Know your audience…

The newest college mindset list from Beloit College is out.  The purpose of the list from their web site:

Our effort is to identify a worldview of 18 year-olds in the fall of
2007. We take a risk in some cases of making generalizations,
particularly given that our students at Beloit College for instance
come from every state and scores of nations.

The "Class of 2011" refers to students entering  college this year. They are generally 18 which suggests they were born in 1989.

The
list identifies the experiences and event horizons of students as they
commence higher education and is not meant to reflect on their
preparatory education.

I’ve posted here on this before.

Couple of the more interesting points on the list…

• They never “rolled down” a car window.
• Pete Rose has never played baseball.
• Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.
• High definition television has always been available.
• MTV has never featured music videos.
• The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.

A lot of the other items on the list were kind of … "oh yeah…" but not really eye-opening.

What is more applicable to people in the business world is to take a look at the Mindset List for those that are graduating this year.  Those are the folks that will be entering the workforce.

Some of the items from that list included:

• Computers have always fit in their backpacks.
• There have never been dress codes in restaurants.
• They have always been able to make photocopies at home.
• Stores have always had scanners at the checkout.
• They have always had a PIN number.

Think about some of the things on this list. 

If you, your company or your industry, are not connected via the web, use the internet for daily activities, worry too much about what dress is appropriate for business, don’t have the best technology available to everyone whenever they need it, and aren’t constantly look for ways to streamline processes with technology – you are going to disappoint your new crop of recruits.  This is what they have known their entire lives.  These are their minimum standards.

Good luck!