Welcome to the February 6, 2008 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1.  The Milliennials - The Most Collaborative Generation EVER?

The youngest generation to enter your practices looking for jobs are called the Millennials. Millennials were born between 1980 - 2000, so we're just starting to see the oldest Millennials graduate high school and college.  They have also been referred to as the iGeneration and the Net Generation due to their hardwiring for technology.  Still others have called them Generation Y, for no other reason than they were born after Gen-X, and Gen W ---for obvious reasons!

So who are these Millennials?  These are the Children of the Rising Dow.  They grew up during the greatest period of wealth creation in modern history.   They have also witnessed irrational exuberance ending in the dot-com crash, terrorism, war and climate change.

Unfortunately the oldest Millennials could also be called Generation Debt.  No group has ever started adult life so deeply in the hole due to mounting college costs, dwindling financial aid, and credit-card debt.

Millennials are mostly the by-product of the late-marrying and married again baby boomers. They grew up with "Baby on Board" signs and a culture that lovingly catered to their needs. Their parents have been called "helicopter parents" and "snowplow parents" for hovering over every move their child made and trying to pave the way to a clear future. As a result, they are characterized as being optimistic, tech-savvy, multi-cultural and collaborative. 

Authorities on the digital revolution, these tech-savvy kids spend more text messages everyday than there are people on the planet. They grew up tethered to multiple electronic devices while juggling text messages, surfing the Net and listening to iPods - all while doing their homework. They mix learning, communicating and playing.

Worldwide this generation is huge, nearly 2 billion strong.  In the U.S. the Millennials outnumber the Baby Boomers, the previously largest generation.  The Boomers made and moved markets.  The Millennials will be the doing the same thing but more quickly and dramatically.  Millennials will rewrite the rules for communities, markets, and workplaces.

These youngsters have grown up online, bathed in bits and bytes. Unlike their parents who grew up watching 24 hours of television per week, Millennials grew up interacting with their media. To them life is one big ongoing, massive collaboration---and they love it.  They are used to sifting through information at the speed of light. They spend their lives searching, reading, securitizing, authenticating, organizing and -----collaborating! (Yes - there's that word again.)

Young people are gathering en masse on line to -----collaborate.  Millennials, unlike their Gen-X predecessors who incessantly played one-dimensional games, create the games they play - virtually and interactively with people they've never met.  Hanging out with their friends down the street has been replaced by online gaming and social networking.  It's like they closed the bedroom door but instead of one best friend inside they now invite thousands of friends in.  Lacking in many traditional social circles - school, work and family - these online networks provide virtual instant feedback and affection.

Millennials love to work for managers who teach new things.  They work hard for managers who coach them and are positive, just like their soccer Moms and stay-at-home Dads. Their expectations are that managers are like their Moms and Dads - hovering over them and plowing the way. Learning must be dynamic and interactive with ongoing feedback.

Whether you agree with them or not, Millennials will be knocking on your doors for jobs for years to come. Yes, their attitudes and values are different -not necessarily bad, just different.  When hired and managed effectively, Millennials will be some of the brightest, generous, and most collaborative employees you'll ever hire.

Next week: Basic Survival Skills for Managing the Millennials

Read Part 1: Effective teams focus on collaboration, not harmony

Read Part 2: Collaboration is a positive outcome of conflict

Read Part 3: Collaboration: What's in it for business? 

2. Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

Every day I receive dozens of stories highlighting

another shortage of workers. Each week I'll post

one or two of the more interesting ones.  This week's

post is:

It seems odd. In the world's most populous region the biggest problem facing employers is a shortage of people. Asia has more than half the planet's inhabitants and is home to many of the world's fastest-growing economies. But some businesses are being forced to reconsider just how quickly they will be able to grow, because they cannot find enough people with the skills they need.

In a recent survey, 600 chief executives of multinational companies with businesses across Asia said a shortage of qualified staff ranked as their biggest concern in China and South-East Asia. It was their second-biggest headache in Japan (after cultural differences) and the fourth-biggest in India (after problems with infrastructure, bureaucracy and wage inflation). Across almost every industry and sector it was the same.

Source: The Economist, August 16, 2007

Read more about skilled worker shortages in the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)

Now on Sale!  Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)  

Order today and save 25%.

NEW Chapters!  Generational Conflicts in the Workplace, Managing the Future Workforce, Attracting Young Employees in a Seller's Job Market plus hundreds of new facts, trends and stats.

View Table of Contents  

Save 25% off retail by ordering now.

Hard Cover: $29.99         Soft Cover: $19.99  

Your Price: $22.49           Your Price: $14.99

To order Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, call 800.803.4303.  Discounts for orders of 10 or more.  Specify hard or soft cover.

3. Download Impact of Aging Baby Boomers Testimony 

Ira S Wolfe testified last week in front of the PA House of Representatives Aging & Older Adult Services Committee.  Ira joined former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford, spokesperson for ExperienceWave.org, and Secretary of Aging Nora Dowd Eisenhower along with representatives from AARP and United Way. Both Ira and Sen. Wofford along with four other panelists provided testimony on the impact of the aging workforce and pending retirements on PA business.  

To download Ira's prepared testimony, click on the following:

Impact of Aging Baby Boomers in the state of PA  

PA House Aging Addendum

4. Unlimited* Pre-employment tests for as little as $1250!

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New Report added - the Clues Team Report at no additional charge!

For a FREE JobClues report, click here or call toll-free at 800-803-4303 about our special unlimited use pricing.

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5. Speaking Schedule: Ira S Wolfe

2008:

March 4 - Hiring Right is Not Kid's Play: Fitting the Right Pegs in the Right Holes Business Solutions "On the Road"  Harrisburg Regional Chamber.  Location TBA

March 6 - National Human Resource Association, Pasadena, CA.  Breakfast Keynote: Perfect Labor Storm 2.0

May 16 - Sovereign Benefits Solutions HR Conference, Hershey PA

October 2008 (tentative) - American Staffing Association Annual Meeting - Workforce Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business  

Call 717.291.4640 to schedule Ira for your next meeting or conference.

6. New Book: Coming Job Book

Ira recently collaborated with Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder on a new book, The Coming Job Boom.  Bonnie is the author of The Public School Parent's Guide to Success. The Coming Job Boom is the "ying" for the "yang" of The Perfect Labor Storm.  While the Perfect Labor Storm is beginning to make managers feel like storm chasers looking for qualified workers, high school and college students must be smiling at this Upcoming Job Boom. For those young workers with the right skills and motivation, the job market will make these kids feel like  - well, like kid's in a candy store! The book release is scheduled for April 2008. Watch for more info in future newsletters.

7. Quotes from Hire Authorities

"I try to hear things through the ears of others, and see things through their eyes."

Leonard Riggio, CEO, Barnes and Noble

Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success Performance Solutions. Copyright 2008 Ira S Wolfe."  We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission