Why Hire Gen Y?

You know you are from Generation Y if you no longer use the word "bling" because your parents started using it.

Anonymous Gen Y 

This summer I had the opportunity to hire, train and learn from a Generation Y intern.  It was a great experience for both of us.  As a Boomer, I wanted to provide the right amount of guidance and make sure the work was being done without micromanagement. She wanted to earn enough money for college and work on projects that would keep her challenged. Of course I assigned her all of the high tech work that I never found the time to address, and to my great surprise, she was excited to begin.

Here are a sample of the tasks she completed that would have taken months for me to finish: 

• Creation of this e-newsletter
• Creation of a Twitter page
• Creation of a Facebook fan page
• Making changes to my website
• My book upload to Amazon marketplace
• Creation of blog on WordPress.com
• Dropping PowerPoint into demo video

As I mentioned in an earlier newsletter, it is always dangerous to stereotype the behaviors of any generation.  So many Gen Yers may not have the skills or desire to do this type of work.  But my intern had no fear when it came to any of these tasks!  When she had questions she preferred using the instant chat option offered by these company's websites to get her answers.  

What did she learn from me as a Boomer boss?

She learned how to pick up the phone and begin building relationships with suppliers and customers in a way that email could not do. She also learned how to actively listen to the problems confronting many of my clients in a face-to- face meeting.  A few years ago when I worked for a staffing company, I had the opportunity to hire college interns in my office.  I was so proud of the tasks that I had them working on i.e., wage & benfit surveys, etc., as I knew these important projects would help them land a job.  When I conducted exit interviews with my interns, they mentioned  consistently that their greatest skill developed during the internship, and the one they appreciated the most, was the ability to pick up the phone and talk with customers or meet face-to-face with them.  The projects  I assigned were nothing new to them as their school had them working on no less than five of these types of projects at one time.  What they needed the most was the environment to practice and improve their conversing skills with adults.  They also learned to build relationships with clients through listening and problem solving.  

As Boomers we are in a great position to mentor Gen Y in this area.  We need their "no fear" attitude regarding technology and computers and they need our "people" skills to help them relate with others at a more personal level.

Here are a few more tips that will help you attract and retain this great generation

• Keep current on your technology- If your computers are out of date or too slow, they may decide to look for another company to work for.  One Gen Y that I spoke with had this to say about technology.

   "Technology today has so much to offer and it would slow me down if it were out- of-date I  would be one fourth as productive if the office had slow or out- of -date computers, phones or office equipment."

• Make the workplace fun- cubicles and stiff chairs do not create a fun atmosphere that will tap into the creative potential of this generation.  Also, they have been exposed to team building exercises at school and they enjoy the opportunity to continue developing these skills.

•  Stop negative comparisons- while they have heard about the difficulties of previous generations i.e., typewriters vs. word processing, they detest the constant comparisons and innuendo of how easy they have it today.

 Next week I will discuss the opportunities and challenges of working with Generation X.