Ignore the Net Generation at your Peril

Ignore the Net Generation at your Peril

for businesses to survive it’s essential to keep a flow of new graduates and fresh young talent coming into the workplace

It looks as though the number of new graduates being employed during 2009 will drop by around 17%. Some sectors will be very badly hit with predictions of a drop of 47% for new intake in the financial services sector.

But for businesses to survive in the long term, it’s essential to keep a flow of new graduates and fresh young talent coming into the workplace. Their skills, knowledge and acceptance of digital technology are needed by any organisation that plans to still be in business in five years time.

Those entering the workplace now, often referred to as Generation Y or the Net Generation, are the first generation to have grown up digital. They’re part of a global cultural phenomenon that’s here to stay.

“For the first time in history, youth are the authorities on something really important.” – Donald Tapscott

Don Tapscott, author of ‘Grown Up Digital’, says: “Today’s young people are using technology in ways you could never imagine. Instead of passively watching television, these ‘Net Geners’ are actively participating in the distribution of entertainment and information. For the first time in history, youth are the authorities on something really important.”

Organisations need young people with digital skills to help shape the business. This means they need to be nurtured, encouraged and above all, managers need to listen to what they have to say.

“Young people often don’t get the credit they deserve,” says David Ritchie of A2B. “They have grown up in a very different world and need to be developed differently to previous generations. Organisations should be embracing new talent and adapting their graduate development programmes to get the best from them. At the same time ‘net geners’ need to respect the time tested knowledge that exists within an organisation and realise that it might be best tapped through traditional methods. Organisations are looking to merge the best of the new with the best of the old.”

So how can we tap into what the ‘net generation’ has to offer?

1. The ‘way that we do things around here’ is changing rapidly with the use of the internet and social networking tools. Organisations need to understand the implications of the digital revolution and its consequent impact upon their culture and implement the necessary changes.

2. Change brings resistance. This is particularly the case in a situation when it is those in charge who are resisting change and the new skill sets, needed to drive change, lie with the graduate population.

3. All organisations have a degree of tacit knowledge that can’t simply be ‘googled’. Graduates need mentoring to hone their internal political skills and to be able to ask ‘old Jim down the corridor’ for advice.

4. Both line managers and graduates need to build a new consensus, optimizing the digital skills for the benefit of the organisation.

5. Your long-term goal must be retention of this vital new skill set within your organisation. Only by working together to re-set and achieve expectations of both line managers and graduates can you achieve this goal.

Our graduate programmes are designed to make sure managers have the necessary skills to incorporate new attitudes, new digital skills and new ways of working into the culture of a business. In addition our tutors help new graduates to become more self-sufficient in the workplace and to be more pro-active in their career development.

No organisation can afford to ignore young people with digital skills. The new generation is here and the skills young people bring to a business can only become more important over the coming years. Cutting back on graduate intake dramatically this year could hinder recovery and growth from 2010 onwards.

A2B can help. For further information on A2B’s graduate programme, click here.