They want to know everything about the business and then get mad when they don't know it all." "They seek immediate gratification and are impatient." These were typical comments made by agency principals about "Millennials" (You know, those "20-something" employees who are so difficult to work with but are so smart about things like social media.) in a survey I ran earlier this year. I asked long-time agency executive Ken Jacobs, now principal of Jacobs Communications Consulting (jacobscomm.com) who specializes in agency training and new biz programs, to tell me what he knows about the subject headlined above.

Turns out, he knows quite a bit. Herewith, with my thanks:

"We've all heard or read the many complaints about Millennials, aka 'Generation Y.' They want to be in charge without paying their dues. They want to manage before they've gotten enough experience. They have no sense of loyalty. They're terribly impatient and have unrealistic expectations about compensation. "You may have thought or articulated some of these, or have others to add. But complain or not, no one running a PR firm in 2008 can afford to ignore this generation of talent. Why?

Millennials, who were born from 1978,and the years just thereafter, through 1999 or 2000, are the largest (at 80 million strong) and fastest-growing group of workers in the U.S. With the retirement of the Baby Boomers, and the smaller numbers of Generation X, who were born between 1965 and 1977, Millennials are the bulls-eye target in the quest for the talent that we so desperately need.

"Despite what you may have heard, or even experienced, I believe that Millennials are a great generation who'll achieve much for our country, our industry and, if you provide the right kind of leadership, your agency. So you can gripe about them, or you can take responsibility for doing a better job of attracting, retaining, managing and motivating this important workforce group. To do so effectively, you must first understand their attributes, values, and experiences growing up. Here's what I think are the ten most important traits:

1) "Exaggerated-Yet-Delicate Sense of Self: This group was born and reared when an enormous amount of attention was placed on raising children to believe in their own specialness. From the start, their parents and teachers told them that they were intelligent, unique and even extraordinary. Further, their parents crafted relationships with their children that were based on a peer-to-peer or pal-to-pal model, rather than the classic parent-child one. This combination can result in Millennials feeling that they're exceptional, essential and irreplaceable. Yet because they've so rarely faced constructive criticism at home, this over-developed sense of self-esteem can melt the first time we share that their work can be improved, or that they've done something the wrong way. Clearly, pairing criticism with encouragement, on perhaps a

1:5 ratio, is critical.

2) "Community-Loyal: Millennials can be extremely loyal, but they tend to give that loyalty to individuals and communities rather than organizations. So it's essential that you create a sense of community within your agency in order to drive employee motivation, retention and attraction. This generation also expects employers to be fair to all employees, and woe to those who aren't.

3) "Socially Driven: Gen Yrs are highly socialized, socially responsible, collaborative and civic-minded. Many have volunteered since they were children, and view their careers as giving them the chance to contribute to the greater good. As such, they're more attracted to companies where they'll be able to do so.

To read the article in its entirety, please click on the link below: