Data was collected from groups of Generation Y employees of corporate institutions, freelancers, entrepreneurs, small business workers as well as students between the ages of 16-30. Participants in the research were asked to provide basic biographical data† and then answer a series of 15 questions which pertained to their beliefs and opinions about current and past experiences and habits. These were based around Political, Economic, Social and Technological topics. Have questions? Tweet @calomas

1. GloballY
Generation Y is not the same

2. Everyone’s at it, preparing their places of work for a
new generation. Even Lily Allen’s song lyrics are talking
about the ‘patchwork-quilt-CV-job-hopping’ trends:
“I could say that i’ll always be here for you... But that
would be a lie and quite a pointless thing to do”
- Lily Allen (2009)
Generation Y is 1.3 billion strong. In India they will
make up half the population by 2015! In the US 1 in 4 in
this same demographic can’t find work. This
generation is varied and deserves a global perspective.
Who?

3. Why this report?
Up till now Generation Y has always been considered as
one homogenous mass. A group that are technology
crazed, insolent, have it their way or the ‘highway’ and
are constantly on Facebook wasting time.
But ... No thought has been given to two things.
First: Is Gen Y really the same all across the world?
Second: The research to date has been very Euro,
American and Australia heavy (because this is where
the majority of Generation Y commentators are based)

4. Implications of the report
Before we dive to deep into the content of the report
we’d like to give you some reason to read it.
The outworking of this report in a commercial setting,
in terms of both recruiting and marketing to Gen Y is
substantial. By the end you will have both practical
examples and some initial solutions – things to ‘go and
do tomorrow’.
We do this not to put ourselves out of a job, but so that
we are being more than commentators and are
contributing towards the global Gen Y strategy

5. Background
When we started the research phase (in 2009) we
agreed internally on researching ten regions across the
world.
These regions would be a mixture of some of the
fastest growing economic markets on the planet and
the most hotly recruited from by graduate employers in
order for any outputs to be extremely relevant and
beneficial towards the target audience.
We agreed that whilst secondary sources would be
valuable we really wanted to partner with organisations
who had an interest in Generation Y in order to collect
primary data. Thank you to those who did!

6. How we collected the data
The data presented in this report was collected from
groups of Generation Y employees of corporate
institutions, freelancers, entrepreneurs, small business
workers as well as students between the ages of 16-30.
These Gen Y employees came from a very varied
background and included white and blue-collar
workers.
Some data was collected through distribution partners
in local regions (i.e. Academic institutions, NGOs and
government bodies) and some came through the use of
social networks whom we partnered with.

7. What was asked?
Participants in the research were asked to provide basic
biographical data† and then answer a series of 15
questions which pertained to their beliefs and opinions
about current and past experiences and habits.
These were based around Political, Economic, Social
and Technological topics.
All the primary data was collected through an online
research tool.
The survey questions was offered in three languages:
English, Portugese and Chinese.
† This was done to allow us to have the best chance of ensuring that all samples taken were unique.

8. The regions
United States
Brazil
UK
Central and
Eastern Europe
Middle East
India
Malaysia
Russia
China
Japan

9. Global similarities
Despite sampling in ten different regions we
found, perhaps surprisingly, that there were a
number of things which Generation Y were all
agreed on – and to which we have added some
comment.
• They are broadly optimistic (but also naïve)
• Have a strong belief in personal connections
• Show a distrust of government (and business)
• They aren’t at work to work (

10. Optimistic and Naïve
We asked: What do you feel about work
opportunities for young people today, as
compared to those in your parents' day? (%)
A surprising majority (61%) of Generation Y
believed that there were far more opportunities
for them in the world of work than there were in
their parents day. Furthermore when the data was
split by those pre- and post-recession Gen Y
jobseekers the data was even more skewed. Post-
recession Gen Y are more optimistic about the
future than pre-recession Gen Y.
This leads us to believe that the sample also shows
a naivety about the working world they are (soon
to be) entering and a lack of visibility on it.
Employers should provide greater transparency
about what it is like to work in their companies.
This will lead to better matching of candidate and
employer, and lower attrition rates.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Far more opportunities Far fewer opportunities
56
58
60
62
64
66
68
70
72
1978-1989 1990-1995
%
%
Below: Respondents split demographically
Below: Respondents generally showing a high optimism

11. Positive emerging markets
Generation Y from emerging markets such as India, Malaysia, Singapore and Eastern Europe
demonstrated a tendency to be more optimistic with India leading the way, where 92% of
samples returned believed that there were more opportunities for Generation Y today than there
were in their parents day.
By comparison, generation Y from the United States, United Kingdom, and the Middle East and
Western Europe were less optimistic about their future opportunities. In the United States over
half of the samples returned believed that there were more opportunities in their parents day.
This is supported by current figures from US markets, where 1 in 4 graduates cannot find work.
55
67
76
92
50
72
54
82
70
58
48
54
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Brazil CEE China India Japan Malaysia Middle East Russia Singapore UK US WE
%
Below: India leads the way. Emerging markets showing a higher positivity than established market respondents

12. Belief in personal connections
We asked: Which is more important to your personal success, education or personal connections?
The majority response across almost every region surveyed was a belief that personal connections
were more important than education in the pursuit of personal success. Conversely it is interesting
to note the regions that did not share this belief: Brazil and India. Largely driven by a belief that
success will come through a strong educational background, with our secondary research showing
that many in these countries hold multiple degrees. In India a masters degree is considered almost
mandatory as a ticket to being hired by a global corporate.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Brazil CEE China India Japan Malaysia Middle East Russia Singapore UK US WE
Education Personal connections
%

13. Social recruiting?
Given the number of respondents in Generation
Y that believe that personal success will come
through connections there is a new imperative
to consider social recruiting as a way of finding
the next generation of employees.
Employers today consider LinkedIn the most
useful of the available platforms for recruitment
followed closely by Facebook and Twitter.
Rather than banning these online tools in the
workplace, employers should seek to harness
the social graphs that Generation Y bring with
them.
An average graduate might have >400 Facebook
friends. Imagine the potential volume of
‘updates’, ‘likes’, ‘follows’ and ‘retweets’ of
corporate content to personal friendship
groupings – increasing the trust of the original
author through personal endorsement.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Blog You Tube My Space None
%
Below: Usage of social networks by employers for
recruitment.
Source: Jobvite social recruiting survey 2010

14. Trust your government?
We asked: Overall, do you feel your government tries to
work in the best interests of the people?
The response from Generation Y across the globe was
weighted generally towards a disbelief in the idea that
their government generally works in the best interests of
the people.
Earlier this year Naked Generations released another
document ‘#GE2010’ in which we found that in the run up
to the UK General Election only 4% of voters had visited a
party political website.
We therefore note two things from this apparent distrust:
-There is a distrust by Generation Y not just of
government but of institutions in general, and especially
their marketing messages
- There is an apathy, and lack of engagement, with ‘the
real issues’ by Generation Y.
This should be a real concern to both government and
institutions and will present a marketing challenge going
forward for corporates as they seek to reach a new
consumer (or employee) that is empowered with
information and analysis on almost any topic, instantly.
0 10 20 30 40
No, never
Yes, always
Below: Lack of trust in government leadership

15. An education of questioning
Generation Y has grown up on a diet questioning.
New research out by Accenture suggested that
Chinese youth (defined as 14-27 year olds) spend
an average of 34 hours each week communing
on real-time communication tools online†. This,
when correlated with China’s upsurge in
university enrolment, makes for an interesting
trend.
Rather than
telling
corporations
and government
need to be seen
to ask first.
Generation Y, globally, today spends an average of 16 hours a
week online. That’s more than television or listening to the radio
or reading! Rather than accepting content Generation Y has
been taught to question information that is presented to them.
They do so with comparison websites, online news feeds, iPhone
applications and social networks.
How can corporations and government work with this taught
behaviour? Do not present finished solutions and give
Generation Y ownership in the creation of your product, idea or
opportunity. Put simply: rather than telling corporations and
government need to be seen to ask first.
† Accenture (via Bergstrom Trends) http://bit.ly/bjgSrx
0
5
10
15
20
25
1998 2002 2008
Below: Chinese university students enrolled (millions)
Data source: China’s Ministry of Education.