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…
by Mark Sanborn and Eric Chester After graduating from college, Eric started his career as a high school business teacher and coach. Mark launched his career selling in the magazine business. Do you remember your first job? I mean your first time in a “real” job, an honest-to-goodness, full-time job after you completed your formal…
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…
I am a music lover. My iPod is bursting with tunes from every genre imaginable. Although I always tend to gravitate to oldies, classic rock, funk, 80’s, and even my dad’s elevator music, I have great respect for a lot of the new stuff coming out today. Bruno Mars is an artist that will be…
In 2004, I presented my Employing Generation Why keynote speech to about 300 sales managers of Southwestern, the renowned educational book publisher and distributor headquartered in Nashville, TN. With a 150-year history of getting top-quality college students to forgo their entire summer vacation to sell books door-to-door on a commission-only basis, Southwestern is unlike any…
A colleague of mine who routinely speaks to college students accepts an offer to present a webinar to a company who employs a lot of young talent. Even though he understands college kids, this particular request is a bit out of his wheelhouse, but he decides to stretch himself and cover the topic to the…
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…
Think ‘lack of work ethic‘ of the young workforce is a criticism leveled only by American employers? Think again. This story from the U.K. tells the story of an owner of a large farm in England whose frustration with young job seekers has escalated to the point he is publicly lambasting–and even boycotting–the teen job…
Pull any manager aside and ask them to describe the emerging front line workforce and terms like ‘entitled’ and ‘poor work ethic’ will enter into the conversation. I interact with thousands of managers in the hospitality industry each year, and this I can say with certainty. At last year’s CHART conference in New Orleans, a…
I was in my early twenties when MTV came on the scene 30 years ago today. At that age, I was precisely the targeted demographic this revolutionary new channel had in it’s cross-hairs, and it worked. They played music-videos 24/7, and I couldn’t get enough of them. Before MTV, I was forced to use my…