Have you ever wonder what it is about you that is most marketable to employers? If not you should at least ask yourself this question. What is your single biggest strength as a young professional? Think very carefully about this. Don’t just simply say you’re a hard worker because quite frankly many people are hard workers. There has to be something special about you that you can flaunt to potential employers and make them want to include you in their business. It can be anything but try not to be cliche. Think about it long and hard and then consider how you could convince employers to hire you or even increase your pay. Skills and experience pale in comparison to each other so try to aim more toward skills first, as experience is something that is a surefire given. What kinds of skills do you have that a business would benefit from greatly? When you have this nailed down, then consider your experience. Maybe you’ve been in a high stress environment before unlike other people in your generation. This is something that would greatly improve your chances of being hired. But what exactly do modern businesses want from modern professionals?
Shape but don’t disrupt
If you have been in a business for just over a week or a month, you won’t feel much of a difference in the corporate environment to your previous job. However, if you stay long enough, 2-5 years or so, you will definitely understand what the company culture is. Modern businesses are incredibly aware of their internal culture and are always conscious of the fact that different generations think and behave differently. They want to know what would make the young generation as opposed to the older generation, work harder. The same thing cannot work for both, so there are a lot of human resources objectives to learn about how the millennial worker operates.
This of course is all done in the quest for productivity. A happy employee is a busy employee. Enthusiasm is directly linked to creative solution thinking, problem-solving, planning but it’s also linked to the general mood and attitude for productive employees. In general, youngsters are quite enthusiastic about their roles, they want to learn and become better at what they do. However, this also filters out into wanting to change the companies they work in. It must be noted that businesses don’t like rapid and pointless change in their culture but rather they would like to pass on their distinctive cultures to the next generation. This is often deemed as continuing on the company history. For example, Lloyds Bank operates differently to HSBC. Neither one of them wants to be the same as each other because then the thinking would be the same and the products would be the same. Competition needs opposing company cultures so as a millennial you need to be more open to adopting the company culture as it is and recommended making slight changes if and when they are needed.
Able to modulate lifestyles
There used to be a time when 50+ hour weeks were absolutely normal. They would decrease the professional lifespan of employees and also create long periods of jams in enthusiasm. Thus employers began to rethink this and now the recommended working week is around 40 hours. However with the advent of modern technology and economies all around the world being linked together, business is now in a perpetual turnaround. What does this mean for the millennial employee? Well, many industries are now trying to find a delicate balance of overtime, long work weeks along with flexible holidays. Yes according to most human resources departments and companies, employees only need to give 8 hours of their day to your business as employees. Yet, we all know that if you want to get ahead productivity isn’t the only answer.
If you’re a millennial who is looking to impress employers, you should make it clear you’re open to flexible additional hours. It’s music to the ears of many companies if you are open to 50+ hour weeks. This could be a mixture of working 2 additional hours a day either split into morning and evening or just morning or evening. Showing employers, you’re able to balance your own lifestyle and offer more hours at work while taking holidays in a predictable manner is going to peak their interest. They want to know that there is a self-motivated worker with a sharp mind behind those Armani glasses, and if you can show them that you will be well on the way to making the best possible impression.If employers need their staff at events that will begin at night such as award ceremonies in the industry then you need to be able to put off whatever it is you were planning and commit to the company you work for. The same goes for when you are asked to travel for meeting clients abroad or going to business exhibitions.
Oiling the internal cogs
Speaking of company culture, part of this is to make sure the procedures and processes of a company live on. What these two things essentially do is to keep the soul and essence of a business throughout the various generations. Why is this so important to business leaders who want to employ millennials? Well, they want to simply continue on the unique character of their business. The reason why we like different businesses is that they have a cultural aspect that we like. They think as we do, they behave in their marketing, product design and service providing just as we want them to. We’re attracted to businesses that we agree with, that show signs of similarities within our personality. Perhaps you are altruistic and wish to work for a non-profit company? If so consider studying a Master in non profit management. However, to keep this running through a business you need to learn the administrative side of things.
But you might be thinking or asking what are the jobs for mba graduates in the united kingdom? The planning side of any business involves an incredible amount of administration. Those with high qualifications and education in business administration are always likely to work directly with c-suite employees. You will be right at the upper echelons of a business either being an advisor or working as a mediary and senior management level for all departments. You need to have a great ability to communicate with people because you might also have the task of booking flights and transport for employees who are going out on business trips. Arranging transport aside, you’ll also be keeping an orderly record of meetings by taking minutes. This inherently means you’ll be involved in incredibly sensitive meetings of the high levels in any corporation. You have a lot of opportunities to get to work with CEOs as well as they often require people with foresight and planning ability to advise them on their options.
Respect for senior accomplishment
It goes without saying but many millennials forget that they are often inheriting or being given important placements in a company that a historical figure in their history once had. So when you are in a vital office, be respectful of who came before you and make sure to not do something that would bring shame or doubt to that role. Many people have sacrificed so much before you came to a position so bear that in mind in the way you conduct yourself and how you represent the company to the outside world.
Millennials have substantially more opportunities than any previous generation before them. When you enter into a company, make sure that you adopt the culture around you and only seek to make changes in it if there is a sufficient need for it. Be flexible with your hours and when deadline are approaching, offer to stay or work longer hours if you can manage it.
