As Published In November 2004

Digital Teens
By Caroline Kvitka

Orienting yourself to your new employees—circa 2009

The kid sitting next to you at the movies. The girl who babysits your kids. Even your teenage son, riding in the backseat listening to his iPod. What do they have in common? They're coming to a workplace near you—and it's time to get ready.

Although they won't be in the workforce for 5 to 10 years, they're different from previous generations. Today's teens are the first to grow up digitally. The impact on the corporate world isn't that they are more technologically savvy, although frequently they are—but that they deal with people and projects in a whole different way.

"They spend less time watching TV than their boomer parents. And when they're online, they're reading, thinking, analyzing, organizing information, composing their thoughts, telling their stories, collaborating, and developing strategies," says Don Tapscott, author of Growing Up Digital and The Naked Corporation. "This is creating a generation that thinks differently. So when these kids come into the workforce, they'll be a huge force for change. They're going to be very different in terms of the kinds of work processes and technological environments they want."

For example, the next generation will want to be thought of as investors in their own intellectual capital. "They'll say, 'I'm investing my ideas, my insights, my know-how into this company, and I would like a return on my investment,'" says Tapscott, who predicts that many in the next generation will work for themselves, or partner with companies, rather than work as traditional employees.

Get Started Now

There's no reason to wait until this generation comes knocking at your door for work to start to understand them. There are plenty of ways to get started now—by launching an internship program, sponsoring an after-school computer club, or supporting employees who volunteer with youth groups.

In East Palo Alto, California, Kelly Hansen and Ryan Blake, both 17, are learning SQL and Java programming. This class isn't offered at their high school—it's a pilot program at the Boys & Girls Club, offered through the Oracle Academy.

The program, launched in 2000, will be available at more than 400 schools by 2005; reaches 8,000 secondary school students each year; and has expanded to 30 states and the United Kingdom, Romania, Egypt, the Netherlands, China, India, and Hong Kong.

"Young people today are digital. We're training teachers to facilitate learning environments in which ideas are shared personally and digitally," says Thomas Kadelbach, director of the Oracle Academy. "All the participants are respected for what they contribute, not where they live or what they wear."

At the East Palo Alto program, which targets teenagers from low-income families, instructor Linda Wells shifts the mind-sets of young people who feel that their opportunities are limited. "They learn that they can go through a challenging curriculum and succeed, and their view of themselves changes. When students finish the Academy, they possess strong interview, presentation, collaboration, and problem-solving skills."

For Hansen, the program has showed her that technology is applicable to numerous career paths—not just programming. "My experience with digital tools puts more options out there for me. There is a variety of jobs that involve technology but don't require becoming a programmer. I'm thinking about starting my own day care business," she says. "Although taking care of kids may not sound like it involves technology, I bet someday there will be a new toy that instantly teaches a kid how to speak French."

Blake says he expects that his experience with technology will be the backbone of his career path. "By the time I get deeply into my career, technology will be the only way to go about business."