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Boomers Working for Millennials: Finding common ground! [Guest Post]

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Boomers Working for Millenials

MillenialsIf you are a baby boomer, you probably have children that are millennials. Do you network with people your kid’s age?

Could you see yourself working for a millennial in the near future?

Have you incorporated millennials into your job search network?

If you have not, you should, and here is why.

Millennials Will Dominate the Workforce

First, look at the current demographics of the workforce. According to the Pew Research, baby boomers make up 1/3 and generation X and millennials make up the other 2/3s.

The reality is, many of the current hiring managers are much younger than you, and in they will continue to be in the future. Millennials will dominate the workforce by 2020 and outnumber the baby boomers.

What does this mean for you as a Job Seeker?

It means you need to make sure millennials are in your job search network NOW!

Are millennial managers in your network?

Your new approach is not to spend time looking in the advertised market. Develop relationships with millennial managers who could hire you.

Find a “common ground” with Millennials by understanding what they look for in baby boomer new hires.

You want to know this before the interview—not during it.

As one of Stephen Covey’s Habits of Highly Successful People, “Seek to understand, then to be understood,” which could translate into: Learn first and then sell yourself!

New Approach

How can you get started on your new approach? Here are some 7 tips to help you!

  1.  Adjust your mindset so that, on Monday morning, you have new job search responsibilities and activities to begin your day. You will NOT be applying for jobs in the advertised market!
  2.  Create an uplifting 30-second commercial using language about the changing demographics and your goal of building a network of millennials.
  3.  Invite a group of your children’s friends and work colleagues over to let them know you are in the job market. Tell them that you are trying to build a diverse network that includes young professionals.
  4.  Ask great questions to learn about their values, motivators, and what they may be looking for in a baby boomer employee.
  5.  Attend an association meeting for young professionals where you will meet many people from different industries and disciplines, too.
  6.  Update your LinkedIn profile that includes interests of activities that keep you active. Ask for recommendations from someone younger that either worked for you or with you.
  7.  Volunteer your time with organizations that need mentors where younger people can see you engaged and connected to what they are doing.

Baby boomers are going up against younger job candidates. The more you understand and “find the common ground,” you just might increase your chances of being hired!

What is your next step to find common ground with millennials?

About the author

Jayne_MattsonJayne Mattson is Senior Vice President of Keystone Associates, a founding partner of Career Partners International LLC, a partnership of global leaders in the talent management and outplacement industries. Jayne consults with professionals from a diverse range of industries and functions and specializes in mid-career change and pre-retirement planning. She is a Certified Retirement Coach and Master Career Consultant.

Jayne frequently authors articles on numerous career topics; her work has appeared on Mashable.com, Monster, Career Builder and print publications including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Jayne volunteers her time in youth organizations to help them build self-confidence and professional leadership skills.

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Workplace of the Future – Defined by Gen Y

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Workplace of the Future

workplaceThe workplace of the future will be defined in next 10-15 years by Gen Y. The current workplace was defined by baby boomers and their parents, and not much has changed in the last 40-50 years. Yes, there have been technological changes, but the basic concepts that define a workplace have not changed much until recently.

Today, Gen Y makes up 36% of the American workforce. There are projections that in a little over ten years they could make up 75% of the worldwide workforce.

Whether you like it or not, Gen Y will re-write the rules of the workplace. In my honest opinion, for the good!

Some people say that 2014 will be the Year of Workplace Reinvention. Pam Ross wrote in her article on the Huffington Post:

“The Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) challenges traditional management strategies. Jody Thompson, and Cali Ressler, co-creators of the ROWE, describe it as “a management strategy where employees are evaluated on performance, not presence.” In a ROWE, workers can work wherever, whenever, and however, they choose to, as long as they achieve their results.”

Does that sound like an environment in which a Gen Yer would thrive?

Millennials (Gen Y) Are Rewriting the Rules of Management

In an article posted on Chief Learning Officer, Millennials Are Rewriting the Rules of Management, the author Ladan Nikravan states:

“Because Millennials feel a bond with globalization and diversity, they tend to believe a diverse group, with an assortment of ideas, comes up with a better solution than a lone leader. This is changing traditional management practices.”

Brad Karsh, author of Manager 3.0: A Millennial’s Guide to Rewriting the Rules of Management,  said in the article:

“…we focus on millennials and how this generation will lead. We have talked to thousands of Millennials across the country, and there are a few things that we heard time and time again that just aren’t working when it comes to management. A few ideas and icons that don’t work at work for Millennials include:

  • Corporate ladder
  • Bureaucracy
  • Overly formal communication
  • Inflexibility
  • Lack of diversity
  • Boring work

Millennials aren’t afraid to say these elements of the business aren’t working, and they’re standing up for the new rules of management and fostering a positive work culture. As millennials take on management roles, they are pushing for new ideas and values.”

Outsourcing and Crowdsourcing

Back in the 1990s, outsourcing became the fear of just about every worker. Today, outsourcing or globalization is a fact. When you include the new concept of crowd-sourcing, where you can find groups of people from around the world who can and will do micro-tasks for you, the concept of a traditional workplace pretty much disappears.

This is the brave new world that Gen Y will be bringing to the workplace.

Are you ready?

Please read the rest of the Multi-Generational Workplace Series.

Marc Miller  

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Gen X and Y – Like Oil and Water?

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Gen X and Y – Do they get along?

Gen X and YAs a baby boomer, I would assume that an office full of employees from Gen X and Y would work together harmoniously.

WOW, is that a bad assumption!

Gen X and Y are cut from very different cloth.

Gen X

Gen X (born 1965-1982) were the children of the Silent Generation (born 1925-1945).  I was talking with a client yesterday who told me that her parents divorced in her early teens.  She said when she was in middle school it was common to hear from her friends that their parents were divorcing.

Generation X were the first latchkey kids. Their parents divorced in record numbers. To a large extent, they raised themselves. Many went to work in their teens to help support themselves and their family.

The generational echo effect is that Gen X has the lowest divorce rates. This is primarily because they have waited to get married. I currently know quite a few Gen Xers who are 40 and getting married for the first time.

I spoke at a recruiting conference a few months ago, and I was talking about how Gen Xers wait to get married. A female Gen Xer offered up that she told her parents she was gay in order to get them off her back about getting married!!

When these kids left home, many had to put themselves through college.

They also entered the workforce starting in the mid-1980s—about the time that companies were discontinuing jobs for life. The concept of loyalty to a company was disappearing.

Gen Xers created the concept of “work-life balance.”

Gen Y

Let’s contrast this to Gen Y (born 1983-2000). They are the children of baby boomers. Until recently, baby boomers have had stable marriages. Gen Y grew up in relatively stable homes when compared to Gen X.  As a baby boomer parent, we raised our child to build a college resume. We did not want him to work so that he could focus on his studies. Therefore, often their first work experience was in college—and that may have been an unpaid internship.

Gen Y entered the workforce when at the beginning of the worst recession since the great depression. Many stayed in college because they could not get a job. Therefore, this is rapidly becoming the most educated generation ever. It is also the most in debt generation ever due to student loans.

Gen Y grew up in an age of organized sports where everyone got a blue ribbon or trophy. Some will tell you they grew up entitled.

Gen Y has entered the workplace with a thud. We baby boomer parents encouraged our children to ask for what they want.

Gen Y will ask for the promotion or pay raise.

We wanted our children to study and not have to work.

Gen Y is entering the workforce with less experience as an employee than any other generation.

Today’s Workplace

As Gen Y enters the workplace, they have either baby boomer or Gen X bosses. Over and over, I have seen the mix of a Gen X boss and Gen Y employee become toxic.

These Gen X and Y grew up in very different environments.

The challenge is both baby boomers and Gen X bosses look at Gen Y employees through their own lenses expecting them to be like them.

They are not!

When Gen Y employees enter the workforce, they need far more coaching to become employees than previous generations. They do not have work experience.

If Gen Y employees do not get the experience they want in the workplace, they will leave and go somewhere else. Why?

Because we raised them to ask for what they want!

Do Gen X and Y get along?

Not really. They do not mix well, just like oil and water!

What is your experience? I want to hear your Gen X and Y story!

Please read the rest of the Multi-Generational Workplace Series.

Marc Miller  

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Gen Y boss – Baby Boomer, are you ready?

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Could you work for a Gen Y boss?

Gen Y BossFor most baby boomers, thinking about working for a Gen Y boss might seem like a nightmare. Could you work for your kid…or someone your kid’s age?

You might say that will be a rarity! Well …. Projections show that by 2014 millennials will account for 36% of the American workforce. In 2025, that number balloons to 75% of the global workplace.

I know, I know…you are saying that by 2025 you will be happily retired sipping on pina coladas by the pool. There are a couple things I want you to think about:

What does this mean?

You WILL eventually have a Gen Y boss.

I now work for myself. My last two bosses have been Gen Xers. Both were nearly incompetent in managing people. They understood the business but when it came to managing people, well…. it was not pretty.

As a baby boomer, I learned to ignore them and get my job done.

Functioning in a workplace dominated by Gen Yers and having a Gen Y boss will be a very different experience for you.

Gen Y Characteristics

In my last post, Group Dynamics in the Multi-Generational Workplace,  I wrote that Generation Y is very group or team-oriented. Thinking that you could ignore the group and just get the job done will probably not be acceptable. You will need to be a good team player even if your teammates are young enough to be your kids.

I also wrote in a previous post, Communication Style in the Multi-Generational Workplace, that Gen Yers have embraced electronic, just in time communications…whether this is texting, instant messaging, or using various social media platforms. Fully expect that social media-like platforms will penetrate the largest organizations by 2025. Collaborative communications will become normal. Face to face communications may be the exception and not the norm.

Can you work for a boss that will have less work experience than you, BUT will have skills that you need you to learn and adapt?

Most of us baby boomers feel fine if we did not see our boss for weeks on end. What will happen when you are in contact with your boss on a daily basis, some of it by text and other electronic means?

What if your new Gen Y boss is not ready to lead? This has become an increasingly common phenomenon.

Will you be ready to help them?

Please read the rest of the Multi-Generational Workplace Series.

Marc Miller  

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Group Dynamics in the Multi-Generational Workplace

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Group Dynamics?

group dynamicsGroup dynamics in the workplace is changing rapidly mostly, because of the entrance of Gen Y-ers into the workplace. Why is that, you might ask?

How well we play in groups has changed dramatically over the last century.

If you have not already read the previous articles in this series:

Baby Boomers

I am a baby boomer born in the mid 1950s to parents of the greatest generation. Both of my parents were raised through the depression, and my father served in World War II.

They grew up in a time when great self reliance was critical. They grew up to believe that, to be successful, you had to be a strong individual. They trained their baby boomer children to be self reliant.

We were raised in school to study hard and rely on oneself. We are the generation who was taught that asking for help is a sign of weakness.

Most of the great corporations of today are run by  baby boomers, and their mission statements and values are based on strong individualism.

Group dynamics? What group dynamics? It was all about individual contribution.

Generation X

Gen X-ers were the children of the silent generation. People of the silent generation were born during the depression or World War II. Birth rates plummeted during the depression and, therefore, the silent generation is very small. The silent generation has very high rates of divorce.

Gen X-ers were therefore the first latch key kids. Many of Generation X raised themselves and learned that, to survive, they had to take care of themselves.

Gen X-ers also first entered the job market in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the concept of a job for life had started to disappear. They were responsible for their careers.

Group dynamics? This generation grew up to be self reliant.

Now let’s look at Generation Y!!

Generation Y

Gen Y-ers are the children of the baby boomer generation.

We did not raise this generation to be strong individualists! We raised them to be good team players!

Look the explosion of youth team sports. We organized summer camps for Generation Y to explore and play with peers.

Public education has been transformed by group learning. We learned that, when you work in groups, productivity increases. Rather interestingly, I am currently reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (25th Anniversary Edition), and Stephen Covey expounds on the value of groups working together for a win-win solution.

Gen Y-ers are highly social creatures. How often have you seen a restaurant with 10-20 twenty somethings gathered around the table? This is the generation that created Facebook!

Group Dynamics in the Workplace

Generation Y is unlike either of the previous generations. They function extremely well in teams. The perform in teams much better than either of the previous generations. In fact, they thrive in group environments.

When I started my career I aspired to have an office for myself. That was a sign of achievement.

Generation Y does not want a big corner office. They want to make a difference along with their peers!

What does your workplace look like? It is individualistic, group oriented, or something in between?

Think about this – half of the workforce will come from Generation Y by 2020!

Will the group dynamics of your organization attract or repel Gen Y-ers?

Please read the rest of the Multi-Generational Workplace Series.

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Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

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