Continuing on the Career Influences survey from last post, I also wanted to share what the 1100 students and grads said about what had the most influence on their majors and careers.

• 37% said the information they were exposed to (specifically industry info) had the most impact on their choice of majors
• 41% said school, work or other experiences (specifically internships) had the most impact on their choice of careers

I also found out that 60% of students believe they have majors that are directly aligned with their preferred career (good for them!).

32% (the largest group) want to learn about possible career paths from employers through experiences - project work, competitions and internships. They want to “experience” what it is like to work for a particular employer - even if it is just sampling the kind of work that the company does. We do some of this with employers through our Exclusive Experiences program, but there are so many ways this can be done, from mini-competitions to problem-solving challenges.

Perhaps even more importantly, 51% of respondents want to be inspired (people, goals and challenges associated with career paths) AND be informed about careers (information about growth opportunities and career paths). Employers, listen up: remember to keep both in mind (e.g. marry the eloquent speaker with some interesting facts) when creating career outreach programs to maximize the appeal of your career opportunities.

Many employers are starting to reach out to students as early as high school. Others like NASA have educational programs in place for kindergarteners on up. This got me wondering when do students make decisions about majors and careers. And what inspires them? To address these questions and many more, I fielded a survey, received over 1100 responses from college students and grads, and this is what I learned.

• 54% decided their major in college
• 46% decided in high school or earlier

Of the 54% who decided their major in college, 68% proceeded to change their major. Of the 46% who decided their major in high school or earlier, only 19% went on to change majors. That’s pretty amazing, that means ~37% of all respondents knew what they wanted to major in before college and stuck to it.

Even more incredible, for those employers who are worrying about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), 61% of respondents in the engineering, sciences and technology career paths, decided their major in high school or earlier, and 89% of them stayed with the same major.

Those are pretty compelling facts to cultivate talent as early as you can - for some employers, reaching freshmen may be sufficient; for others, you may need a high (or even middle) school strategy as well. Clearly, waiting for senior year is too late!

(stay tuned, the next post will cover key influences on majors and careers)

“Gen F.” Have you heard of or seen this term? A colleague recently shared an insightful post from Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 blog on WSJ.com, The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500, which spells out how the Facebook Generation – a.k.a. Generation F – will ultimately change the face of the workplace. Companies that don’t get it, Hamel argues, will miss out on attracting the best and brightest and may be setting themselves up for a harsh reality if the Gen F contingent is missing.

Gen F, Gen Y, the Net Kids, Millennials. Whatever you call them, the next generation workforce will comprise half of employers’ headcount budgets within the next 10 years. And if you’ve been reading my last few Talent Insights posts, you’ve also gotten the (not so subtle) sense that these young professionals thrive on social media and new technology. Add these considerations together, and I think Hamel pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Last month, more than 250 college students and young grads took our Web 2.0 Technologies Survey and told us some pretty telling things. The survey focused on collaborative and community-based online media – social and professional networking sites, widgets and gadgets, wikis, blogs, podcasts, video, etc. – and their role in the workplace.

Nearly all respondents, at 94%, reported using social networking sites. Yet when it comes to other new technologies, the largest numbers of Gen Y spend only an hour or less each week on sites liked LinkedIn, blogs and micro-blogs (think Twitter) and video chat apps like Skype. Interestingly, 20% of respondents said they use new media to make new business contacts or learn about career opportunities.

Factor in work and the numbers get more compelling, and employers especially should take note. Forty-two percent of Gen Y told us they use or plan to use social networks at work. A substantial 90% of this same group believes Web 2.0 technologies will make them more or just as productive at work, and nearly the same number – 82% – said they’d be happy to coach their older counterparts on new media if the training was needed. (Incidentally, our Facebook Fan Page members told us just as much, too.)

With cost control being top-of-mind for just about all of us, and given the tendencies of the Facebook Generation, employers have an opportunity to potentially boost productivity – and save money – by setting Web 2.0 and social media standards at the workplace. At Experience, for example, we all rely on Skype for IM and video conferencing. Personally it saves me time when I can just fire off a quick question to a coworker who resides two floors below me. Not that IM is cutting-edge revolutionary, but you get the point: simple measures add up and make a difference.

When I was a kid, when someone was telling me something I didn’t want to hear, I used to cover my ears and sing the theme to The Flintstones. These days, with the economy in the state that it’s in, the tunes from my childhood are resonating in my head – a wish perhaps to block the headlines we’ve all become accustomed to hearing over the past half year.

Millennials, on the other hand, while realistic about the current financial landscape and how it impacts their careers, are not covering their ears. Experience’s latest survey is telling us Gen Y is adapting to changing workplace situations by bucking conventional wisdom and doing what it takes to stay ahead - and remain positive - with their career prospects.

Last month, nearly 1,650 college students and young professionals took our 2009 Economic Impact Survey. We measured the impact of the US and global economies on Gen Y’s attitudes towards higher education and career paths. In the face of economic recession, many millennials told us they feel bullish about the overall job market: half (50%) say their employment or job prospects are positive. When you compare this stat with general population polls, like the latest NBC-Wall Street Journal survey which covered the economy in part, the confidence level of young adults significantly outpaces Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers. And in a related light, 37% of students and alumni say their college education will be even more valuable now and in the years ahead given market conditions.

Gen Y’ers are also shifting their expectations — and our common perceptions — about how they will tackle the workday in order to keep their jobs. Respondents told us that they’re prepared to work more hours to improve job security (33%) and take on more projects or help colleagues with their work (30%). Another big shift: two-thirds (67%) of young talent are more likely to stay in their current job. Though that now may be a given, it’s quite a departure from the 70% job hopping contingent I discussed last year in A Look at Life After Graduation.

Employers seeking entry-level talent want to get everything they can out of Gen Y, especially in tough times. At the same time, while doing what they’ll need to do to stay employed, young adults are concerned about career development: more than a third (35%) of respondents expect fewer professional development opportunities. To better attract millennials and to reduce attrition, managers should emphasize training programs and help Gen Y carve clear career paths within their organizations.

On a related note, last month we unveiled our 2009 Gen Y Trends report and video which detail what organizations can do to better connect with millennials in today’s climate, including leveraging Web 2.0, providing agile feedback and  building loyalty. Check it out at http://genytrends.experience.com.

Earlier in the month, I hosted a presentation at Experience’s client conference that focused on the so-called “Net Kids.” I discussed common Gen Y traits (namely their comfort with technology) and Web 2.0 media, and why combined they all matter in setting effective career services strategy. Citing the Experience Online Usage Survey we ran late last year, I suggested in my presentation there’s a clear opportunity for social networks– a key Web 2.0 component — to make a serious impact on those of us who live and breathe all things Gen Y careers, not to mention the candidates themselves.

Love it or hate it, social networking is here to stay. The biggest player by far is Facebook, of course, with its 130 million (and growing) active users. Half of these active users access it at least once every day.

In our survey (which I detailed last month in “What’s The Use”), respondents were asked to check off a list of the social networking sites they use. An overwhelming 85 percent of Gen Y surveyed reported being active with Facebook. MySpace was a distant runner up, followed by LinkedIn.

Being social on social networking sites is of course the primary focus, but those of us looking to connect with Gen Y — employers, college career services, alumni associations and everyone in between — have an opportunity to use these networks to engage young professionals on their terms, and on their time. More than a quarter of our respondents indicated they use social networks in the context of careers, whether it’s hunting for jobs, making new business contacts or staying in touch with co-workers. In our current economic recession, career-related activity on Facebook and the rest will only increase come spring and summer.

On a related note, Experience on Tuesday announced the Best Places to Work for Recent Grads, a top 20 list of the leading employers that “get it” when it comes to recruiting, hiring and retaining Gen Y. Many of the organizations highlighted in Best Places fully embrace and support social networks at the workplace. They’re committed to fostering communities and affinity groups (professional and social) at the workplace through new media. As a result, they’re fostering a more productive work environment by building trust between younger workers and managers. Check out the report and get some ideas for yourself.

At the end of October, Experience refurbished its Facebook Page and we’ve seen some great traction with our growing fan base. As the universally regarded #1 online destination for Gen Y, college students and young grads alike flock to Facebook daily to do everything from connect with friends to discovering new music to joining communities (like Experience!) that resonate with their interests.

Tied in with our Facebook relaunch, last month we surveyed more than 230 Experience.com candidates with our Online Usage Survey which was designed to gauge how millennials spend their time online. And whether it’s catching up with friends, watching videos, reading the news or looking for jobs or internships, our respondents told us many interesting things - especially when it comes to looking for entry-level opportunities.

One specific area of interest the survey covered was job sites. In addition to Experience.com (which took the lion’s share of responses) and using offline college and alumni-related career services offerings, candidates most often use the big brand-name job sites. More significantly than who made the list, our respondents told us some important things that we should consider when reaching out to Gen Y.

Q: What challenges do you face when searching or applying for a job online?

As you can see in the graphic above, the biggest area of opportunity for recruiters is to optimize their job descriptions. Though the top challenge identified in the survey was “unable to find what I’m looking for,” this frustration is caused in large part due to the description-related challenges identified. Vague job descriptions or not relaying the right (or enough) information can prevent a top candidate from connecting with an opportunity that just might be that “perfect fit” in reality. Candidates may not be finding what they’re looking for because sometimes the descriptions aren’t up to par with the opportunities and employers themselves.

As I mentioned in my post from last week, there’s only one chance to make that first impression. Maximize your recruiting dollars by ensuring your entry-level job and/or internship descriptions are up to snuff and are hitting all the notes Gen Y wants to hear. If you haven’t yet checked it out, I encourage you to read our whitepaper on the subject.

Next up, I’ll take a different dive into this Online Usage Survey and will specifically look at social networking and how it factors in to the career discovery and job search process. Stay tuned!

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving - and the official start of the holiday shopping season - is just two weeks away. Back in the mid ’90s, my fellow college buddies and I used our winter breaks to earn some extra money while taking time away to celebrate the holidays. I wound up working at Sam Goody. Remember them? Most of the money I earned went right back into buying music, but that’s another story.

Fast forward a dozen or so years, and retailers from Apple to Zales are feeling the pinch this holiday season. Circuit City, once a major league player, announced Monday that they filed for bankruptcy protection. And according to the Labor Department, about a quarter of all jobs lost since this time last year have been in retail. I don’t need to tell you things aren’t all sugar plums for Gen Y this winter, but college students and young professionals seeking extra income do have the opportunity to gain experience and earn some money - if they know the right places to look.

The 2008 results of our annual Holiday Jobs Survey, which was completed last month by 645 current college students, graduate students and young professionals, are in line with the greater economic picture. Millennials seeking seasonal employment are dealing with an extremely competitive landscape. As illustrated above, roughly four out of five of our respondents plan to work over the holidays - but more than half of them think they’ll be out of luck in finding employment or an internship. Less than a quarter of respondents had landed a seasonal job at the time of the survey.

In our 2007 Holiday Jobs Survey, which ran at roughly the same time last year, nearly half of respondents then had already secured a holiday job by the beginning of November 2007. Only 20 percent last year reported searching before November, compared to nearly two-thirds (60 percent) this year.

In 2008, Gen Y job seekers told us they plan on finding holiday work through their university career centers, word-of-mouth and online job boards. Retail jobs topped the list of desired job types with nearly a quarter of millennials rating it number one. New internships followed as a close second.

Chilly as things may seem, it’s not all snowballing downhill - those employers that are still looking to hire students and young alumni during this three to five week period have a fantastic opportunity to bring on an engaged and ready-to-work Gen Y contingent. Candidates need to apply TODAY and be more aggressive about finding the positions.

Retailers in need of help and companies seeking short-term interns will have more applicants to choose from, but at the end of the day, the quality of applicant is still important. As far as messaging to this crowd goes, stick to the primary points that millennials told us why they were seeking holiday work in the first place: to gain experience and to earn extra money.

Wow! What an historic past couple of days we’ve all witnessed. Regardless of your age, affiliation or background, you’ve got to admit that the renewed sense of engagement and excitement within our country’s political system is pretty inspiring.

As expected, Gen Y’s impact on the election was huge. Just take a look at this post-election analysis from MSNBC.com. As we predicted a few weeks back in our 2008 Jobs and Economics Survey, entry-level job creation – a key concern in our troubled economy – would likely play a pivotal role among other critical issues at the polls. In particular, global warming and climate concerns, hot-button topics for millennials, also ranked highly with our respondents. More than a third of young voters identified these issues as top concerns for the next presidential administration.

Focusing in on all things ‘green,’ last week we dove deeper and surveyed Experience members to find out how the green trend has impacted careers and career choices in our politically charged environment.

Of the 230+ survey respondents, we learned a few interesting things – with 71 percent saying ‘yes,’ the notion working at a green company was appealing to the vast majority of college students and young alumni. Here’s one respondent their own words:

I would like to work for a company that is green, because to me it shows that they are not just about making a profit. It shows that they are willing to give back to the people by not only finding ways to go green, but to also use them in everyday practices.

And what does Gen Y think constitutes a ‘green company?’ Again, in more of their own words:

My definition of a “green” company is one who is even in the slightest sense environmentally friendly and aware. Things such as recycling/reusing paper or having washable washcloths in the bathroom instead of paper towels are some of the simplest things a green company can do. Also, one that sends e-mails rather than letters in your mailbox constitutes a green company for me.

A green company takes a proactive step towards improving their carbon footprint, educating employees about making smarter decisions and interested in changing the way they do business.

A green company minimizes waste, practices policies and procedures that are environmentally concious [sic], and uses their green status as an incentive for their employees.

Looking back at a green-focused April 2008 Experience survey in which nearly 2,800 millennials responded to, four out of five respondents – nearly 80 percent – said they would be more likely to accept a job offer at a green company over another company, when evaluating two similar job offers.

Employers need to consider these significant numbers and clearly communicate their environmental commitments and socially responsible practices throughout all recruiting programs. Frankly it’s what’s needed to attract top entry-level talent. Just take a cue from the Obama campaign – targeting Gen Y with messaging that resonates with their passions is what will make the difference.

For the fourth year in a row, Experience took the pulse of Gen Y as they set out to find their first jobs after graduating from college. Our 2008 Job Placement Survey, which ran this past summer from mid May through September, polled close to 650 young professionals about the jobs they landed after graduation. We covered everything from job functions to industries and from salary range to reasons for taking the job in the first place. Given our current economic climate, and especially considering a related independent study also released recently, we’ve found some pretty interesting things.

Looking at the outcomes of job offers extended so far in 2008, we found that the top 10 industries that placed candidates – seen above with relative percentages – represented nearly 60 percent of all industries. With some slight adjustments, three of this year’s top five hiring industries (Education, Finance/Banking and Accounting) were also in the top five in our 2007 Job Placement Survey. In 2008, we’ve seen an increase in placement in the Technology and Healthcare verticals, as well as jobs at Non-Profits and in Government.

When it comes to the roles that they play, new hires in 2008 topped the job functions list with Engineering at close to 9 percent. Following were Teaching/Education (8.3 percent), Accounting/Auditing (6 percent), Finance (5.9 percent) and Sales (5.2 percent). Analysts also appeared in the top 10, as did marketers, researchers, consultants and administrative staffers. Compared to last year, 2008’s job functions signal a pretty drastic change, as the top two functions – engineering and accounting – each dropped in half, from 18.8 percent and 12 percent respectively.

So what does all of this tell us? Well, let me put it to you this way: of the 650 Gen Y’ers polled, nearly a fifth of them took jobs in education. A good number 20-somethings are teachers or hold related job roles in education. While it’s pretty much a given that finance/banking jobs no longer rule the sphere, our respondents’ job placements have validated macroeconomic trends – and as a result, they’ve actively pursued jobs outside the finance and accounting industries and are looking into other sectors.

As I mentioned in my Job Function Search Spectrum post from a few weeks back, employers in 2008 (and for the foreseeable future) should consider positioning their companies and their entry-level opportunities to a larger, more diverse Gen Y audience.

The numbers don’t lie. Finance and banking opportunities for young talent are dwindling, and the market is only getting tighter for young grads. Though employers are most definitely feeling the pinch all around, the glut of entry-level workers represents tremendous opportunity to move beyond industry lines and hire the best candidates possible for their job functions. And in this competitive landscape, job seekers must consider branching out as well.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably caught the hint that the young vote is going to play a major role in the presidential election. Case in point: according to “An informed Gen Y may decide this election” from the Denver Post, youth turnout increased drastically in almost every state holding a primary or caucus on Super Tuesday – doubling, tripling and even quadrupling the turnouts in 2004. The paper argues young voters will have an even greater impact in the general election, because attempts to ‘get out the youth vote’ have finally been coupled with a real effort to ‘inform young voters.’

Between the economy, two wars, an energy crisis, global climate change and everything else we’ve become accustomed to hearing about over the past umpteen months, there’s a lot at stake for the millions of college students and young professionals who will be voting for the first time. Entry-level job creation, a key concern for college educated Gen Y’ers, will likely play a pivotal role at the polls – even if it doesn’t cut through the noise like the other headline-grabbing issues.

Yesterday Experience announced the results of our 2008 Jobs and Economics Survey, and with more than 12,900 respondents (from our opted-in student and alumni candidate base) it’s safe to say Gen Y voters are ‘engaged’ with this historic election. Of the 85 percent who said they’d be voting on November 4th, we found that…

• 80% of respondents said entry-level job creation will play a factor in how they’ll cast their votes
• 76% indicated midsize to large business stimulation was a voting concern
• 69% reported entrepreneurial activity was an influencer as well
• 60% have seen a decrease in employer activity in 2008 – including targeted job postings and on-campus recruiting

Gen Y also cited economic stimulation (58 percent), the energy crisis (50 percent), foreign policy and healthcare reform (39 percent each), education reform (37 percent) and unemployment (35 percent) as the most important issues for the next administration.

With a sharp focus on jobs and the economy, students and young professionals have concerns that mirror those of society at large. Social issues, while still important, are no longer top of mind like they once were. And that’s an easy explanation: young voters, like all voters, are not sheltered from the economic storm that’s significantly affecting just about everything nowadays. Employers seeking Gen Y talent in today’s business climate need to not just keep these concerns in mind, but consider reinforcing ‘stability’ in their messaging when at all possible.

And in case you’re curious: we gave our respondents the option to tell us which way they were leaning politically. Of those who opted to ‘vote’ (nearly 11,000 young voters), 62 percent said they would back Barack Obama and 21 percent said they would go for John McCain. The rest were either undecided (9 percent), voting for a third party candidate (2 percent) or simply chose not to say (6 percent).