Generation Y is the Millennial generation, born from the late 70's to the early 90's. Getting to know this generation means understanding issues Gen Y has at home, at work and in the world, and how to succeed by maximizing what's great about us! Being a Gen Yer who "gets it" means understanding your context, being passionate and educated, and representing the best of Generation Y.
1. Gen Y-ers Who
GET IT
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
2. gen y
• 38% have tattoos features
• 75% have a social profile
• 50% favor gay marriage
• 64% believe in God
• 37% are unemployed or out of the labor force
• 41% have a full time job
• 1/3 are receiving financial help from their families
• 13% of 22- to 29-year-olds have moved in with parents
after living on their own
Study of the 50 million millennials 18 and older by the Pew Research Center as
reported in Newsweek 3/5/10
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
3. gen y
translator
ZOMG
Woot
ROFLCOPTER
Tomoz
Redonkulous
--Source: MarketingMag.com, The Gen Y Translator
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
4. Generations Guide
• Lost Generation – fought WWI gen y
• Greatest Generation – fought WWII overview
• Silent Generation – children of the Depression
• Baby Boomers
• Generation X
• Generation Y (84 million)
• Generation Z
• Generation Alpha(?)
Gen Y: 60 – 70 million Americans
Names
• Echo boomers
• Millennials
• Children of Baby Boomers
• Generation Y
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
6. gen y’s
lens
PHOTO: Creative commons license: Stuck in Customs
7. gen y
worldview
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
8. gen y
features
“This is a reflexively optimistic cadre of graduates, feeling, if anything,
existentially freed up by this era of radical change. They’re nervous about the job
market but figure it’ll sort itself out. They describe their parents with shocking
regularity as their “best friends.” They’ve lived online for so long it’s a default
setting, one they believe lends them a more global-minded perspective than
that of their elders. Their tone overall was more bemused than outraged ”
– “Class of 09,” New York magazine, Emily Nussbaum ,June 15-22, 2009
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
9. gen y
expects
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
10. gen y
context
PHOTO: Creative commons license: Stuck in Customs
11. gen y
myths
Bruce Tulgan’s Myths… and the Real Scoop
MYTH #1: Gen Yers are disloyal and unwilling to make real commitments to their employers.
REALITY: Gen Y sees work as a free market system, transactional
MYTH #2: We won’t do the grunt work.
REALITY: We will, but not if we don’t get credit for it.
MYTH #3: They don’t know very much and have short attention spans.
REALITY: Changing expectations for knowledge bases.
MYTH 4#: We want the top job day one.
REALITY: Want to hit the ground running , make an impact.
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
12. gen y
myths
Bruce Tulgan’s Myths… and the Real Scoop
MYTH #5: We need work to be fun.
REALITY: It’s not fun, it’s engagement
MYTH #6: We want to be left alone.
REALITY: Not close to true. Want authority to manage selves, feedback & mentorship
MYTH #7: Gen Yers want managers to do their work for them.
REALITY: Want managers to teach how to do work well, fast.
MYTH #8: We don’t care about climbing the proverbial career ladder.
REALITY: Our career paths will be erratic and eclectic, but still progressive and developmental
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
13. gen y
myths
Bruce Tulgan’s Myths… and the Real Scoop
MYTH #9: Money and traditional benefits don’t matter to Gen Yers.
REALITY: Yes, but are savvy about comparing between employers.
MYTH #10: Money is the only thing that matters to us.
REALITY: False. Gen Yers don’t demand $, we ask “What do I need to do to earn more?”
MYTH #11: They don’t respect their elders.
REALITY: Sure we do. It’s an issue of mutual respect.
MYTH #12: They want to learn only form computers
REALITY: Stuff that’s easy to learn from computers, ok. But Gen Y needs the human element, too.
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
14. gen y
myths
Bruce Tulgan’s Myths… and the Real Scoop
MYTH #13: It’s impossible to turn us into long-term employees.
REALITY: No, but you’ll have to do it one day at a time.
MYTH #14: Gen Yers will never make good managers because we are self-focused.
REALITY: Of course we can, just have to learn the basics and then practice.
Source: Not Everyone Gets A Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y by Bruce Tulgan
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
15. gen y
workin’ it
PHOTO: Creative commons license: Stuck in Customs
16. gen y on
the job
PHOTO: Creative commons license: Stuck in Customs
17. gen y on
the job
PHOTO: Creative commons license: Stuck in Customs
18. Gen Y on the Job
gen y
Company Loyalty: New Definition for Gen Y Workers succeeds
“In this way, you are searching for a company that deserves
your loyalty. Its brand will be in line with your own values and
at work
the image you have of yourself.”
“Gotta keep learning.
Things to Get Good At Gotta keep moving. All
the stuff you’ve
• Information management – online content, email, forgotten, I’ll never have
• Setting priorities to know. Half the stuff
• Understand your context you remember, I’ll never
have to know. That just
• Master the timeline means I’m way past
• Ask to be actively managed halfway to catching up
to you. It’s the
obsolescence curve
Non-Monetary Considerations getting steeper and
• Performance-based compensation steeper. It makes it a
• Flexible schedules, location whole lot easier for a guy
my age to catch up to
• Marketable skills – both formal and informal training the more experienced
• Access to decision makers. people.”[Tulgan]
• Personal credit for results achieved
• Clear area of responsibility
• Chance for creative expression
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
19. gen y
journey
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
20. Gen Y & the Parents
our
Issues: parents
• “Best friends”
• Trophy kids
• Helicopter parents
Fight Back:
• Learn autonomy, make your own choices
• Accept feedback & responsibility
• Practice self-directed work, setting priorities and timelines
• Deal directly with conflict
• Have a realistic sense of power, authority
• Assert your independence gently
• Selective dependence
-- Read all about my Gen Y helicopter parent
(sorry Mom, I love you)
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
21. Beware the Lost Generation
don’t get
Issues: lost
• Atrophying of skills
• Scarring & cynicism
Fight Back:
• Be an entrepreneur
• Don’t burn bridges
• Keep working
• Don’t use school as a crutch.
• Make smart financial choices
• Be outstanding
- See the whole post at whY genY
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
22. Have a Plan A, B and probably C
getting
real
Source: Grads' Backup Plans, BusinessWeek
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
23. Have a Plan A, B and probably C
getting
real
Source: Grads' Backup Plans, BusinessWeek
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
24. Have a Plan A, B and probably C
getting
real
Source: Grads' Backup Plans, BusinessWeek
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
25. Have a Plan A, B and probably C
getting
What’s yours? real
• Volunteer work
• Teach English
• Work at family business
• Keep college job
• Get several jobs & save like crazy
• Move somewhere
• Stay here
• Go back to school
• Live at home
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
26. gen y
room to
grow
PHOTO: Creative commons license: Stuck in Customs
27. Manage Your Finances Well
Financial literacy is lacking in Gen Y getting
real
Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial
Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties
and Thirties, says today's 20-somethings
grew up in a time when wealth across the
board appeared to be expanding and
"people had inflated expectations of
what living well means," she says.
"I see too many young people choosing
to live above their means and on credit,"
says Nancy Thomas McInnes, 46, a
teacher in Gainesville, Fla., who is also a
volunteer facilitator for a financial
education class.
Further reading: “Why Gen Y is Broke”
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
28. 5 traits of leadership in
the new millennium be a real
leader
1. Make yourself a source of information
2. Expect your ideas to resonate due to merit, not rank
3. Get good at following – peers not just supervisors
4. Get good at selling from the inside out
“You cannot force an idea down peoples’ throats. That top-down sort of leadership
disappeared when the corporate ladder disappeared. This means that leadership is all
about sales: selling a vision, and a common goal, and making meaningful
connections.”
5. Be authentic in situations where authenticity is most difficult
“Authenticity is the new way of selling –rather than using the force of BS. And the
leaders of the new millennium are judged by their ability to convey their true selves.”
- Penelope Trunk, “How to Lead In the New Millenium”
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem
29. Fill Your Brain
reading
1. Books
• Not Everyone Gets A Trophy: How to Manage
list
Generation Y by Bruce Tulgan
• Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do
Before You Join the Real World by Lindsey Pollok
• The Trophy Kids Grow Up by Ron Alsop
2. Blogs
• Life After College, by Jenny Blake (link)
• Life Without Pants (link)
• Millenial Marketing, by Carol Phillips (link)
• whY genY, by Crystal Olig (link)
3. Online Community
• Brazen Careerist (link)
crystal olig / oxiem marketing technology / colig@oxiem.com / @sparklegem / @oxiem