I got an opportunity to hear the Young Fastener Professionals (YFP) present their case study at the North Coast Fastener Association (NCFA) meeting last evening. The presenters included Ryan Kertis of Stelfast and Cory Facemire and Kristen Kessler of NSK Industries, a distributor in Northeast Ohio. I spoke with numerous people after the presentation and I am happy to report that it was a great success. Attendance at the event was somewhere between 45-50 people.
The presentation lasted between 30-45 minutes and had a great deal of data to go along with the talking points. Perhaps the most interesting part of the presentation was the question & answer session immediately after. Millennials do not get to do presentations without getting some push back from “older” or legacy employees of our industry. Questions came up on whether or not millennials were “job hoppers” that could not be counted on to stay committed to a company once they were trained. The presenters did a very nice job of responding and even got some support from other millennials who were in attendance to hear the presentation. One audience member made the point that, as an employer, he did not really care about the needs and wants of millennials versus any other generation. The presenters skillfully turned the table saying, “that’s fine, but what if a millennial is now your customer and not your employee. Do you care what they think then?” The answer was, “of course” and the point was made. The millennial employee will also be the millennial customer so it is worth taking note of what motivates them.
At one point in the presentation, the presenters even poked fun at themselves a bit. The results of one survey question suggested that while millennials do like to part of a team, their generation wants personal feedback and they want to be personally recognized for a job well done. Both Kertis and Facemire concluded with smiles that the data suggested “it’s all about me, me, me”. While that might be a turnoff to one generation, it also is good information for employers of millennials. Make sure to provide feedback to your younger employees and do not assume that they get the big picture. They want to know mores specifically how what they are doing fits into that “big picture”.
At one point during the presentation, Kertis held up his cell phone and said, “I do everything with this. I text, email, shop, call, make appointments, schedule…everything. And I always have it with me”. While a lot of us use cell phones for a lot of different things, his comments hit home as many of us watch our own kids tethered to the cell phone. Their generation embraces it completely.
I know the YFP will be presenting their survey results at several other association meetings. I would encourage anyone who can to attend. Even if you are not a millennial.
Like it or not – YFP are the future of our industry. It is essential we coexist and learn from each other. It’s like comparing Led Zeppelin and The Weeknd. You can’t – but they’re still out there! Aerosmith did it with RUN DMC – Bing did it with Bowie – McCartney did it with Kanye! We can do this!!
Great job on the article! Can you share the YFP survey with me as well? I would like to see the results of the finding.
Nice job! Keep on top of these young people as they are the “Future of the Fastener Industry”. GOD knows all of us ole’ timers made plenty of mistakes, but we all learned from them and moved on making the fastener industry a great business to be in today. Remember the Gross Package?
Good luck and continued success,
It is no great accomplishment to use a smartphone for everything. It is like saying one of my skills is watching Netflix or using Amazon Prime. Anyone can do these things, even grade school children. And if you focus actual skills (communication, design, service, creativity, etc.) on others (customers, co-workers, employers, etc.) then you will always succeed, regardless of your age.
Me..me..me..30 under 30…40 under 40 … 50 under 50 …team..team..team …to earn respect you have to give respect and this group is not really good at commicating this point.. Loyalty , team members , all pushing for the common goal …look at the great leaders in any company, respect what they are all about..experience that’s what you do not have..why should you be paid for the lack of it??? Understand that the real hall of fame members in this industry started with nothing and proved themselves …respect them they paved the way!!!!
Great blog post TS thanks for sharing with us!
The Millennial skills do not restrict themselves to the Millennials. I toured Greece by car for three weeks and continued to run my business from my cell phone with ear piece, I transferred my business land line to my cell and set up a data roaming package in Greece. My customers thought i was in the office as I continued to answer emails and carried out communication functions during the day and back end functions on my website in the evening. I used my cell as a satnav with Google maps and communicated with my family on WhatsApp with text and images. By the way I’m 64 and I am sure there are a few more like me out there.
Excellent story. Glad you shared.