Learning dental mill recruiters are very well trained should be no surprise. How far they will go and sources of their tactics may be very surprising to some, not so much to others.
While the dental students were studying Cariology, dental mill executives were studying the dental students by way of Strauss and Howe’s, Millennials Rising: The next generation and Hershatter and Epstein at Emory University.
They have your number letter
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are those born between 1982 and 2002.
The first group of Millennials are out of college. They started entering the workforce approximately 6 years ago and were studied extensively prior to their grand entrance.
They are getting their chance to make their mark on the world. In their mind, they plan to do it right. GenYers feel prior generations half-assed everything they touched and it must be fixed to save all of mankind.
Andrea Hershatter and Molly Epstein of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School have studied Generation Y and published their findings, “Is Your Firm Ready for the Millennials?”
Hershatter warned “integrating Millennials into today’s workplace may not be straightforward” and “[a]mong the college-educated who have been polled," Hershatter says they seem "not to be particularly comfortable around populations less educated and less well off than they are."[1]
Epstein pointed out:
- Nearly 70% of Millennials agreed that “Authority figures should set and enforce rules”. – compared to appromimately 40% of Generation Xers.”
- 60% of Millennials agreed with the statement, "I trust authority figures to act in my best interest." Only 40% of GenXers agreed.
- Nearly 60% of Millennials said they "felt comfortable asking for special treatment," while only 40% of GenXers felt that way.
"They need to understand what the organization stands for and what their role in it is; they are much less likely to be focused on their next step in terms of career progression, and more likely to care about making a meaningful contribution in their workplace."
“This interest in doing good appears to be very deep-seated, according to Hershatter.”
“There is a strong millennial dislike of ambiguity and risk, which leads them to seek a lot more direction and clarity from their employers, in terms of what the task is, what the expectations are, and the job progression.”
“They are like quarterbacks: the whole team has been blocking and tackling for them so they can run the ball, and they come to expect that level of blocking and tackling so they can get the job done. They feel entitled because they feel special, they feel entitled to have others support them in their efforts to accomplish and achieve.”
“The promise of the brand has to match the reality or they quickly shift preferences. The ones who are unhappy in their first jobs in general are not complaining about the amount of work or day to day tasks. It’s that the culture doesn’t feel as meaningful to them, or isn’t as conducive to belonging as they expected.”
Teamwork will be stronger - "Millennials are unbelievably gifted at building, maintaining, and tapping into networks. I think that is a very interesting resource that more companies will figure out how to use," notes Hershatter.
Racial and ethnic tensions will be lower - "One of the things you would find is a very high comfort level among these students in working with others who represent different ethnic and racial backgrounds," Hershatter concludes.
Class tensions will be higher – “Among the college-educated who have been polled, Hershatter says they seem "not to be particularly comfortable around populations less educated and less well off than they are."
Sense of personal responsibility will be lower - "I think they're very reliant on people to tell them what they need to do," notes Hershatter. "The least positive thing I can say about this group is that they're not very good at accepting end-line responsibility."
Risk-aversion will be greater - Hershatter mentions that in William Strauss and Neil Howe’s Millennials Rising: The next generation, "they'll either be on the platform on time with their ticket punched or they'll miss the train and never be on the platform again." Millennials may have difficulties if they run into situations that are less structured and ambiguous than their life experiences have been thus far.
"They don't do very well in situations of ambiguity," Hershatter says. "They have been protected and directed since early childhood. The helmets they have worn during every potentially dangerous physical activity are a great symbol of their early years. From nanny-cams to after school programming to teaching-to-the test curriculums to early and binding college admissions, they have been shielded from unstructured time and unknown outcomes their whole lives. They have not had to be big risk takers thus far."[2]
As pointed out, Generation Y is looking for certainty in their lives – no guessing, no what if’s and as little risk of failure as possible.
”Everybody needs me” – They feel they call the shots now. They can make the deal that suits their needs and the life they have envisioned for themselves. They are certain of their future.
“Get ‘er done” - as Larry the Cable Guy put it, they want to complete the job at hand with as little resistance as possible - ideally with as much support as can be mustered and safety harnesses in place – staff raised and the Red Sea parts on demand comes to mind. Rebels are a thing of the past. They have never heard about ‘failure’. They feel entitled to the protection and support to ensure perfection and no accidents. They have been shielded from all scrapes and bruises. They were given a trophy just for showing up.
”Keep it real” – another phrase we hear these days. This too is assigned to the Millennial group. They want things to “be real” - authentic - and will settle for nothing else.
”Yes we can” – here’s one we have heard a lot since 2008. It’s another important part of the Millennial mindset and, I might add, easily exploited. They have been told from infancy it is up to them. They know they will make a difference in this world. They will give and volunteer. They are a ‘cause’ - without a rebel.
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Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
All warfare is based on deception. – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
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The Art of War Applied: The Battle and Conversion
