Last week I attended a mini-conference sponsored by Starwood Hotels. No surprise, the big topic of conversation was the economy and what it meant for the future of everyone’s business. Speaker Jennifer Kushell of YSN (Your Success Network) focused on attracting, recruiting, and retaining the next generation of talent. The ideas she presented are outlined below.
One of the sub-topics that came out of this discussion was how to supercharge your business, association, etc....even in the tough economy.
The number one thing that seemed to keep coming up was to get the younger generation, or Millennials, involved with the organization. A Millennial is a person who was born 1982-2000, or 1977-1994, depending on the source.
In a tight economy, where many of us seem to be fighting to keep our jobs, this may be a scary proposition. However, we need them to keep our organizations growing.
In these tough times, we have to:
- Think like economists
- Act like entrepreneurs
Kushell said that in the next 10 years 1 billion young adults will enter the job market. By 2010, Millennials will make up the largest percentage of the workforce. Internationally, the under-25 population statistics are staggering. According to the presentation, some of the most notable areas with younger populations:
Afghanistan – 64%
Egypt – 50%
India – 50%
Brazil – 43%
China – 37%
Russia – 30%
These young adults are entering into the workforce and not necessarily staying in the home country. They like to travel and recognize new opportunities.
So how do we engage this next generation of workers?
- Meet the new generation. Don’t be afraid to look for opportunities to mentor in the workplace or through a university. Many Millennials want the experience, so ask for assistance...they often will work without pay, just to gain skills and knowledge (and, you'll likely learn from them, too).
- Attract. Millennials are constantly connected, so allow them the freedom to multi-task and use social networking tools. Be ready to customize benefits for them. They may be more likely to express willingness to stay late or work on a weekend to finish a project if they do not have family commitments. They are eager to prove themselves.
- Engage and Leverage. Millennials can be a valuable source of new ideas. They can often see things from a different point of view, maybe one that few have thought of. They leverage technology and can often help branch organizations develop new revenue streams and generate new members. They tend to get bored easily, so they always want to be challenged and seek other opportunities to grow. They have grown up multi-tasking, so we can’t ask them to sit at their desks 8 hours a day and expect them to be happy in the position. On the flip side, teach them the business; they will want to experience the entire operation to understand how they fit in.
- Bring in Millennials so they can get experience. You remember the Catch – 22: you want a job, but can’t get a job because you have no experience? Millennials are willing to work and help just to gain experience. Perhaps you can have them join as a volunteer or as an intern. Does your organization have a project that you would love to hire a consultant for, but can’t afford to? Perhaps a local college class or an LIS program can assist.
Kushell said that Millennials are usually the highest performing employees, love what they do (or they leave), like people, and have a high level of integrity and ethics. Why wouldn’t we want them on our team? Millennials are an often-untapped resource of information and experience. This graph shows how many different forms of “conversations” there can be in society right now. Millennials are tapped into most of these.
For discussion: How can SLA tap into Millennials as volunteer leaders and create that new generation of Information Professionals? How can non-Millennials work with this generation in harmony and not in fear or contempt?
Author’s Note: I wish I could say I fall into this Millennial generation, but sadly I am off a few years.
