.

Generation Y are not so interested in the need for financial success that ran Generation X. Additionally, as many still have parental support until their late 20s, Generation Yers have the freedom to seek work based on interest rather than how much it will pay at the start of their career.

Career is not a job for life

Generation Y do not resonate with the concept of a single career track that you need stay on and follow forever. Generation Yers do not expect to stay in the same career for more than 2 - 4 years. They are willing to move around until they find something that suits them. Most of Generation Y aspire to Initially acquire a diverse range of skills before they make more long term decisions about specialisations.

The importance of passion

Generation Y prefer to choose to do work that that they can be passionate about rather than taking a well paid position. They want to do work that matches what they are interested in and what they perceive their abilities to be. Many of the Generation Yers are idealistically looking for the paid equivalents of voluntary positions.

Personalised careers - portfolio careers

Generation Y want personalised careers that they have built for themselves - careers that incorporate all their current passions and interests. Generation Y are very open to developing "portfolio careers" where they are able to perform a range of roles that will give them fulfilment in their work (eg banker part time & yoga teacher part time).

Self-loyalty

Career wise, Generation Y do not plan to be loyal to anyone except for themselves. They are not prepared to give their loyalty to any company unless it provides a huge benefit to them.

Career planning

Generation Y prefer to leave entering the world of professional work as long as possible. The term "too little too late" describes well how a lot Generation Yers embark on initial career planning. This lack of care and lethargy is most probably due to the knowledge that they know that they will be able to move on easily if they initially choose a job that they have does not suit them.

If a job looks interesting, then a Generation Yer will be willing to take a risk and take it on to see how they get on. One can see how this mentality could be frustrating to potential employers who prefer to hear that prospective employees have carefully selected their industry and their organisation.

Management and work environment Geny2_7

Although Generation Yers are not too certain about what job they will take on to start their career, they are very definite on how they want to be managed and the type of work environments that will suit them. See post on how to manage Generation Y for more information.

Entrepreneurship

Generation Y prefer to feel that they are working for themselves even when they are working for a company.

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (11), (14), (15), (17), (23), (24), (25), (27), (30), (31)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

Posted by: Hina Patel

Posted at 01:46 PM in Generation Y, graduate conference | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Gen Y@Work 5 - How to Manage Generation Y

Geny3List of tips on how to manage Generation Y

Many of the things on the list below are how most people would like to be managed and what good managers are doing anyway.

However, Generation Y is the first generation that actually demands it! If Generation Yers are not managed well then they (especially the good ones) will leave for another firm that treats them better.

Good management is a key tool for retaining Generation Y. Organisations that do not develop good management will:

  • Have difficultly in retaining good staff
  • Have difficultly in filling their positions - Generation Y will market to each other the good & bad firms to work for
  • Not releasing the potential that Generation Y have to offer in their organisation - Generation Y employees have the potential to be very high performers - if they are managed well, Generation Y will be a huge asset to their employers

"Many of us are bored, we want more from life than a desk. We want continued education in the workplace, better hours, more family focus...etc"

Do not reject Generation Y workers because they seem difficult to manage

  • Generation Y is the most smartest, tech savvy and idealistic generation of our time - organisations need to learn to leverage this generation to ensure their future success and competitive advantage
  • Meeting the challenge of effectively managing Generation Y will support organisations to raise their overall bar in management capability - the other employees will also respond positively to raised management standards

Make their work matterGeny2

  • Prove to them that there is a good enough reason to for what you are asking them to do
  • Give them productive tasks that make a difference from day one

Listen to them and provide them with feedback

  • Generation Y workers need for their voice to be heard
  • People that manage Generation Y need to notice and react to their performance - Generation Y need to be stimulated and given feedback on an ongoing basis
  • Give them the opportunity to tell you when they have a better idea for something since they will tell you anyway!
  • Try to make an effort to understand their "language"
  • Allow them to have their say in organisational decision making

Generation Y want to experience leadership as soon as possible

  • Build opportunities for leadership for them
  • Generation Y desire to take on significant responsibility early - they will respond positively if they are made responsible for sugnificant pieces of work
  • Provide them with autonomy - do not micro manage them - they will come and ask for help and feedback from managers and other employees if they can not do something

Get them on the leading edge of what the organisation is doing

  • Generation Y need to feel that they are the cutting edge at work - show them how their work is cutting edge

Encourage problem solvingGeny2_2

  • Never take for granted that Generation Y will not understand complex situations or products
  • Generation Y will not believe that something will fail unless they see it - they want actual proof that something that cannot be done
  • Generation Y are capable of solving issues that organisations have failed to solve in the past because they are not afraid of trying and learning from failing

Understand what motivates Generation Y

  • The key to managing Generation Y is understand what motivates them - once managers are able to active this, they will be able to inspire the loyalty of high performing Generation Y employees
  • Consider new benefits and compensation strategies
  • Generation Y are motivated to contribute by working through levels of increasing complexity -this comes from their gaming mentality
  • Generation Y do not respond well to command and control management styles ("do this or else"). Many companies have found that their Generation Yers have quit before they have the time to fire them
  • Remove / minimise company politics - Generation Y are not interested in "sucking up" - Generation Y is not afraid to tell people at all levels of hierarchy what they think of them
  • Goals, goals, goals - small goals with tight deadlines
  • Generation Y want work that is sociable and fun

Generation Y want recognition for what they do

  • Give public praise - Generation Y want to be famous and known for their achievements

Be prepared to manage their high expectationsGeny2_3

  • You will need to actively manage the expectations of Generation Y workers - explore with them which of their expectations can be achieved and why others cannot - Generation Y will leave if they are not supported to manage their idealistic expectations

Help them to make the transition into the professional workplace

  • Generation Y workers need to be provided with professional guidelines as they are not used to being formal
  • Teach them the basics of time management
  • Generation Y need support to transition to the real world - they are not as ready as to hit the ground running like Generation X were - they need more instruction & mentoring

Support them to give back

  • Offer Generation Y workers opportunities for community involvement
  • Allow them to help those less fortunate than themselves
  • Generation Y have a core need to make a difference and affect the world for the better - help them to do this

Be flexible about how they work

  • Be prepared to reconfigure the way that things are done - if the work is getting done, does it matter where and how it is done?
  • Provide balance, flexibility and variety in their work

Generation Y prefer to work in teams

  • Allow Generation Y workers to work in teams whenever possible as they are more social than other generations

Be prepared to encourage and guide them

  • Encourage the use of mentors
  • Generation Y know what they want from work but they will need support on how to get there
  • Model the behavior that you want them to have - be prepared to walk your talk - Generation Y will know when you are not being authentic
  • Provide coaching - coaching is one of the most successful methods for Generation Y retention

Cater to Generation Y's concept of careerGeny2_4

  • Create customised career paths for them rather than forcing them onto standard career paths
  • Provide them with a personalised portfolio job - give them the opportunity to experience different departments
  • Be prepared to develop additional career pathways in the organisation
  • Profile each Generation Yer individually and provide a personalised career path
  • Show them what lateral opportunities exist in the organisation - otherwise they will leave to find them in another organisation

Understand and provide for their need for technology, knowledge and opportunities

  • Commit to training and educational programmes
  • Provide them with opportunities to travel
  • A key part of retaining Generation Y is the provision of the technology that they are used to using in their personal lives - Generation Y "need" to have access to informal technology based communication
  • Allow them to consume media as part of their work
  • Provide them with cutting edge knowledge management tools

Allow them to contribute their skills

  • Provide Generation Y with opportunities for reverse mentoring - they will be excellent at rasing the technology capability of the rest of the workforce

Allow for "helicopter" parents

  • Parents may want to be involved in the development of their children at work

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (13), (15), (16), (17), (23), (25), (26), (27), (28), (31), (32)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

Posted by: Hina Patel

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August 02, 2007

Gen Y@Work 4 - How Employing Generation Y Will Benefit Business

Employing Generation Y is more than filling in a gap in the workforceGeny1_4

Modifying their recruiting, managing and retaining processes to cater for Generation Y may seem like a high maintenance chore to some employers. They may feel that they have been pressurised to make changes to suit their Generation Y employees because they need to fill the workforce gaps left by their retiring Baby Boomers.

However, the benefits of having a satisfied Generation Y workforce are more considerable than just having a complete workforce.

Having Generation Y on-board and engaged will support their employers to naturally develop further proven sources of competitive advantage:

  • Engaged staff & higher productivity
  • Increased CSR capability
  • Increased collaborative working
  • Enhanced problem solving capabilities
  • Maximised use of technology
  • Enhanced core competency development
  • Increased internal entrepreneurship

Engaged staff & Higher ProductivityGeny2_20

The "good work" and "management" that Generation Y require are also conditions that the rest of the workforce will thrive under, increasing their happiness levels at work. Happy workers are more engaged in their work which which will result in higher levels of productivity, creativity and innovation and lower levels of stress and sickness. A more detailed discussion of the link between happiness and engagement is detailed in our previous blog summarising our happiness conference research. The current level of workforce engagement is only on average 30%...even an increase by a few percent will provide substantial productivity improvements.

Furthermore, a Generation Y workforce will challenge outdated ways of working that are entrenched in the organisational culture....Generation Y love to ask "Why?"...especially when it means that they could be sacrificing their work-life balance. Generation  Y will be incentivised to work with employers to reshape job roles so that they are more effective and more conducive to work-life balance...this should result in increased productivity over a shorter working week.

Increased CSR capability

An organisation's CSR activities will be a key attraction and retention tool for a Generation Y workforce who want to contribute back to society. Furthermore, an organisation's Generation Y workforce would be delighted to support their organisation to develop its CSR capabilities further. If the organisation is able to engage their Generation Y workforce in their CSR development, then they will be able to implement highly leveraged creative CSR solutions with a limited resources because of the passion and enthusiasm of their Generation Y workforce. Additionally, many Generation Y employees will be willing to implement community focused CSR activities in their non-working time as it will contribute to their personal social responsibility.

The CSR business case - the government CSR department is currently working to show that organisations that take on CSR actively improve their profitability because they will be able to attract better customers and business partners.

Increased collaborative workingGeny2_21

Collaboration is one of the most difficult activities to develop in business because most people have been trained to work and deliver as individuals...developing effective teams has always a significant challenge for the management in all organisations.

Generation Y are naturally collaborative employees - the majority of Generation Y love to work in teams rather than as individuals. Furthermore they are savvy with technology based collaboration tools, facilitating collaborative working even when the team is working remotely. This passion and enthusiasm for team working should rub off onto the other members of the workforce who are working with Generation Y team members.

Enhanced problem solving capabilities

Generation Y love to solve problems. They are not stopped by the fact that the organisation has not succeeded in the past with any particular issue - they love to take on these types of challenges and they will not stop until it is done. Typically, Generation Y have no problems in risking failure in order to learn how to solve problems...this mentality comes from their game playing activities where you need to fail in order to learn how to get to the next level. Properly supported through mentoring and good management, an organisation's Generation Y workforce will be a great asset in supporting the organisation to solve their long standing issues.

Maximised use of technology

An organisation's Generation Y workforce will know more about how to use the latest technology applications effectively and creatively than the rest of the workforce. They will facilitate their organisation to learn how to use the latest technology to improve performance and they will also teach the rest of the workforce how to use it. Generation Y will be particularly useful in helping their organisations to implement the web 2.0 and 3.0 tools (on line social networking etc)to improve connection, sharing and collaboration internally within the organisation and externally with customers, suppliers and partners.

Enhanced core competency development

Generation Y want to learn a portfolio of skills that they find interesting rather than concentrating on specializing in one job profile. Generation Y also prefer a portfolio way of working where they are doing several job roles at the same time. Organisations that facilitate their Generation Y workers to do this will both increase retention (as their Generation Y workers will not need to leave the organisation in order to learn other new and interesting skills) and increase the organisation's ability to transfer knowledge and best practices across different functions.

Increased internal entrepreneurship

Generation Y value autonomy, independence and entrepreneurship. They would love to help their organisation to improve its entrepreneurship activities.

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

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Gen Y@Work 3 - Generation Y - Vision, Good Work, Work Ethics, Work-Life Balance

The importance of Generation Y in the workforceGeny5_2

The demographics show that the Generation Y are a prominent section of the workforce - currently 20% of the workforce and rising to 40% in 2010. Employers are starting to realise that with the upcoming Baby Boomer shortage through retirement that in the future they have no choice but to accommodate Generation Y if they want to retain a robust competitive advantage.

In the next few years, Generation Y workers will be in the position of asking for what they want from their work from their employers.

So what does generation Y want from their work?

When you look at the list of what Generation Y are looking for from their work (vision,values, good work, work ethic, work-life balance), you will see that it is not much different to what most people desire from their work. However, Generation Y is the first generation that is not willing to sell out on themselves to please their employers. Generation Y workers have high expectations and they expect to them met.

Good Generation Y workers will leave an organisation that does not give them what they want - some of the older Generation Y workers (circa 27 years) are in their 9th job!! Typically it is expected that the majority of Generation Y will have changed roles 5 times by the time they are 30. Generation Y have considerably less company loyalty than previous generations and are more prepared to walk and seek another organisation that is more suited to their needs if they are dissatisfied.

Company Vision & Values

Companies that want recruit and retain good Generation Y workers will need to create company vision and values that will motive them. Generation Y want their work to be holistic, have meaning and make a difference in the world. The key elements that are important to Generation Y are:Geny2_13

  • A company vision that seeks to make a positive difference in the world...Generation Y has a core need to make a difference and affect the world for the better

"Work needs to matter - make it matter"

  • A set of shared values that are actually lived...ie the company walks its talk!
  • Flat organisational hierarchies...Generation Y value abilities and skills more than positions
  • Divestment from dictatorial regimes...Generation Y are not well suited to command and control type management
  • Valuing the development of people...Generation Y want their work to help them to fulfil their potential and dreams
  • Ethical and sustainable operation...Generation Y are highly supportive of CSR
  • Affinity groups for shared learning and working....Generation Y love to learn, share knowledge and work in teams

Good Work

We have already explored "what is good work?" in a series of Blogs that are part of the foundation's happiness research (posts: Good Work Part 1 and Good Work Part 2). Generation Y are demanding good work and are prepared to be paid less for it. In general they prefer choose employers who have well designed work that suit the needs of a human being rather than employers who pay more but do not provide "good work". In the USA, even management consultancies (long known for long hours, lots of travel etc) are having to lower the hours that they expect their staff to work and to also allow time for volunteer work and entrepreneurial activities. Geny2_14

Generation Y are not afraid of challenging their employers as to why things need to be done a certain way. They are not willing to put themselves out and compromise their work-life balance to do things in a certain way because it has always been done that way. For example in Deliotte in the USA, Generation Y challenged the need working in intensive on-site teams when the same work with the same time-lines could be done at the hours convenient to the consultants off-site.

"If the work gets done, does it matter where it is done from?"

Work ethic and work-life balance

Many employers are saying that Generation Y have a low work ethic in that they are not prepared to work hard and deliver what they are being paid to do. In actuality, Generation Yers do have high work ethics but they define it differently....Generation Y are hard workers:

  • but they are not willing to do work that has no meaning for the sake of it
  • ...and they are not willing to work long hours and compromise their work-life balance....Generation Yers will challenge employers who require long hours as a standard for the jobs that they offer - from the Generation Y perspective these jobs have not been properly structured in the first place and the jobs need to change so that they are more suitable for human beings!

"Organisations just can't find people who are willing to work 60 hours a week"

Generation Yers will also challenge the need for excessive amounts of formality at work when it is not really required - this can be seen as a lack of professionalism by some employers

Work-life balance is an important value held by Generation Y. Employers can be last on the list of a Generation Yer's priorities unless they feel that their work is extremely valuable to their life.  Even Generation Yers who are passionate about their work will not make work a top priority because of their desire to have life with balance. A typical prioriGeny2_15ty list for Generation Y is:

  • families
  • friends
  • communities
  • coworkers
  • themselves
  • employers

"Overall, Generation Y are not that into work"

Generation Y have typically achieved the experience of affluence as part of their upbringing...and they know from this experience that money does not make you happy. Generation Y are not as interested as previous generations are to put earning lots of money above the overall quality of their lives...they have seen their parents make their lives work and TV and they do not want that for themselves.  Furthermore, Generation Y are better able to regulate the demands of parenting and juggling their career because they are more prepared to make quality-of-life trade-offs. 

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (15), (16), (17), (18), (23), (24), (26), (28), (30), (31)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

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Gen Y@Work 2 - Generation Y and Intergenerational Conflict

The current generations at workGeny4_2

This is the first time in history that we have four distinct generations in the workplace.

  • Traditionalists Pre 1946 (youngest is 64)
  • Baby Boomers 1946 - 1964 (youngest is 43)
  • Generation X 1964 - 1979 (youngest is 28)
  • Generation Y 1980 - 1994 (youngest is 13)

The workplace clash - the intergenerational conflict

Thoughts about Generation Y at work...

"...Companies are now waking up the havoc that the newest generation is causing"

"...These people are so smart it is sometime unbelievable...and here is the cool part, they don't know what they can't do..yes, they are pampered by their parents...but they are smart, fast learners who love to please"

"...70% of older workers are dismissive of Generation Y"

Reference article 34 provides a comparison of how the different generations work & reference article 35details the conflicts due to the different generations in the workplace.

What the demographics are telling usGeny2_11

  • Currently Generation Y make up 20% of the workforce
  • In 3 years time (2010) Generation Y will make up 40% of the workforce
  • Baby Boomers are starting to take early retirement and in 5 years time a large proportion of Baby Boomers will be eligible for full retirement
  • This will result in a tightening of the labour market with a severe skills shortage
  • The UK will not be able to solve this problem with migrant labour and off shoring because this demographic problem is a global phenomenon
  • The government are predicting that work capacity that is not currently being utilised (stay at home mothers, disabled, sick people, carers, retired workers, students etc) will need to enter the job market to keep the UK economy on track
  • The job market should be be looking healthy for Generation Yers who are graduating in the the period that employers should be preparing for the future shortage of workers

The transition period and the difficulties being experienced by Generation Y

The demographics should be good news for the UK's graduate population. However, this is not the experience that most graduates are experiencing:

  • Many employers do not seem to be aware of the demographics time bomb...their Baby Boomers still have not left and they are experiencing a large influx of new graduates on the job market that they do not have the facility to cope with. Employers are reacting by raising their employability standards to make recruitment manageable, forcing many graduates to resort to taking sub-graduate jobs in order to be employed Geny2_12
  • Employers are expecting that they will be able to hold onto their Baby Boomers heading into retirement on a part time because they still need to earn money to support the lifestyles that they desire
  • Current graduates are now being advised to not make the "demographic" mistake and prepare even more rigorously for employment in the job market by:
    • not letting their helicopter parents have contact with employers
    • making sure that their "My Space" is suitable for employer viewing
    • networking to raise their profiles
    • being courteous
  • In the USA, the story seems to be different for graduates because the market is tightening up at faster pace because of higher rates of early retirement. Organisations are typically increasing their graduate intake rates by 20%
    • Here the demand for young graduates is already outstripping supply
    • Employers are having to pander to the employment needs of Generation Y in order to be competitive in the recruitment market

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (1), (4), (17), (18), (23), (25), (27), (28), (34), (35)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

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Gen Y@Work 1 - Characteristics and Values at Work

Generation Y characteristics at workGeny3_2

  • Work-life balance is not a "buzz word" to Generation Y - they mean it  (work-life balance comes first even if their career does not progress)
  • Work is not life
  • Don't like "command and control" management styles (equality with parents means they are less open to being told what to do)
  • Want to be independent (much of Generation Y is attracted to the idea of working for themselves)
  • Want to work in independent environments
  • Love to work in teams
  • Highly naturally collaborative
  • Tech smart
  • Have a different concept to career than previous generations (they want to explore & change, they want to apply the "mash-up" concept to jobs)
  • High performance AND high maintenance
  • Hard working
  • NEED and want direction
  • High ability to multi-task (concentrate on many things at the same time) Geny2_10
  • Able to reverse mentor technology skills to rest of workforce
  • Casual and informal working styles
  • Require constant feedback and stimulation
  • Have difficulty in concentrating for long periods
  • Find it difficult to make the transition to professional work (this may come across as low self confidence at first glance, but Generation Y are typically very self confident)
  • Not afraid to move about as not intimidated by companies
  • Low levels of ability verbal / social / written communications (Generation Y is used to communicating in their "own language" to each other)
  • Low loyalty to organisations
  • Low receptivity to long hours

Generation Y Values at Work

  • Work life balance
  • Good work
  • Work with meaning
  • Building a portfolio of skills
  • Personal expression
  • Work they can be passionate about

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (4), (6), (7), (11), (12), (13)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

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Gen Y 5 - The Marketing View of Generation Y

Understanding Generation Y from the experience of marketing to themGeny4

Many of the behaviours and values that are intrinsic to Generation Y are showing up in how they want to be marketed to....this post explores what is showing up about Generation Y from the marketing perspective.

Generation Y is a significant market

The "collaborative partnership" relationship that Generation Y have with their parents has resulted in Generation Y having more financial clout in the market than expected. Generation Y have a significant impact on the purse strings of their parents because their parents:

  • Spend a large proportion of their disposable income on their children
  • Rely on their children to make technical buying decisions because of Generation Y's technical fluency
  • Rely on their children to make product and service comparisons in a complex consumer market

Generation Y is a "marketing mystery"

Marketers are finding it extremely difficult to market to Generation Y because it is a very diverse group in terms of demographics. Generation Y is also a very "tight" group because they have a high level of influence amongst themselves...Generation Y prefer to market to themselves than to be marketed to.

Generation Y have low brand loyalty

Old marketing methods based around brand loyalty are not working. Generation Y is driven by what Generation Y themselves as a group deem to be hip and cool. They want to have products and services that are on the leading edge, and they will change suppliers at the flick of a switch to get this. They demand real intrinsic value in their products and services than than perceived values that are build around branding. Generation Y are also less likely to be influenced by celebrity and image marketing. Generation Y want more authentic and human marketing - they prefer to have the unvarnished truth rather than hype.

Generation Y is driving market diversityGeny2_4 and innovation

This lack of brand loyalty by Generation Y is lowering the barriers of entry for new competitors. If suppliers have products and services of real value that are on the leading edge, then Generation Y would like to buy from them. Generation Y is always searching for the next best thing...driving high levels of innovation.

Generation Y need to participate and interact

Generation Y see on-line shopping as a sport. They see on-line as a medium by which they can influence the products and services that they have access to. They want to be able to vote and provide feedback...Generation Y are not prepared to just read marketing material in a magazine and then buy - they want to log in, provide feedback and also socialise with other buyers. They want to be involved in the creation of their products and services. They know what they want and they want to influence their suppliers to get it - Generation Y do not like to be told what they should want, they want to dictate what they want.

Generation Y need multiple marketing channels

Generation Y need a mix a marketing channels, with the on-line participatory channels becoming more and more of a necessity to reach them. The technology that is available is now driving unprecedented levels of customer choice....marketers are finding that they need to go to where Generation Y hang out and participate with them rather than waiting for Generation Y to come to them to purchase set solutions.

Generation Y prefer simplicityGeny2_5

Generation Y want stripped down brands that are forward thinking. They want their products and services to be more "real stuff" and less packaging.

Generation Y are sophisticated buyers

Generation Y have been making buying decisions for a lifetime. They are now the most sophisticated buyers in the consumer market.

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following articles: (2), (3), (4), (6), (10), (11), (12), (15)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

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Gen Y 4 - Generation Y Characteristics and Values in Life

Generation Y CharacteristicsGeny1

  • positive attitude
  • happy
  • sociable
  • driven
  • want to help those less fortunate than themselves
  • talented
  • collaborative
  • team workers
  • open-minded
  • achievement / goal orientated
  • confident
  • hopeful
  • inclusive
  • technically fluent
  • skeptical
  • impatient
  • civic minded
  • creative
  • hard working
  • know what they want
  • multi-tasking
  • always looking for the next best thing
  • lack of loyalty for organisations and brands
  • lack of personal resourcefulness (but high problem solving resourcefulness)
  • lack of personal independence (but are very independent in what they value)
  • lack skills for dealing with different kinds of people (but are very effective at collaborative working)
  • lack of professional fluency
  • low levels of general literacy
  • lack of concentration
  • distaste manual work
  • rely too much on spell checkers!

Generation Y valuesGeny2_9

  • choice
  • informality
  • personal expression
  • authenticity
  • work-life balance
  • contribution
  • meaning

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (2), (3), (5), (6), (7), (15), (23),

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

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