I have a tough time with this idea that young people today are that much different than in the past. I’ve hired some and I’ve trained some. I don’t really think that human nature has changed much. Here’s what has changed: Jobs — and skills required to do them.
We use the Hogan Assessment. It tells us a lot about a person–I mean ALOT. And as we look at the results of these assessments, we see trends in values, personalities and derailers. But those have been present forever. And as a leader, you need to know what your teams’ major derailers are.
Jobs Have Changed.
One hundred years ago, all labor was physical–factory labor. But now, so much of labor is intellectual in nature.…that’s the Coin of the Realm. So “how people think” will continue to be vital for your team.
If you’re over 50 (full disclosure: I’m 52), then you must get rid of the idea that business today is done the same as it was 20 years ago. In so many areas, business is intellectual–it requires thinking, and planning and very different competencies than it did 25 years ago.
GenY’rs Are Looking To Be Developed
I recently had dinner with a bright, aggressive 28-year old. He’s had four jobs since graduating from a Big Ten school. Says I, “You seem to be job hopping a little. What’s the matter?” Says he, “I want a company who sees my value, who shows how much I matter to them by investing in training and development. And so far, I’ve not found one.”
A Lesson For Non-Fortune 1000 Companies
You <$250 million companies have an enormous opportunity to attract the brightest minds today because not all of them want to work for the super-companies. In fact, I suggest the entrepreneurial companies are much more attractive.
But you have to give them something. I would suggest you pay them a little less and put more resources into developing them.
The skeptical among you will say, “Hell, they’ll just leave and take that knowledge with them. I’ll waste my money.”
To which I say, “Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have recently started reading your blog and find it to be insightful, succinct and , I can honestly say, I look forward to reading the new entries.
With that said, I agree with your assesment of gen Y ers wanting to work in more entrepreneurial companies. I have always sold the premise of involvement in many aspects of the business to potential hires. This seems to resonate with the “under 35s” who I have interviewed and/or hired over the last few years. They do not want to be pigeon holed. They want access to other areas of the business and they want a voice. I have always believed that this stems from being a generation who has seen the generation before them dedicate their lives to a company, only to be down-sized out. They are a generation who has seen the preceding generation locked into uninspirng middle-management jobs because it was expected that you go to school, work for someone your whole life and then collect a pension. Then mergers happened. Bankruptcies happened. Down-sizing happened and Enron happened.
This generation wants more of a stake. More of a say. There are more tools available. More information readily available and this generation has a much shorter attention span. They are used to multi-tasking and are less about routine and more about variety. This has been my experience. So we try not to pigeon hole anyone. This has happened by necessity as we are not a massive company with a bunch of silos. We are a small, agrressive company with a can-do attitude and need employees who have that same spirit. Generation Y has it. When we try to hire them for a repetitive production job, it is a total disaster almost every time. When we put them in a role that offers variety, responsibilities that change from hour to hour and some latitude to try new things, we have had very good results.
Jamie,
I like your idea of “variety and responsibilities that change hour to hour.” Whether that’s always been a need for the young, or whether it’s our ADD society, one can’t fight it. So use it to your advantage.
I think you’re right to question how different gen y could be. My feeling is they do have different values. As a Gen Y I can tell you skills development is huge. For other friends and coworkers I know that are Gen X they place more value on work/life balance. While skills development is important they don’t won’t it infringing on their personal life. I think you can recruit gen y on skills development, we’re used to being coached, we love to be coached, we have been since we were little and on every after school team we could sign up for. So while I’m not sure I agree that Gen Y isn’t different I do agree on the bottomline suggestion. And I think using personality tests like the one you mentioned is great. I think there are lots of tools such as taking a generational viewpoint, personality viewpoint and mixing those in to help you recruit strong individuals.