Generation Y 2.0

While large companies are beginning to take into account changes in behaviour in their HR practices and marketing, a recent survey suggests that small businesses are not yet ready to adapt their marketing strategies to meet the expectations of younger generations.

The survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the software developer Genesys, asked executives around the world * how they attract and retain young consumers.

It turns out that many companies are still debating the benefits of investing in this age group rather than the baby boomers. 42% of respondents believe it is better to “invest in Y” against 39% preferring to concentrate on other generations while the number of people of generation Y will soon surpass the number of baby boomers and will continue to gain influence.
Read the rest of this entry »

In these times of survival there are going to be a number of skills, capabilities, characteristics or traits that are going to be needed to rely upon. There appear to be a number of ‘soft skills’ that will distinguish those with not only the survival skills but the ability to help carry their organisation and themselves forward. These may include for example: self awareness, ability to communicate and relate, emotional intelligence, ability to evaluate complex problems, passion, entrepreneurial spirit, positive thinking, and curiosity.

Curiosity can be described as the desire to learn or to know an object that arouses interest, an emotion that causes curious behaviour, or just being inquisitive or nosey!

Without curiosity what would we have missed or would have happened to these guys – Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain James Cook, Richard Branson, Akio Morita, Friends Reunited, YouTube, Dyson, the entrepreneurs of Dragon’s Den, Harry Potter or perhaps this guy:

“The important thing is not to stop questionning”, Albert Einstein

For GenY and those with ‘Y behaviours’ this may be part of what distinguishes them, and something that our baby boomers and Gen X need to encourage. But don’t forget that “curiosity is common to human beings at all ages from infancy to old age”, Wikipedia. So this is something we must share across the generations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whilst our Generation Y colleagues provide significant commercial opportunity for many businesses such as advertising, shopping, gaming, and  e-commerce, and entrepreneurial benefits for others, they are also proving a headache. A headache for those who have yet to redefine their IT strategies in order to accommodate integrated media platforms whilst safeguarding company security and data protection.

In “IT Security’s Next Big Threat: Young People”, in Dark Reading, editor Tim Wilson concludes from three recent studies that our Yers “are engaging in online behaviour that could expose their organizations to data leakage and information theft”. The question being whether it is the behaviours or the company policies and training that are ultimately to blame.

More and more people are using Instant Messaging, social networking, open source technology, and other online applications rather than traditional tools and email, many of which are not supported by their employers. On top of this there appears to be a growing need for online learning suites.

Chris Sparshott provided the keynote at the Digital Technologies Professional Learning Symposium in Auckland, NZ,  recently, using a Generation Y persona to illustrate his perspective on the need for training and education to embrace the benefits of the computer/video gaming, virtual worlds and 3D UIs that our Y’ers and Generation Z have grown up with. David Williamson Schaffer long pointed out the benefit of educational games that can bring players together, promote interactive learning and help individuals absorb fairly dry complex topics, for example.  Also Daniel Sieberg from CBS News more recently reported on the benefits of the right games in education to help individuals learn, solve problems and overcome obstacles.  

Whilst some organisations are looking to revise their platforms to accommodate the new tools and new ways of working, others are tightening their policies whilst many continue to remain exposed in more ways than one. 

The three studies mentioned above came from Accenture, Intel and ISACA (a major IT users group):

Read the rest of this entry »

The UK’s CIPD, in association with Penna, recently produced a comprehensive report based on a survey of over 5,500 individuals across 6 European countries and focus groups within more than 30 major UK employers. Their findings confirmed that there are more similarities than differences between the generations and that it is the preconceptions between generations about each other that is more the problem.

The study shows that the differentiating factors setting Gen Y apart is the influence that the reward deal has, the close connection between socialising and work, their advocacy of the employer brand (nothing new there) and perhaps suprisingly a more common interest in staying with one employer for five years than many would expect. And yet many Gen X, although perhaps seemingly more career driven, will often job-hop to make progress.

The study appears to support the messages of articles we referred to in Part One, that generationalisations of Gen X and Y are becoming blurred, we are seeing Gen Y behaviours in our Gen X’ers, etc.

The report focuses on the need to foster creativity and innovation from generational interaction and that the risk of not managing generational diversity can lead to disengagement or even conflict. One common theme to all generations was the importance of respect and dignity in the workplace.  Harnessing capabilities across generations within organisations has never been more important; use of new media, social networking, entrepreneurism, customer service ethos and strong change management skills based on experience and wisdom, are sure surivival skills in the coming year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Time and time again we see comments about age sterotypes, whether they be baby boomers (BB), Generation X, Y’ers or the teen youth of today. As we’ve said before these boundaries are becoming blurred. What we see are behaviours not age groups.

People tend to follow cycles or stages throughout their lives, some more than others; adapting, embracing and making changes as they go.

Generation classifications were discussed with author Robert K Critchley in ‘Ageless Wisdom’ (hrmonthly, Australia, June 2006, Chaminade):

“I think the terms are useful for understanding the differences between people. The most important thing is not to run your life by ‘I’m a Gen X and I must live this way’. Understand that people are thinking differently, because so often the generational myopia is such that we think everyone thinks like we do. There is value in understanding the way different generations think and act – understand but don’t try to typecast.”

Another way of looking at classifying talent was outlined in Generation Gap (hrmonthly, October 2005, Chaminade), considering four different categories for talent rather than those of age:

Read the rest of this entry »

Y’er Bret Bernhoft from Portland, US, posted an interesting blog article recently, reflecting on the emerging number of generational consultants. Here we look at some of the extracts and take a perspective:

“Inside the world of Generational Consulting there is plenty of room for everyone to stretch out and really take their fair share of the pie. There are literally no restrictions, at this point, on the influence a Gen Y consultant can have on their clients and those who they advise.”

“There is a distinct difference between advice and insight when either giving or receiving consultation… the practical application of either type of information is simple, one is simply a collection of facts without perspective while the other is simply a collection of facts with an understanding of how to apply them. Today it is too easy for a Generational Consultant to provide advice and for it to be taken as either providence or truly valuable.”

“One of the primary rules for reaching Generation Y is to access Generation Y at their level, at our level.  Without direct experience of being a Generation Yer, a consultant cannot provide the insight, only the facts, this is damaging and ultimately misleading to a client… unless the consultant is a Gen Yer they cannot effectively and honestly consult on Gen Y.”

Bret has some interesting and perhaps understandable points here. Where have we heard before ‘you can’t understand our generation unless you are one of us’… the sixties, the seventies…another time perhaps?

However for some years now we have been trying to say that the ‘Y culture’ is not only something aligned to those of a certain age group, it is also a behaviour, a mind set or a culture. Of course it is shared by a large number of people in a particular age group, but not only by any means.       

  Read the rest of this entry »

A high dose of the net can enable those under thirty years old to learn quickly but this can lead to difficulties in concentration as we are becoming increasingly aware. However, when an older or even more senior citizen carries out internet searches, it stimulates parts of the brain that regulates decision making and complex reasoning. This is where there can actually be an improvement in intellectual capacity. In fact the lines are blurring between the generations with regard to the ways they adapt to the use of technology.

UCLA recently announced that research on the internet can stimulate the zones of the brain that enables effective decision making and complex reasoning. The process enables an improvement in the memory capacities and overall brain function in those of a more mature age. Balancing that, if our over fifty year olds don’t spend their days surfing the web, large numbers of Generation Y appear to be totally devoting their time to it by comparison; a habit that partially modifies the brain function of these ‘digital natives’.  This was underlined in a neuroscientific study by Gary Small. The conclusion: young people who spend more than nine hours per day on the web are more capable of taking rapid decisions and efficiently filtering information.

Creativity and speed, but difficulty in concentration
The under 30′s users proved that they were more creative but on the reverse poor at concentration and in assimilating large amounts of facts. According to Gary Small, the brain is in effect very sensitive to changes in its environment, thus the use of technologies can have a direct impact. “If you repeat the same task regularly, it trains certain circuits of the brain, and ignore others “  as he tells journalists.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, another effect of the information age is the tendency to withdraw into a virtual world, whether a digital native or a ‘digital immigrant’.

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t be surpised if you are about to receive the same cover letter, differentiated only by the candidate name and your company name (or even your competitors’ in error!) over and over in the coming weeks.  Just like the news/magazine ads you have copy and pasted from a previous one, they are doing the same. So, if you are looking to recruit online, it has come to a finally time to develop a good online ad.

If you want to attract candidates that are keen to work for you (or your client), it is time to rethink your approach. Your ads must shake things up; they must inspire, they must pre-select and they must find you the right people not just a group of desperates.
 
You are entering the war for talent as soon as your job ad appears on the web and not just at the negotiation stages. So why should the best candidates click on your ad instead of your competitors’ ? Because we are going through a financial crisis and they are desperate? Come on you’re not that slow.  You need the best. So how do we improve the click rates and pull in really good candidate applications?

You have to impress upon people’s minds immediately, don’t wait for the interview process to begin.  So here are a few tips:

A compelling title is the least you can do
Remember you are trying to interest a customer. He/she wants to live a great experience, giving him/her the money they deserve and to make a difference to their career by working in a challenging job or for a well known company.  So you need some good lines to catch their attention. May be something like:
- You like oysters? Good thing we’re seeking rare pearls!
- Tired of kissing frogs? Come to the prince’s kingdom!
- Earning less than €35K with 5 years experience? Correct this injustice!

Ok, so you get the general idea.

Create interest in just 3 lines
This is basic direct marketing. You must capture the attention of your target in a few seconds. It is even less time than he/she has at their disposal to convince you to read their application. This is especially true if the candidate uses an RSS feed where only the first lines appear. It may be useful to begin with three lines of description that titillates curiosity.

Read the rest of this entry »

“In love, two is company and three’s a crowd, but in friendship ten is the magic number” according to a report by Fiona McRae of the Daily Mail. The question is how close are we to those with social networks and how important are these friendships in the current climate.

 The report highlights studies by Dr Richard Tunney of Nottingham University showing that those with 5 to 10 friends in their close circle will be happiest and content in life, some say potentially adding to our longevity.

It would seem that communities, teams, and above all close friendships not only give us comfort and moral support in troubled times but pulling together our resources and contacts can help with entrepreneurial activities and job hunting more than ever.

However, although it can help, it seems that adding more ’friends’ doesn’t particularly increase our happiness. Today’s GenY and upcoming Z’s take comfort in being seen to be part of a wide social network, giving them the acceptance and approval they need from their community and peer groups. But are the 200+ contacts on their Google Talk, Messenger, Beebo or Facebook superfluous to their needs? How well do they know them? How many have they met or spoken with on a regular basis? Many Generation X and Y are spending their evenings in darkened rooms, or with their Blackberry’s and iPhones on the train, texting and chatting online with their virtual community but as Ryan Healy commented earlier this year, there are a ‘plethora of weak ties’ yet few strong friendships in the social networking arena. Many are starting to ask just how superficial these connections are.

Read the rest of this entry »

What’s different about the US presidential election? The fact that there is a black American presidential candidate or a potential female vice-president? A chance for the democrats to win back what they believe is rightfully theirs after the Bush years? Maybe, but it is much more than that. For the first time in perhaps as long as forty years or more, Generation Y have been very much actively engaged in this campaign.

Record numbers of young voters have signed up to vote in the 2008 US election. For those who see our GenY colleagues as apathetic, this appears to fly in the face of those who believe in stereotypes. Something has gripped the American consciousness but rather than fuel the glamorous ideological aspects of the campaign, Obama’s crowd have tried to ‘non-ideologise’  and to involve and engage their voters in new ways.  They have brought the campaign into the 21st century with social networking, online forums, blogs, campaign youth volunteer groups, Facebook followings, approachability, cool branding, and real involvement of America’s youth.  So much so that Obama has surrounded himself with diverse advisors including twenty one year old Tommy Stadlen from West London.  In addition to probably the largest emerging teen population America has ever seen, these are the voters and citizens of the future and they have been placed  key in this campaign right from the party nomination rounds and endless university campus visits.

Read the rest of this entry »