In 1989, 56% of the 16- to 19-year-olds in America were actively participating in the workforce. This meant that an employer hiring a young person in the late eighties and early nineties had better than a one-in-two chance that the young person they were considering understood what it meant to hold a job. In 2012,…
Fans of The Beverly Hillbillies will remember the running joke that Jethro (the most educated of the entire Clampett family) had “made it all the way through the 6th grade.” Yee-Haw! When this series originally aired in the sixties, no one celebrated such a modest accomplishment. Of course you made it through the 6th grade,…
“Success comes from good judgment. Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.” I can’t verify the correct source of that quote, but I’ve heard many a version of this little axiom over the years. Makes me wonder how old I’ll be before my experience will pay off and I’ll stop doing so…
Quid pro quo (from the Latin meaning “this for that”) is a commonly used term in business negotiations. It’s also the foundation of every employer/employee relationship. To illustrate, let’s say the quid represents the compensation an employer is willing to part with in exchange for labor they need to operate their business. The quo, then,…
by Mark Sanborn and Eric Chester (This is Part 2 of 2 offering ideas on how to recruit, manage, and retain ‘firsters’ – i.e. young adults entering their first ‘real’ position. Here’s a link to Part 1.) In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dennis Nally, the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), summed up…
Plenty. You see, an entitlement mentality is not innate, rather it’s learned and often engrained into an individual. It stems from multiple experiences of an individual getting something for nothing, leading them to believe they are deserving and should have what they want without putting forth the effort that is normally required to produce that…
The most common adjective used by today’s employers to describe the young emerging workforce is ‘entitled’. While there are many exceptions and contradictions to any demographic stereotype, this label that young employees are having a difficult time shaking implies that they act as though they deserve more than their employers feel they are worth. The…
Chilly weather has presented me with an opportunity to watch television with my 4-year-old granddaughter, Brooklyn, who controls the remote. Her favorite show is the wildly popular preschool phenomenon, ‘Dora the Explorer.’ This program looked so simplistic and unimaginative to me, I thought I’d never make it through an entire 21-minute episode. However, after watching…
Reflecting on those stories that impacted my work in 2011, I found the stories that either confirmed my opinions and beliefs, or challenged them to the core. Agree or disagree, for anyone that employs teens and young adults, these links are worth investigating. Wishing you a bright and prosperous 2012, and a healthy flow of…
According to yet another new survey, America’s employers believe that colleges and universities and not adequately preparing students for success after graduation. While this is not a revelation to those who’ve listened to the collective moans of employers over the last decade, what is surprising is that this partiuclar study is not one conducted by…