By Guest Contributor, Marcia Dunbar, Client Relations Manager, Career Edge Organization

As in previous years, Career Edge Organization was invitied by the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers (CACEE) to deliver a presentation at their annual national conference. Last week I had the pleasure of representing Career Edge in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and took the opportunity to share some of the insights derived from our recent National Gen Y study which we conducted in partnership with Angus Reid Strategies.

The workshop built upon the information we delivered at CACEE’s regional conference this past December – you might recall our blog post, “What motivates the next generation of leaders.” To the surprise of many, our findings debunked many of the (often negative) myths and stereotypes about today’s youth in the workplace.

Many of the seminars at last week’s CACEE conference provided some of the same old fodder that feeds pre-existing notions of what this newest entrant to our post-secondary institutions and workplaces, the Gen Y’er, is all about. But there were some discussions that challenged the attendees to think differently.

Let’s face it, every generation has brought their dreams and aspirations for themselves and this world to bear on the society they live in; inevitably creating some dissonance everywhere – including the workplace.

There is general acceptance that this generation is the best-equipped group of new grads ever to come out of our colleges and universities. The deliverable, from an academic perspective, is high quality. Where most gen X’ers and Boomers sought self-actualization through their work, the Gen Y cohort is bringing a heightened awareness of themselves and their place in the broader world to the workplace.

This generation is born into a world where all their needs have been met. After all, they aren’t struggling to feed themselves like the Greatest Generation or challenged to bring order, love and safety into a chaotic world like the Boomers and unlike Gen X before them, Millennials know they are valued and why.

How then will Gen Y respond to the call to action heard by every new grad since the beginning of time – In what way will they change the world? This certainly poses some interesting recruitment and retention challenges for today’s employers, but with the challenges also come new possibilities and most importantly, opportunities.

Two timely pieces of research on the topic of measuring Diversity were released today from the Toronto Board of Trade and Ryerson University.

The first one, a discussion paper called Lifting All Boats: Promoting Social Cohesion and Economic Inclusion in the Toronto Region, by the Toronto Board of Trade, concludes that even though Toronto attracts the best international talent, the numbers continue to show that overall foreign-trained professionals in the region remain underemployed and their skills and experience untapped. The second study, A Snapshot of Diverse Leadership in the GTA, by DiverseCity (an initiative of the Toronto City Summit Alliance) and The Diversity Institute at Ryerson University, concludes that visible minority leadership in the GTA is in fact moving in the right direction, but change is happening at a slow rate.

The stats around the presence of diversity in the GTA are impressive. For instance, the GTA is one of the most diverse regions in the world with 44% of our residents born outside of Canada. Back in 2008 The Conference Board of Canada predicted that by 2011 Canada’s net labour force growth would be entirely dependent on immigration; with Toronto region leading the way in this respect. Well, since we’re now less than 7 months away from this prediction becoming a reality why are our numbers still lagging? As the DiverseCity research points out, there are organizational trailblazers and there are laggards in each sector.

After having attended this morning’s release event of the second DiverseCity Counts Report, it was inspiring and hopeful to see about 100 of the region’s top corporate, public and voluntary sector leaders in attendance to show their support on this issue. Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, spoke eloquently about the social and economic benefits of local bridging programs that welcome, prepare and integrate newcomers into the Canadian workforce. In the true sense of the word, the purpose of bridging programs is to create a bridge between a newcomer and a potential employer. Clearly, this is not a one sided equation. It takes lots of work as a newcomer to navigate through the job search process, not to mention honing language skills while understanding a new culture. From an employer perspective, there also has to be an existing organizational culture in place to welcome, prepare and integrate an internationally qualified individual into their organization. As Dr. Hoskins stressed, bridging programs really do work. He cited the Ontario Government’s leadership in hiring internationally trained individuals (ITI) through their ITI Internship program (operated by Career Edge Organization’s Career Bridge Paid Internship Program) as just one example of a successful bridging program that has launched the careers of hundreds of ITI’s while achieving a key goal of the Ontario Public Service which is to be an inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible organization.

Since measuring business results is not a new concept and the reality is that there is a strong business case for embracing social cohesion, economic inclusion and diverse leadership – let’s all commit to ensuring the diversity needle moves forward to ensure the future prosperity and competitiveness of the GTA.

This article is by Guest Blogger: Janice Rudkowski, Director, Marketing & Communications, Career Edge Organization

Picture this: amidst a skills and talent crunch, an organization’s most senior leaders and top-performers retire, taking with them much more than a gold watch – 30 or more years of experience and intimate knowledge of the company. As middle managers move up to fill the gaps, new gaps will appear, until the entire organization from top to bottom is riddled with vacancies – and customers hanging in the balance.

Suddenly recent grads of the Y generation will be at the forefront of the battle for top talent, and companies will have to compete for honour roll students and campus superstars.

Why not hire them now?

Recruiting recent grads is something some employers are making a priority – not just to fill entry-level roles, but as a strategic component of succession planning and sustainability. It’s about being proactive, rather than reactive, as some would say.

As the Globe and Mail recently rolled out their list of “Top 50 Employers for Young People” (with the editors of “Canada’s Top 100 Employers”), Career Edge was profiled in a timely feature in the Globe today, entitled “Keeping a Generation from Getting Lost.”

The article by Randy Ray highlighted the challenges faced by the large number of unemployed youth in today’s tough job market, particularly those who graduated at the height of the recession and have remained unemployed since.

The article, featuring an interview with our own Janice Rudkowski, Director, Marketing & Communications, raises the question – what will become of this cohort, and what will happen when employers need fresh talent? Will they be “passed over in favour of the next crop of fresh graduates,” as Janice postulates in the article. Will they lose some of the skills and knowledge they graduated with months, or in some cases, over a year ago?

Fortunately there are some excellent companies out there that recognize the value of recruiting and training new talent now. Loblaw and Kraft – both host employers to our Career Edge program for recent grads – both appeared in the article as examples of excellent programs that are “kick-starting careers” and enjoying the benefits of new talent.

As the economy recovers, now is a great time to build a “talent pipeline,” because before we know it, we’ll be facing a talent drought.