I'm currently researching a book aimed at every corporation that hires people.  Those people joining the work force are the iPod generation, or Generation Y (or Generation V – virtual) as they are sometimes called. 

They are one or two generations away from those hiring and managing them.  But hasn’t this always been the case?  So what is so different?  Every parent claims that they don’t understand their teenage children, and even less so when they leave school or college.

Technology is what is different.  The technology that is now ubiquitous has created a completely disruptive change in these people’s working and leisure life.  Lets looks some of the disruptive examples that are less than 5 years old:

-    Everyone has a mobile phone from the age of 10.  Advances in processing power, battery life, screen resolution, available applications and low cost talk plans have made it possible to use it as the universal communicator  (voice, email, Instant Messaging), a media center (music, video stored or streamed), a games machine, and a micro-computer running applications .

-    Internet access is available in most homes so consumers have become accustomed to a very rich internet experience (Web 2.0). This has set an expectation for business applications.

-    Social networking sites and MMP (massively multiple player) computer games have changed the way they interact, communicate and play with their peers. Their confidence and trust of the internet and the way they evaluate others they meet on internet is very different from the traditional face to face meeting. They bare their souls, quirks, passions and fetishes on social networking sites, which they would never reveal them in a job interview.

-    Internet search (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live), Wikipedia and plethora of website, blogs, podcasts and video sharing sites means that information is a couple of clicks away: “how to do something”, “where to go”, “cheapest place to buy”.  It has also changed the way that they learn.

-    Every one of them seems to have little white earphones permanently inserted in their ears. Even when they are working, when they need to concentrate, if they are on the phone or out in a group of friends.
But there are other changes which mean this work force is very different from their parents when they joined the world of work.
-    The entrepreneurial opportunities due to technology and highly visible role models mean that they could already have tasted commercial success well before they leave school.

-    They have a variety of working modes available.  Full time employed with a number of different and very distinct careers over their working lifetime. A part-time portfolio lifestyle combining periods of travel, vocational activities or further education. Setting up and running a business – either with an aim to fund their lifestyle or make it big and get rich. This has profound implications for employers in terms of managing staff turnover and continuing training.

But companies will need to hire, motivate, manage and fire these new breed. The iPod generation. The book will give some insights and some practical actions from hiring through to firing.