Reactions ran from disbelief to total agreement. The issue was a news story indicating that 25% of job seekers would not take a job if they could not use social media. Now on the face of this, and given our economy, this sounds pretty silly. A pay check is a pay check you could say. However, when you are on the job and your constantly faced with a broken copier, a computer with a boot up time you can track with a calendar, or a phone system that always loses voice mails, what do you get? ..Frustrated. Frustrated because you don’t have the tools to do your job.
The 25% who won’t take a job without social media access are telling us the world has changed. The tools we need to do our job have changed. Cutting edge is something every business aspires to be, or at least should aspire to be. In the course of my business day, I still encounter people who tell me they are proud to not use email or even better, ‘that computer!’ These statements often seem to occur in meetings, it is a source of pride that no good business tool has been invented since the mimeograph. The rest of the attendees are thinking how difficult and inefficient it is going to be trying the work with this guy!
…no good business tool has been invented since the mimeograph.
The 25-percenters are saying give us the tools to work! Your email, your copier and even your color printer are not where it is at. We are not working for mental dinosaurs! Even more, we are not going to be told by mental dinosaurs what to do and how to do it only to be handed crap tools. The lesson here is that too many managers have checked out of the technology revolution. Change or die is the saying. These managers have stopped learning, stopped growing and stopped changing. This failure to adapt to changing conditions will result in ever increasing numbers of applicants looking elsewhere for work. They will look for the tools, working where they find them. For the dinosaurs, it will be primordial soup for you!
At The Mic 