Multigenerational Recruiting: Millennials (Gen Y)

August 24, 2007 in Issues, John Sumser

MultiGenerational Recruiting The Wikipedia entry on Generation Y is really worth reading. Millennials (or Generation Y) is that group of people born (roughly) between 1981 and 2001. They are also called The Net Generation, Millennials, Echo Boomers, The We Generation and The Google Generation.

(There’s a large amount of disagreement on the actual dividing points. Some say the beginning was 1976. Some say the end was last year. The debate is caused by the lack of a single defining event, like World War II for baby boomers, that could define the start or end point.)

However you define them, they are coming into the workplace. The first of them have already landed. Like the generations that have preceded them, they pose specific problems and issues in Recruitment and Retention.

3 Comments

Lavinia Weissman

August 27, 2007 at 10:36 pm

Hello John Sumser!

It is interesting to me how new terms emerge and how their meaning shifts.

Case in point: Millenial

I first began using this term with Danny Sheehan (lawyer
who tried the Karen Silkwood case for NOW and her kids).

I facilitated a meeting in the Bay Area examining 4 generations of people –

1. people who fight at war
2. people who are born or live after a war
3. people who react to generation 1 and 2
4. people born to the reactors (at this time called the babyboomers).

Generation 4 often comes into life in a repeated pattern of civilization over and over again wanting to participate in a fair and civil dialogue based society. In this generation they are the first generation of workers post 2000, who are the “millenials.”

Within this generation are all kinds of flavors of values and ice cream. We have kids who want lots of money, we have kids finding social change pathways to peace, we have protestors and it goes on.

This is unrelated to recruiting and not all flavors of millenials are in the workforce you all recruit for.

However, one thing that people fail to see is that this generation of young adults new to work force lost their infrastructure on how to walk across a bridge to become a wage earner. In the course of losing that bridge, some
show up entreprenuerial, others look for a “job” that culturally they are not prepared for and others have a large sign they carry over their head pointing a finger at baby boomers and saying “give me a break.”

Lots of thoughts to injest here. I feel we need a new word for the young adults coming into the workforce and a new way of defining what that means.

In fact the former President of MIT, Robert Brown, who is President of the school I graduated from, Boston University has revised curriculum, thought leadership and all of this to work with his staff, alumnae and students to point out that finding a job or more important a career requires lessons learned for everyone now including baby boomers that we have not learned.

While I have put my words to interpret what he said, this conversation came out of a course I designed that points to the social network analysis aspects of how to think about work and treat yourself personally as an asset that contributes to roi.

more another time.

I was invited here by Amitai Givertz and I am glad I came to the party.

Best,
Lavinia Weissman

Reply
Amitai Givertz

August 28, 2007 at 11:38 am

I’m glad you came to the party too!

Reply
John Sumser

September 3, 2007 at 8:10 pm

Hi Lavania,

Good to have you in the mix.

I wonder if you’d take a moment to explain what you mean by

“this generation of young adults new to work force lost their infrastructure on how to walk across a bridge to become a wage earner.”

I think it’s central to your point and the meaning eludes me.

Thanks,

John

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