...Goes a song from the Cranberries.
Technology boom, open markets, vibrant job-scene... this is what the world has to offer the average college grad today. Consider this- in the next 5 years the old bastion will have retired. More than 55% of the country will be below 25. Companies across the globe will be flooded by new blood. 20-25 year olds... the 1990-s born.
Already expectations of the new recruit are sky high. They would have seen their grand parents and parents in a particular job set-up- one company, one job, slow growth, painful trudging up the hierarchy, slow salary raise through ones career. Not for them, this scenario. Economic optimism and a growing job market means they will not stay put for less salary or advancement in career. They are not afraid to jump and more often than not, they are not the worse off for it.
"It's a very different generation," says S. Gopalakrishnan, chief executive of Indian tech giant Infosys Technologies "They want immediate rewards."
The challenge, hence, is to find the balance... a way in which to utilise their energy while giving a realistic viewpoint to their expectations; address both their desires and frustrations.
Given the large population on youngsters in the job market, what India will do today, the world will learn tomorrow.
"India is going to be a lab for lessons that we'll apply to other countries," says Lyndon Rego, manager of innovation at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C., which develops leadership training programs in emerging markets.
And the experimentation is already under way in companies like Infosys, IBM, Mindtree and the like, which have all revamped their training and orientation programs for the young recruits below 30.
In the graduating batch of 2007 IIMs, a large percentage has already shifted jobs, some even twice. In one year. With this years financial slump, the trend might slow down a little. However, the 2008 batch of B-schools and engineering colleges have just finished their placements. In a few months we will know what they will decide to do, and who will finally be able to make them stay.
