Today’s college graduates belong to Generation Y. They have lived very different lives compared to previous generations: they have grown up with Internet and are digital natives, whereas older generations may become fluent immigrants at best.

Let’s think for a second about how Generation Y have grown up. Instant messaging, social networks and digital content are part of their everyday lives and have been since their early teens. Internet might be the primary medium, more so than TV or newspapers. These youngsters multi-task, and they like to do things in a non-linear way. An interesting fact: according to marketer.com, 45% of US teenagers (aged 13-18) regard themselves as heavy Internet users, but only 32% as heavy TV users. More info about this study and its results at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/23896672/Fuse-Teen-Advertising-Study-2009.

How does this kind of environment affect them? They are eager to learn new things; they don’t take information for granted; they have no limits and anything is just a few clicks away for them. They have grown up in a world where their parents have been working hard and working stressed. Generation Y doesn’t want to end up in that kind of cycle: they value personal time, traveling and other things besides work. It is not rare to hear of a Gen Y-er taking a sabbatical leave in his 20s.

How do you manage and work with these wonder kids? In general, they are more interested in the content and context of the work instead of just looking at their pay slips. They are big believers in flat hierarchies and don’t take for granted that age brings competence and authority. They are individualists, but they also want to belong to a community and are looking for opportunities to work with people of a similar mindset.

One thing that I see as a major challenge in attracting young talent is providing working tools and a satisfactory environment for them. If you put them in a cubicle, force them to use some process software that was developed in the 80s, have them sit in meetings with no meaning to them and demand them to be physically present 8 hours a day, you may not keep them for long. A good thing about Generation Y is that they take pride in themselves and their work, so you don’t have to be behind their backs all the time. If you let them, they can bring the tools they so effectively use elsewhere into the work environment. Even in large corporations, it’s OK nowadays to have scrum meetings taking place at IRC-gallery or Second life. Of course, the IT department may have its complaints, but if you give these youngsters some space, they’ll not only make things happen but they can also teach the older generation a trick or two.

Here’s my checklist for keeping young talent happy:

- mentoring over managing
- open mind over narrow mind
- work prioritization, if needed
- look at the results, not the methods
- flat hierarchy
- soft values are as important as hard values
- treat them as individuals

Juhana & Matti

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