Dose of reality for reality TV generation

Feb 23, 09 | 1:51 am

TMS Asia-Pacific CEO Andrew Chan is confident the Gen Y demographic will emerge in much better shape than any of their predecessors when the current economic environment finally begins to improve.

While several schools of thought believe Gen Y'ers have been completely unprepared to cope in today's recession fuelled environment, Mr Chan said they continued to represent the most educated generation in history and had, in the main, been much better prepared to deal with the current situation than anyone else.

But Mr Chan cautioned that when things do take a turn for the better, as they undoubtedly will, Gen Y'ers will need to have a major re-think and apply the valuable lessons gleaned while learning to cope in an employment landscape that has changed dramatically in the last six months.

"To say ‘changed' would be an understatement," Mr Chan said.

"What was previously a job heavy-candidate light environment has completely reversed itself which for many Gen Y'ers used to chopping and changing roles has come as a major jolt.

"It's interesting to note that until the middle of last year, career planning was not just about vertical growth for this generation, it was more about developing a range of marketable skills that they could take with them from job to job.

"Now that these jobs are not so readily available, Gen Y'ers will need to adopt a new line of thinking.
"The Gen Y generation is renowned for getting bored very easily and quickly moving on if it was felt they weren't achieving their personal goals in very quick time. That has all changed.

"This doesn't mean we'll see a dilution of the Gen Y'er's need for constant learning and challenges.

"But we will see a big shift in attitude from this generation when it comes to switching employment in the future, especially with a lot less available jobs around.

"This obviously represents a boon for employers who had previously struggled to keep their Gen Y staff motivated and engaged - and employed."


About TMS

TMS is a top-tier specialist travel, tourism and hospitality recruitment and HR services company with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The company’s overseas operation includes offices in Auckland, Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore and affiliates in the UK. For more information on TMS Asia-Pacific visit: www.tmsap.com.