How To Understand Your Future Employees
“Our company was founded at the turn of the century,” an employer proudly boasted.
“Which one?” asked the job candidate.
Beloit College released its well-known Mindset List for the class of 2019. These incoming college freshmen were born in 1997, with the likes of Dolly the sheep and the McCaughey septuplets. They grew up in an age where people have always mourned the loss of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. The musical The Lion King was already on Broadway, while CNN was always available in Spanish.
This group of students has grown up in an age filled with rapid advancements in technology that has changed the modern workforce. They have never known a time without Google, cell phones, mass-produced hybrid vehicles or the expectation of Wi-Fi to connect their devices to the Internet.
What does this mean for your future workforce?
To put things in perspective, this is a generation that has never needed to lick a postage stamp to adhere it to an envelope. Email has always been a source of formal communication versus sending a letter in the mail. When it comes time to apply for a job, this generation will only be familiar with an online application process and not be able to recall a time when a resume and cover letter were sent through the mail in an envelope.
They will have high expectations for the type of technology used in the workplace, from handheld devices to high speed Internet. Google is a go to place of information for this group who used it in school as a tool to find sources for term papers. When they begin their search for professional employment in a few years, they will look for employers who have embraced technology such as mobile devices and Wi-Fi as a standard in the workplace.
The mindset of incoming freshmen is not only helpful to college professors, but also a helpful tool for employers to understand the experiences of a future workforce. Those organizations that have embraced technological advances in the workplace, will benefit from the experiences and knowledge the class of 2019 has grown up with.
In return, those companies that take the time to understand the mindset of incoming generations will be attractive organizations to the future workforce.
To find out more about how job seekers can use their skills to help your company, contact one of our Madison area account managers at (608) 257-2411.
Stephanie Beirne Leuer is the Marketing Coordinator at Drake & Company Staffing Solutions, a staffing firm based in Madison, Wisconsin. Drake & Company specializes in temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct hire administrative, clerical and legal placements. Since 1978, Drake has reached beyond skills and qualifications to match candidate personalities with a company’s culture. You can connect with Stephanie by , and you can find Drake & Company on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.