Communications of the ACM
What the Influx of the Millennial Generation Will Mean For It
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As the Millennial Generation that began entering the workforce in 2000 starts to assume leadership roles within organizations, now is the time to better understand what makes that generation tick and what their presence and influence means for organizations now and in the future. The Millennial Generation is the first generation in human history which regards behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, as everyday parts of their social lives. According to a recent Pew survey of Internet habits, the members of this generation work best in flexible environments, and in workplaces where they can express their opinions and know that they are valued and that their voices are heard.
Information businesses are becoming highly sought-after by Millennials. They tend to be more creative, more agile and more able to move quickly. That sort of development environment is good for younger workers, who are not afraid of failing and throwing stuff away. They actually like change and so they want to work on new projects. Millennials are not as interested in running data centers or systems and application management as they are in development and building apps and websites. They much prefer to be in these much more creative development roles. Since they've grown up with technology, they readily know what a good site looks like, what good design is, and which features would be most relevant for users.
Since younger workers are so experienced with the Web, IT companies that want to recruit Millennials have to approach them differently than other generations. A strong online presence is a must for companies that want to attract Millennials, who like to see a company's technology savvy in action. So is using social-networking sites to mine for potential candidates rather than depending solely on finding resumes and having them submitted via job postings at the mainstay career sites. To many Millennials, providing all manner of personal details on sites like Facebook seems so natural a thing to do that it wouldn't occur to them that what they've posted could be red flags to prospective employers.
From Computerworld
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Comments
Anonymous
I am sick of people labeling individuals a certain generation just because of the year they were born. I feel this way because there are many people who do not fit into the generation to which they were assigned. For example, I was born in 1979 and I am a Millenial because I have virtually nothing in common with Gen X. Also, I do not like to be labeled. In fact, MANY out there dont. My definition of the word generation is holistic. Like they say, "let everyone be who they want to be."
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