Yoh eMagazine January 2014 by Yoh Services

*FIND A NEW, EXCITING JOB TAKE A LESSON FROM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Why Millennials Are

IMMATURE, ENTITLED & THE

ARTFUL TALENT ACQUISITION AND INTERPRETIVE DANCE

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WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INSIDE 03 Why Millennials Are

Immature, Entitled & the Best Hire

08 The Most Disruptive Force in Tech is Women

12 Find a New, Exciting Job Take

A Lesson From the Music Industry

16 Artful Talent Acquisition and

Interpretive Dance

WHY MILLENNIALS ARE

IMMATURE, ENTITLED & THE BEST HIRE As it has been pointed out countless times in the media and through anecdotes, millennials in the workplace feel entitled to undeserved promotions and raises, are addicted to their smartphones and job hop every few years. The litany of complaints goes on, but of course no generation is as bad -- or as good -- as reported: Generation X was more than just a bunch of slackers and Baby Boomersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; strengths shook off their juvenile delinquent label. ÂŠ 2014 Yoh Services LLC | A Day & Zimmermann Company

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In the case of Generation Y, twenty-somethings bring new perspectives and habits to the workplace that add value to their employers, even though those strengths also carry inherent weaknesses. Whether you’re managing millennials or are a twenty-something yourself, here are the unique and creative talents Gen Y brings to the table, the lessons they still need to learn and the opportunities they have to establish themselves as the next generation of leaders.

THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF NATURAL COLLABORATION. Immune to hierarchy or labels and raised in an era of social media and crowdsourcing, Generation Y is fiercely inclusive. Studies show that millennial managers are more likely to build culturally competent teams that ignore race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical abilities, among other characteristics. This diversity of perspectives can drive stronger decision-making and should be encouraged. But millennials’ need for interaction can also manifest in a need for constant performance assessments, with 80 percent of this demographic wanting regular feedback from their managers. And for a generation used to receiving trophies win or lose, any negative criticism can be hard to take. Millennials should take a page from the Baby Boomers and focus on getting the job done, regardless of whether there’s praise for the work they did. In addition, twenty-something’s need to rethink negative criticism. It can be hard

What’s the Word? 80 percent of millenials want regular feedback from their managers.

The Young and the Tech Savvy 61 percent of millennials said they don’t immediately call company support. Instead, 71 percent have turned to Google for a solution at least once.

to take, but it’s offered with good intentions: to improve your work and the company’s success.

THE GOOD AND BAD OF BEING SELF-SUFFICIENT. While millennials are often knocked for boomeranging back home after college, they’re actually highly self-sufficient. For example, when diagnosing IT problems at work, 61 percent of millennials said they don’t immediately call company support. Instead, 71 percent have turned to Google for a solution at least once. And while some IT departments balk at the potential risk of this approach, it’s often faster and more efficient. But along with self-sufficiency comes a dangerous rigidity. Millennials can’t Google their path to success. They need to look beyond established methods and u nd erstand that the i r value to employers is to continuously seek out new

strategies, devise better processes and improve quality. They’re being given the opportunity to thrive and differentiate, but they need to see it and capitalize on it.

THE LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA. Having grown up with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, millennials have no qualms about sharing their lives as they happen. In doing so, they can build their own reputations as well as that of their employer. Plus, they may be more willing to invest in creative solutions in anything the tackle -- even in quitting their jobs (Remember the Marina Shifrin quitting video seen by more than 17 million people?) The best managers are able to tap that creativity and millennials’ ability to command an audience.

Creativty Matters 83 percent of millennials want to work for a company that values their creativity.

That said, incessant sharing of irrelevant or useless information is all the evidence most observers need to peg millennials as narcissists. To avoid this stereotype, Gen Y should err on p. 5

the side of sharing useful, relevant information. Before sharing, ask yourself one key question: Does this post help someone? If yes, publish. If no, don’t.

THE BALANCING ACT OF PURPOSE. Millenials don’t just want a job: They want to make a difference. An MTV study showed that 83 percent of millennials want to work for a company that values their creativity. More than 90 percent are motivated to work harder if they know where their work is going and 92 percent expect feedback In this environment, managers have no excuse for withholding an explanation for even minor tasks.

until the higher purpose is revealed. Sometimes a task is just a task. Certainly, millennials should let their managers know if they’d like their work’s purpose better communicated, but in the meantime, they should complete the tasks at hand and do them well. If you’re a millennial, play to your strengths but recognize you still have a few things to learn about the workplace. Your success ultimately depends on your ability to rise above your perceived weaknesses. If you manage millennials, take a step back and recognize the value they can offer through new perspectives and approaches to their work. Capperella, Joel “Why Millennials Are Immature, Entitled & the Best Hire” Entrepeneur.com. Entrepreneur Media, Inc. 11 Jan 2014.

It’s absolutely fair to want to know how the task matters, but millennials shouldn’t wait around

What’s the Motivation? 90 percent of millenials are motivated to work harder if they know where their work is “going.”

WHAT’S NEW IN TECH

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THE MOST DISRUPTIVE FORCE

IN TECH IS WOMEN In the old, testosterone-driven world of technology, alpha dogs waged war to achieve high-flying personal success in epic Gatesversus-Jobs conflicts or Art of War photo ops of Larry Ellison. But guess what happened to our gladiators on the way to the Coliseum? Teamwork took hold in an industry where groups of workers are now more likely to rely on one another to move projects forward through collaboration rather than competition. This new paradigm has opened ears to women’s voices in the traditionally male-dominated tech field. In this new world order, women are finding opportunities and rewards by offering perspectives that build out more diverse -and successful -- high tech companies. In fact, 2013 could very well be labeled the Year of the Woman in Technology.

Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg certainly made the case. Her best-selling book aside, Sandberg helped lead an astounding rebound after Facebook embarrassed itself in its 2012 IPO. Sandberg and team rallied, leading a $1.3 billion turnaround that triggered a 19 percent jump in Facebook’s stock -- adding $12 billion in value overnight after its most recent earnings call. Or consider Marissa Mayer, whose tenure at the helm of Yahoo has nearly doubled the company’s stock price in a little over a year. Ten percent of new hires are former Yahoo employees now eager to return to their former employer. And Mayer is growing Yahoo’s user base while staking the company’s claim in the mobile world. Yahoo now boasts 800 million active users, representing 20 percent growth since Mayer took the reins.

Tech Stats Women filled 46 percent of new tech jobs in the first quarter of 2013. Among the 125 most successful tech startups of the past decade, those with IPOs or M&A deals surpassing $50 million, 200 women were founders or cofounders.

And while these are two of the most prominent women in tech right now, many others are on the rise, making themselves known at the top tech companies, including Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Pinterest and Facebook. And demand for women in tech jobs is up. While women currently make up less than a third of the IT landscape, they filled 46 percent of new tech jobs in the first quarter of 2013. Other women are setting out on their own, as the founders or CEOs of their own tech startups. Leah Busque, for example, left her job as a software engineer at IBM to found what would become TaskRabbit, an online marketplace where anyone can outsource chores, errands, and other small jobs. The company has raised more than $35.7 million in funding, and attracted some 13,000 people in 14 U.S. cities to complete tasks. It turns out women entrepreneurs have a strong track record. Among the 125 most successful tech startups of the past decade -- those with IPOs or M&A deals surpassing $50 million -200 women were founders or cofounders. And get this: women-operated, venture-backed

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high tech companies average 12 percent higher annual revenues than those run by men. They also use a third less capital to achieve those results. So, have the barriers crumbled? Well at MIT, 45 percent of the sitting class is women and 41 percent of Harvard computer science majors are women. Anomalies, you say, swayed by lofty standards that allow for the easy pick of the best and brightest female technologists in the world. That might be true, considering that women still only account for about 18 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned in computer science. Still, the number of women in the IT field surged 28 percent between 2011 and 2012. While still the outliers, Sandberg, Mayer, Busque, and the women CEOs of dozens of startups stand in direct opposition to the brogrammer mentality that has afflicted too much of high tech for too long. They offer high-profile role models for the women the tech industry needs

if it truly wants to further diversify and expand perspectives that lead to innovation. Right now, the competition for technical workers has never been greater. And smart tech companies should be looking to fill the skills gap with an eye to emerging, collaborative, and diverse workplaces where women have as much of a say as men. But to get there, we need to recognize women’s contributions to tech and business, encourage more women to pursue and stick with tech careers, and pave the way for the women tech titans of tomorrow. It will take a concerted effort. But the result -achieving a diversity of perspective that informs both new technology and the businesses behind it -- would make women the most disruptive force in tech. Capperella, Joel “Why The Most Disruptive Force In Tech Is Women” Huffington Post.com. The Huffington Post. 11 Jan 2014.

Tech Stats

Tech Stats The number of women in the IT field surged 28 percent between 2011 and 2012.

DISCOVER TOP CAREERS

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FIND A NEW, EXCITING JOB

-TAKE A LESSON FROM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY What’s wrong with the American job market? I’m asked to explain that phenomenon every day. A strengthening economy should spell better job prospects as employers gear up to meet expanding demand. But unemployment still lingers in the mid-7 percent range, and some 11.3 million Americans remain out of work. All bad news for American job seekers. Or is it? Ironically, while many Americans lament their plight in life, the dirty little secret is that there are some 3.7 million unfilled jobs waiting for qualified candidates. The other secret is that job seekers have more control over their destiny today than at any other time in history. Yet they don’t know it. They don’t understand it, and they’re missing out on it. But to gain this control, job searchers need to learn a lesson borrowed from the music industry. Just like the job market, the music industry has © 2014 Yoh Services LLC | A Day & Zimmermann Company

been devastated by fundamental changes in the way business is transacted, thanks to the Internet, social media, and a rebalancing of power that places more control in the hands of buyers and less in the hands of sellers. To understand, think back to the height of music industry sales in the 1990s. Much of the success stemmed from the introduction of the CD and the manmade need for consumers to repurchase the music they already owned and loved on albums simply because of a format change. The music industry responded by lapping up sales and growing arrogant and abusive. Disconnected from their real community of passionate fans, record companies fooled themselves into believing they were in a transactional business that sold shrink-wrapped pearl cases through mega stores. Who cared

Employment Stats While there are 11.3 million Americans who remain out of work, there are still 3.7 million unfilled jobs waiting for qualified candidates.

if that $16.99 CD only had one good song on it? Charge that teen full price -- she’ll pay. Why concern yourself that the band you were promoting wasn’t that good? Let the listener find out after coming home from Tower Records. The music business was concerned about moving units, and not the least bit interested in tapping into fan loyalties and passion. Well, guess what? The approach proved ruinous. File sharing was inevitable in the music industry. Too bad the record companies didn’t figure out a way to take part in the process. Rather than enable file sharing in order to find new fans and build a community around a band or artist, the music industry decided to bind together. It reacted by suing 14-yearold kids who, with nothing more than a home PC and Internet connection, discovered how to circumvent the industry’s entire greedy infrastructure. But here’s the real irony to the story. More music is being made today than in the history of mankind. And good musicians are making money. But they’re not doing it through record contracts.

Rather, they have survived by sharing their love and passion for music with communities. Through the power of the Internet and the ability it provides anyone to engage, music is in great shape, even though the record industry is reeling. The same exact situation now exists for job seekers. The job industry -- the one that views job searches as the transactional ritual of writing resumes and going on interviews -- is dead. It’s been taken over by talent communities -- individuals who have bound together to share with, engage, and support one another. By educating, inspiring, and adding to the conversation, job seekers have built real networks and taken control of their careers simply by creating meaningful relationships that lead to real job opportunities.

Who’d Have Known? More music is being made today than in the history of mankind.

This phenomenon is about our own willingness to share knowledge, or new learning, or new experiences, to somehow advance a conversation or add to the dialogue. It’s what makes it worthwhile for someone to read our Twitter feed, open our email, remain active in our LinkedIn group, or comment on our Facebook page.

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In that respect, the transactional job search is as outdated as a compact disc player. It’s no longer exclusively about job boards like Monster. com or blindly submitting an online resume. Rather, it’s about how artfully and generously we engage in our communities over the lifetime of our careers that dictates our success in finding new, exciting career opportunities. How about you? Are you running your job search like the record industry sold CDs, thinking it’s a transaction rather than engaging with a community? If so, you are one of the millions of Americans bemoaning their fate in life right now. Dissatisfied with their jobs. Wondering if they will ever find a job. Confused or angry about the lack of jobs, and the failure of prospective employers to respond to resumes, emails, or calls. The solution is simple. Take control of your career and shift your expectations from one of entitlement -- like the record industry in the 1990s -- to the process of earned participation in today’s talent communities. Capperella, Joel “Want to Find a New, Exciting Job? Take A Lesson From the Music Industry” Huffington Post.com. The Huffington Post. 11 Jan 2014. © 2014 Yoh Services LLC | A Day & Zimmermann Company

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STEPS FROM THE PROS

ÂŠ 2014 Yoh Services LLC | A Day & Zimmermann Company

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ARTFUL TALENT ACQUISITION

& INTERPRETIVE DANCE A few weeks ago I discovered that a company called Next Media Animation is behind those Far East animated US news stories that you sometimes see making the rounds on the internet. Next Media Animation is a Taiwanese company, and according to a 2011 Guardian article, they may be the only one of their sort. I must admit that even now that I know the company I still don’t really get it, but I can only assume that there is demand somewhere in Taiwan or China for animation that explains current events via animation. But one thing I do know now about the company is that they have unwittingly, with the help of a former employee, provided an excellent example of artful talent acquisition that I have been writing about of late. The former employee in question is Marina Shifrin, and in the early morning hours of Saturday September 28, 2013 she resigned from

Next Media Animation in spectacular fashion.

WATCH THE VIDEO At the time of this writing, Ms Shifrin’s interpretive dance resignation has garnered over nine million views. This is over three million more views than Next Media Animation’s most popular video currently available on its YouTube channel. More importantly than the success of the video, is the reason behind Ms. Shifrin’s resignation. On the Youtube listing for the video, she states: I work for an awesome company that makes news videos. I have put my entire life into this job, but my boss only cares about quantity, how fast we write and how many views each video gets. I believe it’s more important to focus on the quality of

Video Stats Ms Shifrin’s interpretive dance resignation has garnered over nine million views, making it over three million more views than Next Media Animation’s most popular video currently available on its YouTube channel.

the content. When you learn to improve this, the views will come. Here is a little video I made explaining my feelings. (Emphasis added) I don’t know Ms. Shifrin, and cannot assume her intent, but I think it a fair reading of this statement to suggest that she cares about the artistic quality of what her talent allows her to produce. There are two lessons to be learned here where talent acquisition and personal professional development is concerned. Regarding the latter, what Ms. Shifrin has exemplified is appropriate initiative to do two things. First, to make a decision that her current professional environment was not well aligned to her career aspirations, and secondly to take responsibility for demonstrating her talent in a manner that will demonstrate her abilities as well as her professional passions. More importantly, she has done so in what one could argue would be a selfless manner. She not only does not undermine her boss or her former employer but praises it as ‘an awesome company.’ She does make a statement about her boss’s attention to volume and views, but this is not a negative

by any means. Next Media Animation proudly states that it produces more than 30 animated news stories daily. And her boss, Michael Logan, is quoted as follows in the Guardian article. “Next Media Animation has 300 animators, we produce close to three hours of finished content per week. We have 14 production slots each day, and within each production slot we can do four stories – so that’s 50-odd stories, and most of that production is for our own media outlets in Hong Kong and Taiwan.” Whether intended or not, Ms. Shifrin has actually helped Mr. Logan appear as if he is a very well aligned leader appropriately focused on the objectives of his employer. The resignation is a value-add to Next Media Animation, its culture and its focus. Moreover, her video catapulted the company into the spotlight here in the United States.

Company Stats Next Media Animation produces more than 30 animated news stories daily.

The talent acquisition lesson learned here can be found in the Next Media Animation response to Ms. Shifrin’s resignation:

WATCH THE VIDEO p. 17

This video has gained nearly nine hundred thousand views as of this writing. Making it the 7th most popular video on Next Media Animation’s YouTube channel. Next Media Animation in no way disparages Ms. Shifrin, instead they flatter her in what has been called the sincerest form of flattery, imitation. The response clearly demonstrates the Next Media Animation culture and demonstrates that while speed and volume matter the team seems to have acknowledged the fact that there are always alternative methods to executing their work in a way that will advance their objectives. In the response they demonstrate their talent, their willingness to nurture talent, and their graciousness in indirectly helping their alumni advance their career aspirations. Talent acquisition, especially in today’s age, must be artful and generous in nature. Whether intended or not Marina Shifrin and former employee Next Media Animation have successfully produced a well documented how-to.

Capperella, Joel “Artful Talent Acquisition & Interpretive Dance.” Yoh.com. Yoh Services, LLC. 11 Jan 2014

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YOU NEED IT. WE HAVE IT. Yoh is here. Yoh is there. Yoh is virtually everywhere. All in and busy going all out, doing everything it takes to take you where you want to go â&#x20AC;&#x201C; forward. How? By foregoing the talent pool in favor of our own sea of talent, helping you find just the right person for the job or just the career youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been searching for.