Building a top-notch workforce with Millennials
Posted by Ed McNamara at 2:05 PM
Demographers like to classify Generation X and Generation Y based on the year someone was born: X = 1960s to 1980s, Y = 1980s to 2000s. That’s great to use as a baseline, but it looks too much like algebra to a slacker Gen Xer like me. (Remember that?)
Today’s employers are far more interested in the part of Generation Y that is currently joining the workforce: the 22 to 25 year olds more commonly called Millennials. Scores of articles and blogs are written each month about how different this next generation is from its predecessors, including this one that ran in the New York Times Magazine three days ago: “Do Millennials Stand a Chance in the Real World?”
I can’t comment on the real world, but I know this: Millennials not only “stand a chance” at SHI, they thrive! SHI has doubled both revenue and headcount over the past five years and we’re adding at least 500 more in Austin. That growth is largely comprised of young adults who just recently graduated college.
Young professionals are perfectly suited for SHI, a company obsessed with providing world-class customer service in support of IT products. Here are three simple reasons why:
- The consumerization of IT means that new offerings and solutions (like mobility) make perfect sense to those born with a silver device in their hands.
- Parents obsessed with saying please and thank you and covering their mouths when they cough have ingrained in their children a sense of how customers (and coworkers) should be treated.
- A society reliant on social media has already learned the hard lesson of both accepted and inappropriate, real-time forms of communication, including the need for immediate response.
SHI explains how to attract, prepare Millennial workers for leadership
Last week, I spoke with Investor’s Business Daily about how SHI attracts, retains, and cultivates Millennial talent. As I mentioned in that article, there’s a really simple way to build a business based on the strengths that 20- and 30-somethings bring to the table.
Talk to them. Ask them what they think. You’ll be surprised how much they already know and how at ease they are with being empowered and contributing to the decision-making process.
Even an old curmudgeon from Generation X can admit, Millennials are working for SHI.
