Who are Generation Y?

The ‘Generation Y’ graduates were born in or after 1982 and are a generation that, as serious graduate recruiters, we cannot ignore in the war to attract ‘savvy’ graduate talent. 

As individuals, our experience shows that they are typically taking both their personal and career development very seriously and, as such, make informed choices about their future employers. 

They are a technologically-astute peer group, and through online social networking, they have access to any number of opinions and will actively seek to find out about other peoples experiences of graduate recruitment processes.  Do you know what graduates are saying about yours?

This group will also be influenced by your ethical and environmental policies, for example, and are increasingly ‘brand aware’.  Is your company’s brand attracting the right graduates or simply perpetuating misconceptions about your industry?

This is something that traditionally ‘unsexy’ industries, such as engineering and manufacturing are waking up to, and we’ve seen some brilliant attraction strategies that have broken the mould!

When it comes to retaining your valuable talent in the longer term, an understanding of what makes Generation Y ‘tick’ is undoubtedly an asset. 

‘Ambitious’ and ‘demanding’ were the two most consistent answers when the AGR (Association of Graduate Recruiters) asked its members to describe Generation Y’ers. 

The same survey revealed a general consensus that they are less loyal to their employers than previous generations of graduates, so its critical that you can show them their potential career path and a solid development programme within your organisation.

 

Don't leave it until the end of the graduate programme to think about their future learning and development needs. 

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