John Leonard Blog

Reaching Gen Y

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Ever hear the saying “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”? Well, the way to a Gen Y’s mind is through technology.  This estimated 70 million population segment grew up on the internet and high-tech gadgets; these constantly-changing, “world-at-our-fingertips” devices are second nature to them. Understanding who they are as a generation will shed light on how to best approach Gen Y’s about new opportunities and nurture them as future decision-makers in business.  

Note: As a Gen Y myself, I speak generally about Gen Y to illustrate my points but please note that we as an organization support the notion that not all Gen Y’s fall into the described category.

We are the fastest-growing segment in the workforce, and our perspective on work is different than other generations’. The line between work and home is blurry to us, if the line exists at all. We like to spend our time in meaningful and useful ways, no matter where we are. We tend to spend more time “plugged in”  online because our “first language” is the internet and because our social network is there.

From the video, Dr. Marc Hill from Columbia University says the fact that Millennials know how to “connect and access information faster than any other generation in U.S. history” makes them highly attractive to employers. The truth is that we, more than any other generation, are comfortable and like working outside the nine-to-five timeframe.  Especially so if we find meaning behind our work, which further illustrates the “entrepreneurial” approach we often take to achieve our assignments. Actually, entrepreneurship now functions as a safety net for our generation, especially given the relatively soft job market. We love a challenge and multi-tasking is one of our strongest assets.

The way we engage with our networks is demonstrative of what we look for in a career. Here are some suggestions for reaching Gen Y’s:

To recruit…

• Use technology to make a friendly introduction and share information with us, and in short bites (i.e. Twitter).

• Stay connected and communicate with us via social media for a higher response rate and to nurture our interests from the get-go.

• Pitch our strengths to your clients and communicate how adding us to your (client’s) staff is vital for the success of your business’ growth. Our familiarity with technology, coupled with being described as confident, ambitious and achievement-oriented, are a few key selling points to interested employers.

To motivate…

• Find new ways to incorporate technology into the workplace. “Facilitating technology is vital to gaining the highest level of interaction with this group and bringing them on board to achieve company goals,” says Senior Staffing Consultant at John Leonard, Rob Harvie. “

• Include your Gen Y staff in new marketing initiatives or operation processes and cultivate a team-oriented environment to execute.

• Be open to our ideas. An entrepreneurial approach to completing goals resonates with us. We like to find creative and more efficient ways to do things and often excel with a startup-type of project.

Here are some examples of million dollar businesses started by Gen Y’s who have leveraged these skills and abilities:

My Yearbook ($100 million dollar business started by a 15 year old high school student)

Greenhorn Connect (an online hub sharing real-time opportunity updates and resources with the Boston entrepreneur ecosystem started by a 24 year old)

Dart Boston (an online community of Boston professionals and inventors started by a 20 something entrepreneur)

 Facebook (a multi-billion dollar company started by a Harvard undergraduate in a college dorm room)

Gen Y is transforming the way our employers conduct their businesses. Time Magazine online wraps it up the best:  Employers and Older Workers--that is, anyone over 30--need to know how to adapt to the values and demands of their newest colleagues. Before too long, they will be running our organizations.

In what ways do you reach Gen Y’s?