I had this argument with a few friends yesterday.
Sure, today's grads are younger, have more information, better-looking, etc, etc. But are they really smarter than graduates of 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago?

I deal with fresh grads (NYSC, etc) on an everyday basis, and, based on my interaction, I would say an emphatic NO in general.
My reasons?

1. They seem to know a lot less than older grads about the fundamentals of the course they studied. For example, I have corpers in my team, who are supposed to be 1st class or 2.1 graduates of electronic engineering. They don't even understand the fundamentals of telecoms.

2. They don't seem to have the discipline required for the work environment. They are kind of conditioned for the 'easy life'. They complain about every task you assign to them.

3. They are a lot more focused on office politics, which is surprising for their level and age. In my day, which wasn't that far off, fresh grads who were into politics stood out sharply like a sore thumb. Most of us were just naive, and wanted to learn.

4. They're heavily into Facebook, and Twitter. Not to mention the EPL, Nollywood, Nigezie, and Sound City. I mean, full-time.

5. They are 100% sold on the Quick Fix. Young people nowadays don't just say 'I wanna be a pilot, because I love flying'. Nowadays, what you hear is 'I heard that pilots are paid N1m a month, and they are in high demand. Can you tell me which certification (sic) I can quickly do that would make me a pilot in 1 week?'

At the end of the day, I can say this about most of the younger grads:
[list]
[li]They are street-smart, not book-smart.[/li]
[li]They are way too aware of money, which makes them seem shallow to me, for their age.[/li]
[li]A good time is more important than a hard day's work to them.[/li]
[li]They are street-smart, not book-smart.[/li]
[/list]


Now I'm not generalizing. A lot of them still have good values. I'm just saying that the majority don't.
Would like to hear the opinions of the house.

5. They are 100% sold on the Quick Fix. Young people nowadays don't just say 'I wanna be a pilot, because I love flying'. Nowadays, what you hear is 'I heard that pilots are paid N1m a month, and they are in high demand. Can you tell me which certification (sic) I can quickly do that would make me a pilot in 1 week?'

Oga, eeeee


Hmmmnnnn, graduating less than four years ago, with just 2 years post NYSC experience, I'm not sure I'm also not among the 'fresh grads of today' being flogged here. I'm not sure whether I'll not be flogging myself if I also join the flogging

I will say I'm also in this class of 'today's grads', because there is hardly any difference between those of us that graduated four years ago and those that graduated last year, after all they met us in school, and we are all of same generation. So I'm not passing this comment as an outsider.

More than twenty years ago, Yoruba Musician, Ebenezer Obey, lamenting the rotten education system of Nigeria then, sang: 'Omo University wa, daddy has went out, eebo repete', literally meaning, "Hear our University students of today: 'daddy has went out', hmmnn, wonderful grammar".
And that was 20 years ago. The generation of the 60's and 70's then were pitying the then current generation(of the 1980's) of their poverty of knowledge, so low that they can't speak simple English correctly: Daddy has gone out.

If I may digress a little further. People of 'previous' generations easily remind us of 'good old days' at the slightest undoing of anybody from the current generation, as if all the old days were good. They easily say our social, economic, political and education systems of today had fallen to teh abyss, as if it was not that social system, in their generation, that produced an Anini or Dr Oyenusi, whose records in social crime remain unbeaten till today, as if it was not the education system of their generation that produced a Turai Yar'adua(she's a Uni grad) that can hardly speak better English than a primary school pupil of our own generation, as if it was not the political system of their generation that produced the second republic governors that, laid side by side with the Iboris and Saminu Turakis of today, the latter guys may come out saintly.

In essence, my point is that the issue of generational decay in systems, though real, is a bit exaggerated. I'm saying this, not because I'm defending my generation(which has been tagged the facebook generation by Sociologists), but it's an important point we need to put at the back of our mind while analysing the generational drift.

In the next post, I'll address the specifics, but it is important to hint here that I fully agree with Ajanlekoko in all the specific points he outlined up there.

Sure, today's grads are younger, have more information, better-looking, etc, etc. But are they really smarter than graduates of 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago?

On the average, NO. 70% of today's grads are surely only good-looking, younger, more informed(about IT and football, not success skills or managing dynamics of life!)

1. They seem to know a lot less than older grads about the fundamentals of the course they studied. For example, I have corpers in my team, who are supposed to be 1st class or 2.1 graduates of electronic engineering. They don't even understand the fundamentals of telecoms.

Very, very correct.  One of the reasons I personally want to move to an economic analysis and policy-based outfit, to sharpen my knowledge.  It's basically the product of the system we were made to go through.

2. They don't seem to have the discipline required for the work environment. They are kind of conditioned for the 'easy life'. They complain about every task you assign to them.

Agreed, but this appears to me a little overgeneralized. Almost half of them(or is it us?), especially those that struggled through the thick and thin to finish school, pass this criteria. In my organizations for example, most guys and gals that fall into 'fresh grads' category, even the buttie among them, easily do well in the discipline criteria.

3. They are a lot more focused on office politics, which is surprising for their level and age. In my day, which wasn't that far off, fresh grads who were into politics stood out sharply like a sore thumb. Most of us were just naive, and wanted to learn.

henhen, strange
Too bad, if it's true.

4. They're heavily into Facebook, and Twitter. Not to mention the EPL, Nollywood, Nigezie, and Sound City. I mean, full-time.

Very correct. And now black berry.

5. They are 100% sold on the Quick Fix. Young people nowadays don't just say 'I wanna be a pilot, because I love flying'. Nowadays, what you hear is 'I heard that pilots are paid N1m a month, and they are in high demand. Can you tell me which certification (sic) I can quickly do that would make me a pilot in 1 week?'

Most correct. I must admit I also find myself somewhere around here. I like easy money, even though I try not to sacrifice interest and passion.

Now I'm not generalizing. A lot of them still have good values. I'm just saying that the majority don't.

Oh, why am I just seeing this statement? This sums it up.

@Ajanlekoko

- Is it wrong to believe that the whole essence of having a career is to get 'paid'?

- Why would you want to slave for knowledge if there's little guarantee that you'll get paid in your 40s?

- Many people like to have a bit of fun when they have some strength and freedom which is why the office politics becomes very important to them at a young age?

In our world today where mega bonuses are paid to bank execs for ruining our economy plus the perks that come with it, It is usually a no-brainer for a young grad to pick Power/Pay over knowledge. Since those with real knowledge are usually insulted and beaten up as members of ASUU.
I have to say our grads are smarter because they are able to identify what needs to be done and do it. If that includes setting up a LAN, they will do it!!

ow11:

@Ajanlekoko

- Is it wrong to believe that the whole essence of having a career is to get 'paid'?

- Why would you want to slave for knowledge if there's little guarantee that you'll get paid in your 40s?

- Many people like to have a bit of fun when they have some strength and freedom which is why the office politics becomes very important to them at a young age?

In our world today where mega bonuses are paid to bank execs for ruining our economy plus the perks that come with it, It is usually a no-brainer for a young grad to pick Power/Pay over knowledge. Since those with real knowledge are usually insulted and beaten up as members of ASUU.
I have to say our grads are smarter because they are able to identify what needs to be done and do it. If that includes setting up a LAN, they will do it!!

@ow11,
Actually I would agree and sympathize ordinarily. The problem is, now I have to assess them as 'Management'.
Recently in my company mid-level and senior managers were asked by HR if there were any youth corpers in our respective teams we were interested in retaining. I easily said no, because no youth corper demonstrated any particular desire to be retained, apart from when it drew close to the end of their service year. During the year, they just chilled, and coasted, did not demonstrate any particular desire to learn anything, and didn't even bring anything to the table.

Now mind you, I would always prefer to hire a youth corper. Reason: I can get them almost for free at the initial, and train them to my specs, at no additional cost, and keep them on the job longer. But I couldn't help comparing these guys to when I did NYSC (which was not too long ago anyway!), and I felt like, these guys are more of smart alecs than brilliant resourceful guys. No hunger to learn or achieve anything, rather an expectation of what they feel is entitled to them.

Which is where I have a problem with your assessment.

ow11:

In our world today where mega bonuses are paid to bank execs for ruining our economy plus the perks that come with it, It is usually a no-brainer for a young grad to pick Power/Pay over knowledge. Since those with real knowledge are usually insulted and beaten up as members of ASUU.
I have to say our grads are smarter because they are able to identify what needs to be done and do it. If that includes setting up a LAN, they will do it!!

That kind of paints them as hustlers with no real market value. If all I need is someone to set up a LAN, then I won't hire a grad. I'll just get someone from Computer Village to do it. Same way I would prefer to get an NYSC grad rather than a 'seasoned' industry chap from MTN or somewhere, coming with a lengthy wage bill. As a manager, I will do my economics.

@Ajanlekoko, I wonder why u keep emphasizing that your days as a graduate/corper was not too long ago, makes me tink u are a little bit on the rusty side (age wise) which you are trying to deny by your emphasis

Back to your post, i guess there is a difference between today’s graduates and those of yesteryears cos back then your brain was the only ticket to be successful thus everyone had to strive for excellence in order to be noticed or rewarded but the case is different now as society has been structured (thanks to corruption) in such a way that  most young grads now believe that its who you know and how you play your cards that gets you to where you want and trust me there are living examples of street smart folks who are successful (which rubbishes the essence of  learning and striving for excellence) so a lot of young grads just want to tread that path which they perceive as the ‘easy path’ instead of slowly climbing the ladder thru hard work and discipline.

OW11 makes a lot of sense in his post and raised some critical questions that we ask ourselves when it comes to making career decisions.

I think its all based on our convictions, do you keep on acquiring Knowledge and striving for excellence  when there is little guarantee that you get paid for it or do you just play smart or do you do both and try to strike a balance?

PS: you forgot to add Nairaland to your list of sites fresh grads are heavily into

aniiseg:

@Ajanlekoko, I wonder why u keep emphasizing that your days as a graduate/corper was not too long ago, makes me tink u are a little bit on the rusty side (age wise) which you are trying to deny by your emphasis

@aniiseg: Cute.

aniiseg:

OW11 makes a lot of sense in his post and raised some critical questions that we ask ourselves when it comes to making career decisions.
I think its all based on our convictions, do you keep on acquiring Knowledge and striving for excellence when there is little guarantee that you get paid for it or do you just play smart or do you do both and try to strike a balance?

Don't get me wrong o.
If you are able to 'hammer' with zero effort, I have no issue with that. I'm also hoping to do same, bro! Abi who no like pepper?
But let's come back to the real world for a minute, the one most of us live in. Some good old-fashioned hard work and intelligence are still required to do everyday career things, unfortunately. And now there is a financial crisis, nobody has any more cash to burn, and we need to only keep people who are actually valuable. What have you to say to that?

Tough question there dude

Every company needs Street smart (analytical folks) and Book smart (conventional scholastic folks) to survive.

For me the key qualities to look for are interest and passion an then value can be built on that
The employees you would want to retain are those who seek frequent opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skills which comes as a result of passion.

, Op am not contradicting my initial post

aniiseg:

@Ajanlekoko, I wonder why u keep emphasizing that your days as a graduate/corper was not too long ago, makes me tink u are a little bit on the rusty side (age wise) which you are trying to deny by your emphasis
Back to your post, i guess there is a difference between today’s graduates and those of yesteryears cos back then your brain was the only ticket to be successful thus everyone had to strive for excellence in order to be noticed or rewarded but the case is different now as society has been structured (thanks to corruption) in such a way that  most young grads now believe that its who you know and how you play your cards that gets you to where you want and trust me there are living examples of street smart folks who are successful (which rubbishes the essence of  learning and striving for excellence) so a lot of young grads just want to tread that path which they perceive as the ‘easy path’ instead of slowly climbing the ladder thru hard work and discipline.

OW11 makes a lot of sense in his post and raised some critical questions that we ask ourselves when it comes to making career decisions.

I think its all based on our convictions, do you keep on acquiring Knowledge and striving for excellence  when there is little guarantee that you get paid for it or do you just play smart or do you do both and try to strike a balance?

PS: you forgot to add Nairaland to your list of sites fresh grads are heavily into

I agree with you on the issue at hand, but I take slight exception to the bolded statement.
Ajanlekoko is in his mid-thirties and that's not 'rusty' an age for a Manager. If anything, if he finished school not long ago, say less than 10 years ago, and has risen to his position of today within that period, then he's not on the rusty side.

In any case, Ajanlekoko is truly on a mission to entrench a culture of real, rather than false personal growth. This is well evidenced in his concerns for topics that deal with workplaces, youths, self development etc, part of which is this topic.

aniiseg:

Tough question there dude

Every company needs Street smart (analytical folks) and Book smart (conventional scholastic folks) to survive.

For me the key qualities to look for are interest and passion an then value can be built on that
The employees you would want to retain are those who seek frequent opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skills which comes as a result of passion.

, Op am not contradicting my initial post

No you are not. In fact, you're agreeing with me.
The whole career thing is a scale. It either tilts this way or that. But for true progress, we have to find the balance between the street smart and book smart skills. Each of them have a role to play, and it's traditionally identified out of knowledge, skill, and attitude, not greed.

@Ajanlekoko

As management, you would have to take a gamble which is what it is anyway. If sycophants are rewarded in a company, new recruits would see it and act accordingly and would go a jackin' if they see it is different. This is  the point I was trying to raise.

In our shallow minded society, sycophant-mode is default and you shouldn't expect a new graduate to be in 'workaholic' mode. It is only wisdom as we are all too aware how handsome sycophancy and moving with the crowd pays in our society.

That kind of paints them as hustlers with no real market value. If all I need is someone to set up a LAN, then I won't hire a grad. I'll just get someone from Computer Village to do it. Same way I would prefer to get an NYSC grad rather than a 'seasoned' industry chap from MTN or somewhere, coming with a lengthy wage bill. As a manager, I will do my economics.

Sure they are hustlers and that probably explains why big companies hold aptitude and skills tests to judge new recruits. At least, you are assured of getting 'hustlers' with some technical ability. BTW, the LAN thing was just an example.

It is very sad looking at the lack of desire to know. However, this is a worldwide phenomenon but that hasn't made Phd positions less competitive. Very adaptable graduates should be a good trait for a new hire in any company which you the manager can turn to either hustlers or eggheads depending on your reward system.

@ow11,
Thanks. Good contributions.

You know, it would be a plus to know that our fresh grads are street smart as well as book smart, but sometimes it even comes off as neither.
Oft times you come across chaps who are just not interested in any kind of lifting, heavy or light. They just want to coast in some sort of undefined neutrality, but surprisingly, they still want to get their due.

AjanleKoko:

@ow11,
Thanks. Good contributions.

You know, it would be a plus to know that our fresh grads are street smart as well as book smart, but sometimes it even comes off as neither.
Oft times you come across chaps who are just not interested in any kind of lifting, heavy or light. They just want to coast in some sort of undefined neutrality, but surprisingly, they still want to get their due.

Very true. It's the fast food, instant messaging, house girl raised, instant everything ideology. The really lazy ones will fizzle out and you can definitely pick them out. This by itself is no mean feat!

A manager's job sure gets more difficult each year.

Jarus:

I agree with you on the issue at hand, but I take slight exception to the bolded statement.
Ajanlekoko is in his mid-thirties and that's not 'rusty' an age for a Manager. If anything, if he finished school not long ago, say less than 10 years ago, and has risen to his position of today within that period, then he's not on the rusty side.

In any case, Ajanlekoko is truly on a mission to entrench a culture of real, rather than false personal growth. This is well evidenced in his concerns for topics that deal with workplaces, youths, self development etc, part of which is this topic.

I'm sure aniiseg meant that as a tongue in cheek comment and not in anyway malicious.

.

AjanleKoko:

No hunger to learn or achieve anything, rather an expectation of what they feel is entitled to them.

Most of the sense of entitlement comes from the fact that our generation had been told from a young age that getting an education is a requirement in order to be successful in the working world. Bright futures were promised to the starry-eyed, academically-rigorous students, which most are yet to see. Impatience sets in when you realise that the realities of life are different from what your parents and teachers told you, it's this impatience of Millennials like myself, I believe Gen Xers refer to as a sense of entitlement.

There is also the realisation that all the stress and work and sacrifice (of time and money) in the university years to become well-rounded students with great marks merely amounts to a name on a diploma. The current incentive climate doesn't reward process but results, so if results are all that matter we are more than happy to forgo the tried and tested methods and look for faster ways of getting a job done. We do not see the need to do things for the sake of doing them. After working my behind off to get a good result, I do not see why I should effectively become a file clerk or be doing tasks which don't help me meet my targets, I didn't forgo my social life for all those years just to be performing irrelevant tasks all in the name of being hard-working. This attitude of looking for a more efficient way of getting results and cutting out bureaucracy is what Gen Xers refer to as lazy and unwilling to learn. We are willing to learn not just the things you learnt or way you did 10, 15, 20 years ago. The way I see it, there is no need for me to learn how to wash clothes with my hands when now there's a washing machine everywhere or learn to use a broom when there's a vacuum cleaner around.

When I got my 1st part-time job, I was giving a set of tasks I would be evaluated on. I immediately mapped out the easiest way of getting them done but "management" was slowing me down with bureaucratic tasks like filling reports, typing and filing documents. I complained, told them they would be better off getting a clerk to perform the tasks and that doing it kills my productivity, I was labelled 'lazy and unwilling to learn'. When I realised they weren't going to change, I logged on elance.com, found two Filipinos willing to handle the clerical aspect for cheap, employed my cousin in Nigeria to handle some part of the job, altogether taking away 80% of my work and only a small dent in my salary, it allowed me focus on the areas I really enjoyed, at the end of the assessment period I outperformed the supposedly hard-working part-timers by over 5 times, got way bigger commissions than I paid the Filipinos and my cousin, now they are wooing me with expensive dinners and want to retain me permanently but at the beginning I was just another lazy kid with a sense of entitlement.

I do agree with some of your points but I feel a lot of managers haven't realised the world is changing and they need to change their incentive structures too. A lot of my generation want to learn, work effectively and get promoted faster than ever before. If the rewards are not clear or attractive enough then there's no point working that hard. You can either turn self-indulgent, ego-centric recruits into fast risers or a bunch of non-motivated hustlers. We've seen our parents retrenched after decades of service and don't fall for the 'one day you'll get to the top' line, we want clear reward structures, we want our rewards quicker than ever before and wouldn't allow anyone ride our coattails. If I'm producing more than someone with 20 years experience in the company, I feel I should be paid more too regardless of his experience.

The spambot has gone crazy again. Keeps eating my post. @Ajanlekoko, can you please restore my post

@joeycrack, noted and will be restored shortly.

Now, I read your post. I am not sure you got my point. I agree with your points, and definitely we need to work smarter. But it doesn't take away the need for real skills.

I don't really care much for effort as much as results, so your outsourcing stunt is cool by me. But as your manager, I would still need you to think, and produce real results. Real results can only come out of real skills. Real technical skills, whether you are a banker, accountant, day trader, engineer, doctor, or lawyer, are important. As simple as they make it sound, you can't really outsource thinking, only repetitive operational tasks like preparing reports and presentations. And we need our young grads to think more, and learn the rigors of whatever profession they find themselves.

AjanleKoko:

@joeycrack, noted and will be restored shortly.

Now, I read your post. I am not sure you got my point. I agree with your points, and definitely we need to work smarter. But it doesn't take away the need for real skills.

I don't really care much for effort as much as results, so your outsourcing stunt is cool by me. But as your manager, I would still need you to think, and produce real results. Real results can only come out of real skills. Real technical skills, whether you are a banker, accountant, day trader, engineer, doctor, or lawyer, are important. As simple as they make it sound, you can't really outsource thinking, only repetitive operational tasks like preparing reports and presentations. And we need our young grads to think more, and learn the rigors of whatever profession they find themselves.

@Ajanlekoko

I should apologise as my post wasn't squarely addressing the topic, it's just I get tired of everyone giving us flack for our "bad work ethic" and "sense of entitlement", which was what I was mainly addressing. I think the argument of paying your dues is over played and everyone talks about spending time on facebook and twitter when in reality it's no different from them spending 45 minutes at the water cooler gossiping or coasting in the guise of filling out forms.

Yes, I do think the issue of technical knowledge is important but in my opinion that's more of an issue with the educational system. I have friends who are on high 2:1s and 1sts in the ifes and unilags but are far behind in relation to their counterparts in the west. As someone who has interviewed graduates, I am appalled by the lack of technical depth. I'm not so quick to put that down as their fault but more as a product of a failed system. You are right, graduates today have less technical skills than previous years but that can be accounted for through the fact we have younger and less experienced people graduating, the vast increase in number of students to faculty ratio, loss of personalised learning and what is pretty much a failed system.

@ topic

No. The IT age hasnt helped at all, btw. It only bred a whole generation of yahoo yahoo mentality.



and yes, I agree with the original post as well.