208219 Resource 125361 200444 200444 1214851872071 1214852435577 Controlled IT For Generation ‘Me’

Part 1: Who Is Generation Y And Why Do They Matter?

Spoiled. Demanding. Cocky. Fickle. These are just a few of the adjectives commonly used to describe the individuals born somewhere between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, or Generation Y. Having been raised in the most child-centric era to date, Gen Yers such as myself are often seen as coddled, over praised, and suffering from a massive case of egomania. I’ve heard urban legends of presumptuous Gen Yers requesting six-figure salaries to go along with first jobs out of college, of breaking long-established hierarchies by casually chatting up the CEO, and even bringing their parents along on job interviews. With anecdotes such as these making their way throughout the upper echelons of corporate America, it’s no wonder that my peers and I have earned the moniker ‘Generation Me.’ A truly unique generation, we confound our elders – we speak a language littered with acronyms and abbreviations, we’ve evolved battery-powered appendages, and if one thing is certain, in our world, no institution is sacred. We’ve been raised to challenge authority, to speak our minds, and all along the way our successes have been celebrated with hearty fanfare. And with over 80 million members spending at a rate of <a title="Generation Y Earns $211 Billion and Spends $172 Billion Annually" href="http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NEWS/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=667" target="_blank">$172 billion</a> annually, we’re a force to be reckoned with.A quick query for the words “Generation Y” on Amazon.com yields thousands of results. Titles such as <a title="The World According To Y: Inside The New Adult Generation" href="http://www.amazon.com/World-According-Inside-Adult-Generation/dp/1741148456/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213891303&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The World According To Y: Inside The New Adult Generation</a>, <a title="Managing Generation Y" href="http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Generation-Y-Carolyn-Martin/dp/0874256224/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213891303&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Managing Generation Y</a>, and <a title="Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation" href="http://www.amazon.com/Millennials-Rising-Next-Great-Generation/dp/0375707190/ref=pd_bbs_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213891303&sr=8-10" target="_blank">Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation</a> suggest that this is not a demographic to ignore. With the impending retirement of the Boomer generation, Gen Y is charging into the workplace and employers had better be ready.Extremely tech-savvy, Gen Y is wired to the hilt and does everything online – shopping, gaming, banking, job hunting, networking, etc. And just because Gen Y is leaving school for the workplace, it doesn’t mean we’re checking our tech habit at the door. We’re a generation of multi-taskers and only truly comfortable when we’re doing ten things at once. Rather than trying to force Gen Y to conform to archaic corporate policies and hierarchies, employers should harness their technological prowess, their insatiable commitment to personal success, and their work ethic in order to get the most out of this new crop of workers.And marketers would do well to alter their traditional brand recognition methods in order to reach Gen Y. Gen Y has grown up in an ad-saturated world and responds differently to marketing campaigns than their predecessors do. While the Baby Boomers came of age with the television (a device which talks at you while you sit captive, yet uninvolved), Gen Y has come of age with the Internet (which not only allows, but almost demands interactivity from its users). Gen Y wants to feel involved and engaged and brands that are determined to be successful with this audience are leveraging that desire. Gen Y’s disruptive effect is being felt all over. Our instant gratification, on-demand mentality is changing the way industries do business. While in some cases this effect has proven disastrous (<a title="The Record Industry's Decline" href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/15137581/the_record_industrys_decline" target="_blank">just ask the record industry</a>), for the most part it has spawned innovation and new opportunities for growth. This blog series will explore more about Generation Y and how this powerful demographic will continue to disrupt every institution they encounter. 10 application/xml false generation Y Internet marketing Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; InfoPath.1) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 fbartolomey 208.82.213.22 false true false false true 125361 blog blogsite/UpdataAdvisors/web