Human resources industry gets the post-1990 blues

Human resources managers across the country are bracing themselves for a new kind of crisis this summer.

As many industries complain they are suffering from a lack of talent, or simply lack of manpower, many in the HR community said they have a greater fear.

Over the next couple of months, they are going to have to deal with a new breed of graduates, one which is just as talented, just as ambitious, and just as qualified as those who came before.

It's one that knows a lot about the Internet, is internationally aware, embraces modern social media and all the benefits that brings and thinks more innovatively.

But the people from the post-1990 generation who are sending in the resumes that are now arriving on HR managers' desks across the land are different in their attitudes, their confidence and their expectations.

And it's a difference many professions don't like the look of.

According to the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security, 6.8 million college graduates, mostly born between September 1989 and August 1990, will flood the job market this year.

Most are the single child of their families and have been raised at a time of a tremendous rise in economic wealth.

That sounds OK so far.

But many HR professionals are questioning what kind of workers these young people will make?

From direct contacts to second-hand reports, the speculation is that managers will have to work that little bit harder to deal with this new wave of talent.

Zhang Can, a manager with a consulting firm headquartered in the United States, recalled recently, after giving an assignment to a post-1990 intern, that the young man simply replied: "Yes, I heard what you told me to do, but if I have to do it, I'll just leave."

Zhang was shocked by the lack of respect, the manner, the tone from someone just five years younger than he is.

He said it was like dealing with "a complete stranger".

He added: "It took me a moment to realize I was talking to a person of roughly the same generation as I am.

"I could never imagine myself doing that when I was an intern."

Those born after 1990 appear to be bringing something new, for sure - and in many cases, it's not good.

No matter the type of company, local or international, it appears people of the post-1990 generation are making an impact, and the HR industry has its work cutout.

In some cases, personality tests - which used to be given only when recruiting mid-career workers - are being introduced into campus recruitment drives this year to identify and eliminate candidates with what one HR manager politely called candidates with "personalities considered too strong".

They are also realizing that traditional selling points for attracting the best candidates -higher-than-industry-average salaries, generous fringe benefits, welfare policies - simply aren't enough anymore to attract new employees.

James Darlington, head of Asia at Antal International, a United Kingdom recruitment and training consultancy, already has experience of the Chinese post-1990 generation.

"The turnover in the generation is much larger than others," he noted.

"They care about their individual feelings more than just economic needs, partly because their parents are better material providers than their grandparents."

One commentary appearing on people.com.cn, website of the People's Daily, said that in no time in the country's history was there more freedom, openness, inclusiveness and material wealth as when the post-1990 generation grew up.

Another on thefirst.cn, a popular web host, said after they enjoyed the luxury of excessive parental care and the comfort that comes with it, the post-1990 generation simply expects too much.

"They are used to getting things they don't have to struggle for. Many have formed a mental laziness fed by such experience and tend to evade difficulties and seek the easy options," it added.

Similar sentiments abound across the Internet about the traits of the post-1990 generation.

According to Zhang Yong, North China campus recruitment manager with ChinaHR.com, the Chinese subsidiary of Monster Worldwide, only "very few" university graduates ever declined job offers in the past.

But this year, he has budgeted for a 20-percent refusal rate. And it could be up to 50 percent for some companies, he added.

Wang Zheng, born in July 1990, will graduate from a university in Xi'an, Shaanxi province this month, and was offered a job by a local construction company that promised to send her abroad. But she turned it down.

"I didn't take it because I had no feelings for the company," she told China Daily.

Instead, she chose to study for another year in the UK, saying that it would give her more "colorful" experience.

"Why shouldn't I? People say 'go on looking for my dream', and so why not, now that my parents don't need me to make money so early?"

This choosiness is a reflection of a stronger ego, and greater emphasis on the meaning of self, said experts.

Sophie Huang, talent director of MSL China, part of the MSL Group based in the US, uses slightly stronger language.

She said the post-1990 generation enjoys expressing themselves, but are prone to overestimating their own opinions and talents, while paying little attention to workplace rules.

For many, in fact, rules are strange things.

Xu Jiangling, who interned as an assistant to a bank-lobby manager, said it was hard to understand why the job requires him to always stand, even if nobody seemed to mind if he sat down.

Huang Feiyi, one of Xu's classmates who worked in an international consultancy company, said he found the company's dress code old-fashioned and "boring".

However, for all their reported downsides, some also pointed out that the arrival of the post-1990 generation brings skills and attributes that should be warmly welcomed into the 2012 workplace.

One manager told people.com.cn: "Let's not forget, we're in an era of increasing market competition, and many are certainly competitive, and very creative too."

The key to getting the best out of the new breed of graduates, stressed Tang Wen, a senior public relations manager at ChinaHR.com, is in finding ways to match their talent to the most suitable job.

"If they can be put in suitable positions, they can work very well and contribute a lot to their companies," he said.

Today's new graduates tend to have wider, more diverse knowledge because they grew up in the Internet age, added Tang - a "precious resource for innovation" and a blessing for the creative or marketing sector.

Sophie Huang of MSL China added that the English proficiency of post-1990 graduates is also higher than any previous generation of university graduates in China, making them more suitable for jobs in international companies.

She also thinks their eagerness to impress in what they do could also help motivate them to reach greater heights - but only if they "really like what they do", she added as a caution.

Having been equipped with social media skills, too, the post-1990 generation and their supporters have also been quick to defend themselves and their reputations on the Internet.

Following an analysis of this new generation on xinhuanet.com, the website of the Xinhua News Agency, one young commentator, signed as Qiu Shi, claimed there has always been discrimination or prejudice between job market generations, such as those of the post-1960 against the post-1970 and post-1980 generations.

Another commentator, signed as Zero Feeling, said as a member of the post-1980 generation, he applauds the post-1990 generation for their "greater courage" to express themselves and attempts to challenge the traditional workplace.

And according to Weday8745, who claimed to have guided many new recruits in the last couple of years, about half of the post-1990 generation in his team are performing well.

"They are smart, willing to learn, work hard, and are modest," he said.

Fen Yan Wu Ji, meanwhile, commented that every new generation faces criticism, but the secret is to rise to the challenge.

"People should not be too hard on the post-1990 generation," he added.

Human resource analysts also encourage companies to look at their positive characteristics, instead of refusing to hire them.

Or as Zhang Yong said: "Companies have to deal with the issue sooner or later, as the post-1990 generation is going to become a key part of driving the economy.

"Let's just learn how to work with them from now on."

wangwen@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/05/2012 page13)