ZU Magazine is a publication of ZU Media. Below is an article from Issue 5, “Revolution.”
Staff Writer | Jourdan Jefferson
“Millennials are the worldwide phenomenon that dominates social media feeds, branding initiatives, and the corporate world.” -The Boston Globe’s Emily Heidt
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are knee-deep in a social media-driven culture. They grew up alongside developing smartphone technology, putting every social media outlet at their fingertips.
Social media can be used for more than connecting with friends; it can also be used as an outlet for finding jobs. Perhaps more importantly, social media skills are making millennials more employable in key industries.
Growing up with social media has, in many ways, formed the way millennials interact and connect with others. Because of the widespread use of the digital screen, college-aged people have learned to communicate with people they have never met via internet interactions.
As these individuals step into the corporate world, they are finding ways to tailor their use of certain social media outlets. Whether it be on Twitter to rant, Instagram to look for memes or LinkedIn and Zip Recruiter to find jobs. Millennials are strategic.
Along with being technologically savvy, millennials are also star multitaskers.
In a 2012 TedTalk titled “Forget Multitasking, Try Monotasking,” Paulo Cardini said, “Multitaskers do not exist anymore; they’re now supertaskers.”
Millennials multitask to meet the demand for higher content production.
With this being said, the primary enemy of multitasking is time. However, they have more resources to combat it. They’re able to search the web instantly, even on their watches, and they have access to world and national news.
Being surrounded by these different resources has its advantages, and also its disadvantages.
The thought of having a professional job tied to social media has shown an increase in college students who are interested in becoming part of the public relations field.
According to the Public Relations Society of America, there will be a 60 percent increase in this line of work in the next several years.
Social media is “a skill that comes naturally to us, and it’s something we enjoy doing,” Azusa Pacific University public relations major Melanie Ornelas said. “All outlets are in a competition with one another to see who can get their content out the fastest and whose can be more effective.”
Most jobs look to hire millennials for their original ideas and perspectives.
“Millennials bring fresh ideas, technology experience, and a diversity. Their generation has a better understanding and tolerance for gender and racial equality in the workplace,” Sgt. Kenny White of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department stated.
Many companies use social media as the main outlet to promote their business.
While millennials bring their fresh ideas to the table, their short attention spans encourage them to grab the attention of their consumers.
Studies such as the one completed by the 2015 Consumer Insights team of Microsoft Canada argues that the average attention span today is a meager eight seconds. With this short amount of time, one’s content must be able to hook the audience.
With millennials have the advantage of technology constantly being at their fingertips, the content that they are most attracted to must catch their interest instantly.
As time progresses, so will technology. In light of the job market, the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to the millennial attachment to the digital screen.