Gen Y: What Do They Want?
Every generation has different wants and needs. Older generations tend to look at younger generations and wonder how the world will survive. Somehow, we always muddle through it. While some might argue that life is worse now than it used to be, it is also true that far more people today than ever before need not worry about finding enough to eat, having adequate shelter, receiving medical care, being educated, living in a democratic society, etc.
So what does the new generation, Gen Y, want and need?
- They live at home. American Sociological Association researchers found that by age 30, a much smaller percentage today (46 percent of women and 31 percent of men) have finished school, left home, gotten married, had a child or reached financial independence than did their counterparts in 1960.
- They've gots gooder edumacation. The National Center for Education Statistics report that the number of undergraduates in 2004 (17.3 million) was almost double that in 1970 (8.6 million). Education Trust reports that only 37 percent of first-time freshmen at four-year schools earned their bachelor's degrees in four years.
- They work, but on their terms. This free agent generation doesn't expect to stay with one employer for their lifetime or even in one job for years, so many travel and take jobs which are unrelated to their majors. Their first preference when looking to advance their careers is to move to a new position within their department as soon as they feel that they've learned everything they can. Failing that, they'll prefer to make an intracompany transfer by moving to another department. Despite their preferences to stay with the same employer, they also won't hesitate to jump to another employer if they are unable to make a move within their current organization. Opportunities for advancement are very important, so employers either need to provide them internally or watch the best of their upcoming talent walk out the door.
- They value their leisure time and it overlaps with their work time. Gen Y constantly uses what older generations consider to be technology. This includes text messaging, portable music players like iPods, and even email. Unlike Gen Xers and Boomers, Millennials (Gen Yers) use technology constantly for work and to maintain relationships. They see nothing odd about carrying on a dozen instant messaging sessions simultaneously and wonder why older generations feel that talking by phone to only one person at a time could be thought of as being more connected with others.
- They value helping others. Gen Y volunteers. A lot. UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute studied 260,000 college freshmen and found that 66.3 percent of freshmen believe that it is essential or very important to help others. That's the highest percentage to say so in 25 years.
Great post Steven. While I am officially part of Gen x - I identify fully with your post. I personally disagree with you the point that "Gen Xers and Boomers, Millennials (Gen Yers) use technology constantly for work and to maintain relationships." I am at the end of Gen X (born is '75) and people just entering their 30s but officially in Gen X are at what I believe to be at an interesting point between the where the convergence in this type of thinking lies.
My husband and I have both worked in interactive jobs and been involved with 'technology' for the majority of our careers. Julian 5 years older than me in the Gen X slot however, and you can see some of the differences in our behavior and thinking in this area. He has always been in jobs for the long haul - 5, 7, 10 years. I have never been in a job longer than 2 years. Being in the interactive space - this has meant in the majority of cases I have been recruited away to a competitor that was willing to offer more (no – this doesn’t just mean money). Development and advancement - even if it means that it will happen with another employer has been very important. I know that anyone just 3 years older than me looks down on this and views it as 'unstable' job-hopping.
Unlike Julian, I would never pick up the yellow pages or call information for a number - I look on the web every time. Julian looks at some of what you describe around Gen Y at work and feels like we are just indulging ‘behaviors of kids’ that don't necessarily work 'in the real world'. I don't see it that way. I think that that this trend toward using 'technology' to have a life and have work and not have to have those things be so mutually exclusive as a wonderful trend.
My difference in thinking clearly influenced what I recommend when it comes to recruitment marketing as well. I am the first to espouse social networking; blogs; and yes - I see text messaging job candidates as ABSOLUTELY viable and inevitable in the future (with permission of course) - but clearly older members of my age group don't agree. Since I freely get to write about these topics on my blog and now others with the blogswap in the recruitosphere - I very much experience and hear about this divide in thinking. It is fascinating.