Link This |
Email this |
Blog This |
Comments (1)
Too many jobs, not enough gen Y’ers?
March 31, 2008
Despite talk of recession, which can be expected to drive up unemployment, chief financial officers are worried about recruiting. That’s according to a report in yesterday’s Boston Globe by Penelope Trunk, the author of “Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success.”
“Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu says the next 10 years will be an employee-driven market, because of a whole host of demographics issues, from boomers leaving the workforce to fewer Generation Y’ers being interested in corporate life. Its consulting group released a survey of firms this week that identified a shortage of skilled and talented workers as their greatest concern,” Trunk reports.
The article doesn’t specifically mention recruiting in engineering. But the article does reflect concerns I heard while conducting interviews in preparation for writing a profile of Test & Measurement World’s Test Engineer of the Year. One of the key skills of the winner (who will be announced tomorrow—check back at www.tmworld.com to learn who it is) is mentoring the few entry-level engineers who are needed to replace the many skilled baby-boomer engineers who will soon be retiring. One concern expressed about entry-level engineers is that they are more familiar with video games than real-world labs and factories.
In a related article, in a Dear Prudence item in Slate—titled “Generation Y Me?”—a questioner explains that the boss is “heavy on the criticism and light on the positive reinforcement…. At what point can I turn to my boss and say, ‘Hey, I need things to be different around here’ without sounding like an ingrate for the great opportunity that I have?’”
Prudence answers, rightly, at the point where you are ready to clean out your desk. But “clean out your desk” might not be the response of desperate managers, as I commented in an earlier post, “Heck of a job, readers!”
Posted by Rick Nelson on March 31, 2008 | Comments (1)
