Comments on: Maybe Gen Y Isn't So Different After All?

By: You Are Not Conan O’Brien | Rehaul by Lance Haun

You Are Not Conan O’Brien | Rehaul by Lance Haun — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:54:51 +0000

[...] is the number one Gen Y company to work for according to Brazen Careerist (not that I didn’t call that). Keeping on ass kissers like Ebersol, who isn’t losing his job even though NBC is going to [...]

By: Norcross

Norcross — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:57:13 +0000

I didn’t give that list much more than a passing glance, for the same reason I don’t give any of those types of lists any of my energy. They’re all flawed in some way, have a bias that I may or may not agree with, and overall just don’t have any real relevance. Are those companies hiring? Do they do anything in my field? Do they have an office located near me (or a place I’d be willing to relocate to)? All of those questions can’t be answered in a list, but on a personal level.

By: Rebecca Denison

Rebecca Denison — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:04:04 +0000

I’m so glad you wrote this! I missed that top 50 list, but now that I hear how the research was conducted, I don’t even think it’s worth looking at.

Personally, I know a lot of my friends are looking to work at a smaller company, and excluding companies that are too small automatically eliminates a large chunk of the companies Gen Y wants to work with. Why not ask Gen Y how we would rank companies? Ask us what criteria matter most to us?

You definitely said it best, this is applying old constructs to a new generation.

By: Monica O'Brien

Monica O'Brien — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:24:15 +0000

Hey Lance,

I think you bring up some great points here. The most controversial criteria that Brazen/PayScale used IMO is the 50% gender balance. I see the reasoning behind it, but what Penelope explained on her blog is also the reasoning of a Gen X’er, not a Gen Y’er. Gen Y women don’t blink over discrimination in the workplace, because at our level it’s just not there. It could be something interesting to look at in the future when more of our generation is having kids, but I don’t feel our generation is quite there yet.

I think you are right that looking at senior positions for women is a better measure for this type of study. I also think that the % of women who are senior leaders should be compared to the total # of women at the company to deal with the tech. discrepancies (which are actually terrible, terrible – only 10% of computer science majors nationwide are women, for example).

Thanks for the interesting thoughts on this topic as usual .

By: laurie ruettimann

laurie ruettimann — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:58:51 +0000

Old school. We’ve both used that phrase, today. My concern is that there isn’t enough transparency behind the methodology. When I read Glamor and they recommend the top 10 salons in NYC, I know someone has been paid at some point. Has there been any advertising arrnagement in the past, present or future with any of these companies? Was the list compiled as an attempt to generate interest in those companies via Brazen and to lure future business? I just don’t know — but the list seems like something out of Forbes 1999. Very Gen X, actually.

By: Tracy Tran

Tracy Tran — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:47:55 +0000

I knew the list was a fraud when the number one company was NBC/Universal, which was a load of crap, unless every young person applied for Real Housewives or something.

Anyway, the big mistake they made was companies over 2000 employees are qualified. Do Brazen believe bigger is better for us? Also, I’ve been trying to turn “green” for a while, but the question about your organization going green is a slap in a face for Gen Yers that you must be required to go green to keep up with our generation.

I think the point for Brazen’s ranking is money and tell Gen Y that if you go to these companies, you will get a big salary. To be honest, is it worth it? No…but someone in our generation will jump at the chance.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:14:38 +0000

The discussion on the Brazeen Careerist calls out many of the same issues with the study you stated below. Personally, I am most disappointed in the automatic exclusion of companies with less than 2,000 employees with bachelor’s degrees (or higher). While I understand the difficulty in quantifying the great things smaller business are doing in terms of employing members of generation Y – this exclusion removes many of the innovators in attracting, retaining, and promoting generation Y employees.

How do we compare Brazen’s list to that of BusinessWeek in identifying the top 50 places to launch a career? Or, is that comparison even relevant? BW has used (according to their website) a three prong approach to evaluating such organizations including surverys of the nations career-services directors. While only 23% responded – approx. 60 individuals. This “on the ground” research proves, IMHO, much more effective then the almost purely analytical methods used by Brazen. However, to get a better prospective an even larger study should be conducted with surveys of career services directors, graduating students, and current gen Y employees. I venture to believe that the results would differ greatly from the list posted by Brazen.