What are the key success factors for Gen Y graduates to improve professional standing and progression?
The evolution of the labor market has created a number of barriers for graduates in the beginning stages of their career lifecycle. As a result graduates are required to employ a range of key success factors in order to improve their professional standing and career progression.
The labor market has seen some vast changes over the last decade. This has affected the way in which a graduate not only enters market but how they must conduct themselves professionally in order to progress their careers. Three key success factors of overcoming stereotypes, visibility management and professional development will be explored in order to
…show more content…
An obvious stereotype of generation Y and new graduates is that they are well versed in all things technology. This generation more so than any other encompasses the ability to use social media to not only create a following for an organisation but also to source information and conduct day-to-day business practices. This stereotype accompanied with workplaces adopting practices that rely heavily on technology and knowledge of technology in order to conduct business gives graduates a significant and unmatched professional advantage over those whom are not a member of this group. With trends in business practices continually evolving generation Y are proving to be the most adaptable in moving towards a technological based business world.
A stereotype that has arisen out of a broad understanding of technology is that graduates are lazy and over rely on technology. Employers also perceive graduates to lack many personable skills due to their heavy online involvement. The facts are that graduates have grown up in an age where they have witnessed some of the most significant technological advancements to date. While it may seem as though work life has been made easier because of their understanding of technology, when in actual fact a generation Y graduate has the ability to use technology to improve their efficiency and turn out a higher quality of work in a shorter amount of time. The fast paced life that many new graduates have grown up in has allowed
In her article “The Tethered Generation” for HR Magazine in May 2007, freelance writer Kathryn Tyler asserts that due to the fact that millennials grew up with new technologies such as the cell phone and internet, many of the skills they need to integrate into the workforce is severely lacking. She goes on to support this argument by addressing millennial connectivity and helicopter parents. With Tyler’s background in human resources and training and her proclamation of being member of generation X, Tyler shares her observation that millennials entering the workforce are tethered to technology, which in turn effects their work, communication, and decision making skills in and out of the office. By supplying the reader with information about these transgressions, Tyler builds her claim that HR professionals should work harder to accommodate the millennials’ shortcomings. She appears to write in hopes of HR professionals understanding why Millennials have developed into the people that they are in order to provide HR professionals with a better understanding of them and to teach these professionals how to deal with their millennial employees. Tyler’s explicit argument, which effectively appeals to her audience’s perception of millennials, is supported by an appeal to ethos in which she employs statements from credible professionals to optimize her argument. This strategy of opting to sparingly use her own voice in the text poses a unique method of making her audience more
Technology was massively growing in the years 2000-2010 causing a technological revolution. Many people were shocked by this advancement and were not as highly as acceptant. The article New workers, New workplaces Digital ‘Natives’ Invade the workplace written by Lee Rainie explains the growth and spread of technology and the effect it has on the younger generation in comparison with the older generation. Lee Rainie explains the consequences of this technology in the workplace. The intended audience for this text would be employers who want to learn more about technology and the effects of it on the younger generation. The purpose of this essay is to develop an understanding between the older generations who has not lived with technology alongside the younger generation who were raised by it. The context, organization and the tone of the essay all determine the effectiveness of the argument.
In her versatile article, “The Tethered Generation”, published in HR Magazine in May 2007, educated freelance writer Kathryn Tyler expresses her opinion of technology and its effects on the millennials generation (those born in the United States between 1978 and 1999). Tyler’s intended audience includes the many readers of HR Magazine, those who probably work in the Human Resources (HR) Department themselves. Her purpose is to educate other HR professionals on how they should become aware and prepared to a millennial generation too soon start working in the same workforce they are in. She shows this by arguing that since the reliability of technology, millennials have slowly started to drift away from their own responsibilities, causing a changed etiquette in professionalism while in a workforce environment. Tyler, a member of Generation X (those born in the US between 1960 and 1977) and a former Human Resources generalist, often writes passive, two-sided articles, addressing that neither side of the argument is to blame, according to her previous work in HR Magazine. This conversant piece continues that pattern of examining the cultural change from the perspective of human resource issues. what follows, I will try to reach out to my audience of classmates in order to have them agree with me that Tyler’s persuasive appeal is not strong enough to appeal to her audience.
Older colleagues to this generation is the Y generation as lazy individuals who are more difficult to manage. This generation also has a reputation for leaving their organization of employment abruptly to seek new opportunities. Generation Y has been exposed to the world in a different way than previous generations, they are more racially and ethnically diverse and they are much more segmented as they have seen the rapid development of cable, the internet, etc.
Many employers are challenged with handling the millennial due to the lack of proper understanding of this generation since there is plenty of myths, propagated through anecdotes and assumptions. However the separation of the myths and the facts is important for an organization so as
Gloria Larson discusses that it is often noted that recent graduates of college have a high unemployment rate, causing people to wonder if college is preparing students for the workforce. She stresses that she believes students are prepared, based off of her school. Even so, she asks the question “what will it take to ensure that millennials are fully prepared in the workplace?” Larson then explains that a research company, called KRC Research took a survey of 3000+ stakeholders to look into this question. This survey hit on a key point: businesses vary on skills expected from their new hires, however most said they agree that new hires should have both hard and soft skills. The study also noted that more than half of business leaders prefer
When students graduate from college and begin careers in their desired field, it can be a world of the uncertainty and unknown expectations. Getting to understand the workplace culture, its processes and chain of command can be overwhelming. Day-to-day activity and interactions with coworkers to achieve company goals provide opportunities to learn and grow, but with these interactions can come challenges and obstacles to overcome. According to Colorado State University Global (CSU-Global) (n.d.), "beginning a new job is difficult and it can take time to get used to your new routines and responsibilities" (para. 9). One way to help ease this transition is to develop and maintain skills that businesses desire. According
Cowin and Jacobsson (2003) additionally report that the new graduates and current school learners "belong to Generation Y" which is a group that is "more accepting of authority than the previous generation and more self-confident and collaborative than their older colleagues." (p.31) Generation Y however is reported in previous studies to "demonstrate less tolerance for seniority than previous generations and demand pay that is equivalent to
In Kathryn Tyler’s article “The Tethered Generation,” in Society of Human Resources Magazine, she asserts that people born between 1978 and 1999, also known as the Millennial Generation, would bring challenges to the workplace, attributing early access to technology and a “perpetual connection to parents” as causes. The article’s central tenet is that through technology, this generation’s “tethered” relationship with peers and parents has shaped communication, decision making, and need for connectivity. Tyler identifies the following Millennial traits as challenges to organizations: “unrealistic expectations with respect to goal-setting and planning;” “only adequate professionalism and work ethic, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking and problem solving;” and lack of autonomy and “sense of self-reliance.” The article ends by recommending that human resource management prepare for the Millennial’s “high maintenance” and their parent’s “helicoptering” with policies and training programs (Tyler, 2007).
If we take a look at my generation and previous generation one this is unmistakable, each generation possess individual values, attitudes and goals. After reading the article Gen Y in the Workforce by Tamara J. Erickson it became obvious to me that there is a generation gap between the traditionalists and generation Y. I believe a number of things play a role in this gap one of which I believe is the help my generation has received from previous generations.
Throughout the course of my workplace practices class I have participated in a consisted of completing assignments and work experience regarding my career pathways. As I look back and reflect on my time at this course, I am able to explore the graduate qualities and capabilities I have achieved over the duration of this study period, as well as the skills and abilities I need to improve on. Graduate qualities are skills that have been learned by students throughout the course of their schooling life, for example, it is a learning outcome of a program specifically stating the things that's been learned by students who have completed that program of study. In this reflection, I will be discussing about my strength and weakness personal
Millennials have already surpassed the number of baby boomers and have become the majority of the workforce in the U.S, and that number will keep on continuing to increase. But instead of expecting a stronger workforce where the old and new generation would work together to overcome the difficulties, businesses have been struggling in the hiring of millennials. The work environment has changed radically over the years and that has led to several differences between the generations. More than 53% of hiring managers are experiencing difficulties in employing and retaining millennials , and that percentage keeps on increasing as employment turnover keeps growing.
• Modernize Follow Up Communication – Gen Y has grown up utilizing technology as a
The most connected, classy and educated generation ever is known as Gen Z. Gen Z is part of a generation that is global, social, visual and technological. They are the teens, the tweens, the youth and the young adults of our society. A Generation is generally described through the years of birth. For example Generation Z is 1995 to 2009 and therefore if you are born within these times, you are considered a part of the Generation. Generation Z is about 2 billion of the world’s population and they don’t just characterize the future, they are creating it. Unfortunately Gen Z individuals have been brought into the world during the times of crisis, terrorism and the global downturn and climate change. However fortunately study has shown that Generation Z is assisting human resource managers in many areas such as employment, and the evolution of the work industry. Like the unfortunate era they’re living in, there is a positive turnaround where the students of today, employees and consumers of tomorrow, are experiencing the workforce for the first time and through this experience they have found and displayed new ways that human resourcing can be publically viewed. It has often been argued that Generation Z kids are irresponsible and lack discipline, however when it comes to employment, many managers have agreed that this Generation is the best.
When it comes to Millennials, there is nothing that screams “business as usual.” Consequently, savvy leaders who want to remain successful in the global business arena, must concede their current method of attracting, engaging, developing and retaining Millennials as future global leaders is ineffective. Therefore, today’s leaders must develop a more compelling strategy to entice Millennials into leadership. Failure to use strategic foresight to recognize trends regarding future organizational trends and take timely actions to change their tried and true, old school philosophy regarding developing and retaining talented employees will result in losing the competitive edge, which is driven by technology-laden Millennial’s who are poised to innovation.