It’s tempting to lump all the young people in today’s workforce as all the
same—smart, tech savvy, but somewhat narcissistic, entitled, apathetic and
addicted to their devices and social media. Sure that may apply to some members
of NextGen, but it’s dangerous to stereotype an entire cohort, just like it is
for young people to pigeonhole all Boomers as tech-challenged, materialistic
workaholics.
Spencer Stuart’s James Citrin, author of The Career Playbook, makes the common mistake of lumping all Millennials into the same bucket, although we give him props for advising parents of Millennials not to relive their own career dreams (and mistakes) through their kids.
Our Take: If you’re hiring young adults or trying to land them as clients, you won’t be very successful if you take a one-size-fits-all approach to understanding them. You need to treat them as unique individuals—just as you do with members of older generations—and recognize that each young person , has unique strengths, weaknesses, aspirations and skills—just like any of your other candidates and client.
As Farhad Manjoo recently noted in the New York Times, “If your management or marketing theories involve collapsing all millennials into a catchall anthropological category — as if you’re dealing with space aliens or some newly discovered aboriginal tribe that’s suddenly invaded modernity — you’re doing it wrong.”
Spencer Stuart’s James Citrin, author of The Career Playbook, makes the common mistake of lumping all Millennials into the same bucket, although we give him props for advising parents of Millennials not to relive their own career dreams (and mistakes) through their kids.
Our Take: If you’re hiring young adults or trying to land them as clients, you won’t be very successful if you take a one-size-fits-all approach to understanding them. You need to treat them as unique individuals—just as you do with members of older generations—and recognize that each young person , has unique strengths, weaknesses, aspirations and skills—just like any of your other candidates and client.
As Farhad Manjoo recently noted in the New York Times, “If your management or marketing theories involve collapsing all millennials into a catchall anthropological category — as if you’re dealing with space aliens or some newly discovered aboriginal tribe that’s suddenly invaded modernity — you’re doing it wrong.”
According to Laszlo Bock, Google’s
director of human resources interviewed by Manjoo, “What we’ve seen is that
every single generation enters the work force and feels like they’re a unique
generation, and the generation that’s one or two ahead of them looks back and
says, ‘Who are these weird, strange kids coming into the work force with their
attitudes of entitlement and not wanting to fit in?’” Bock said. “It’s a cycle
that’s been repeated every 10 to 15 years for the last 50 years.”
I recently interviewed
Patrick Leclerc, head of the Canadian
Urban Transit Association who frequently appears on 40-Under-40 lists. “Every time I go to a conference I hear about Millennials—no offense—from
Boomers citing studies done about the Millennials by other Boomers about what Millennials
want in the workplace, what drives them and what their aspirations in life are,”
said Leclerc. “We don’t very often give the microphone to Millennials ask
them directly, what’s important to you in life? What do you expect in the
workplace from an employer? That’s what
we’re doing at CUTA.”
Our blog and website have more about this and related topics.
Our blog and website have more about this and related topics.
Conclusion
Borrow a page from Leclerc and Mahatma Gandhi, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
VCRGD6XDXT3T
Borrow a page from Leclerc and Mahatma Gandhi, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
VCRGD6XDXT3T
TAGS: Millennials not all the same, James
Citrin, Farhad
Manjoo, Laszlo Bock, John Graham, NextGen in the workplace
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