Saturday, May 24, 2008

Quienes son los de la generación "Milenio" ?

BNET Briefing, May 24 2008.
What Is a Millennial?
by Andrew Tilin

The generation of workers born roughly between 1977 and 1995, known as millennials or Generation Y, represents the biggest shift in the U.S. workforce since the baby boomers came of age. Eighty-million strong, they will soon account for the majority of American workers, especially as boomers start to retire.

But it's not just their vast numbers that make millennials important to the labor market. Workplace experts say they're unlike previous generations, and that's forcing a cultural shift on companies and managers. According to Stan Smith, a national director for human resources at accounting giant Deloitte, millennials are team-oriented, eager to tackle huge challenges, and quite particular about their leaders. "They won't do something just because you say, 'I'm the manager,'" Smith says. "On the other hand, they'll work hard for someone who truly mentors them."


Why Millennials Matter Now

Look closely at the population figures in the box above. There are more millennials than baby boomers, and there are more than 50 percent more millennials than Generation Xers. If that makes you wonder where all these kids are going to find jobs, think again. We're on the brink of a pronounced talent shortage as the baby boom generation nears retirement. (According to the Conference Board, 64 million skilled workers will be eligible to hang up their gloves by the end of this decade.) In the coming years, both Gen Xers and millennials will be called upon to help fill the big shoes left by exiting boomers.

The effects of this imminent brain drain already are apparent across the labor spectrum. California police departments now host boot camps for 12-year-olds in the hopes of grooming future officers, while Deloitte is publishing books and launching interactive websites in attempts to woo high-school-age millennials. Despite the current recession, college recruiters and HR staffs talk about the "seller's market" that companies face. Until recently, many millennials collected multiple job offers before making decisions, and experts see the trend returning when the economy perks up. One Manhattan-based national consulting firm has even sworn off "exploding" job offers, those that squeeze applicants with tight deadlines to either accept or decline a position.

Why Millennials Matter to You

Sure, you're going to need millennials simply to put butts in seats. But these workers are also change agents who may force you to rethink and improve your methods of recruiting, training, and management — the lifeblood elements of your company. They're accustomed to working away from their desks, using everything from library computers to smartphones and laptops. They got intense and individualized mentoring from teachers and coaches, and they were never told that their elders should intimidate them. "The world is a flat hierarchy to these kids," says Peter Johnson, director of admissions at the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business. "Whether you think it's a good or bad thing doesn't really matter. It's a market condition."

Many companies have realized they need to change with the times: UPS has begun to abandon its training manuals for hands-on learning in staged neighborhoods; Deloitte empowers its middle managers to offer flexible scheduling to their team members, and Google bypasses corporate hierarchy by making its brightest new millennials managers and granting them direct access to the company's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Millennials' Strong Points

According to Lynne Lancaster, a consultant on generational issues in the workplace, millennials were the first generation to grow up with soccer moms, doting dads, and trophies for participation. All that adult attention gave them confidence and a knack for following directions. In addition, says Lancaster, many millennials' lives have been heavily scheduled since childhood, so they understand achievement and heavy workloads. And growing up with PCs has contributed to their comfort with technology and social networking. "There definitely are the speed processors among them," says David Morrison, who runs Twentysomething, a consulting and marketing firm focusing on young adults. "They're quick learners and quick to put together information. In that way, they're an incredible asset to any team."

Millennials are nicknamed Generation Why for a reason. Experts say they're like living, breathing search engines, asking question after question. This gives company mentors a huge opportunity to shape millennials' workplace beliefs and attitudes. These days, mentoring programs can be found everywhere from Fortune 500 firms to the basic-training barracks of the U.S. Army.

Millennials also are motivated by work they find meaningful. For some, that means the chance to give back through a company-sponsored charity. For others, it's finding value in the daily work you give them. "Philanthropy doesn't resonate with me," says 24-year-old Dan Siroker, an associate product manager at Google. "What motivates me is working on products that I think help people's lives."

Millennials' Weak Spots

Perhaps you've heard tales of their unreasonable demands ("I'm not working overtime!") and disarming gumption ("Can I have a word with the CEO?"). The cliches do contain grains of truth. As children who grew up hearing about the entrepreneurial heroics of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, millennials may be quick to leave your company for what they think is a better opportunity — it doesn't even matter that these are belt-tightening times. "In the last few years, I've definitely noticed a surge of young entrepreneurs — we've lost a couple of great employees," says Zaw Thet, CEO of 4Info, a Silicon Valley-based text messaging company that does work for MTV and NBC. "It might sound surprising, but retaining people has become harder."

Here's another surprise: While millennials are talented text messagers — they tap out up to eight times more monthly mobile-phone messages than baby boomers — they're not all technology wizards. "We're advising companies to perform technological assessments as part of their new-employee orientation," Lancaster says. "Young new hires might be phenomenal on a cell phone but not as great on a computer."

How to Talk About Millennials

Terms associated with millennials:

  • Helicopter Parent: Parents who hover over their millennial offspring. Acting on the notion that they know best and can help their children make decisions, Helicopter Parents hope to prevent their kids from making missteps.
  • Black Hawk: A Helicopter Parent who goes to unethical lengths to help his/her child. A dad who helps write his kid's college application essay is a Black Hawk.
  • Trophy Children: Children driven to succeed in part to please their parents' need for elevated status and bragging rights.
  • Boomeranging: The act of children moving back into their parents' homes after graduating from college. Parents often welcome their millennial children back into the house. The children are sorely missed and get the opportunity to squirrel away money for a down payment on a house or to start a business.

Additional Resources

  • Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation by Bill Strauss and Neil Howe. Published in 2000, this was the first broad profile of the generation.
  • When Generations Collide by Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman. Solutions to workplace clashes based on generational differences.
  • Managing the Generation Mix by Bruce Tulgan. A step-by-step guide to adjusting your communication and management styles for a wide span of generations.
  • PBS's "Generation Next" webpage. Informed by the network's documentaries on Millennials, the site offers a compilation of audio and video clips, as well as profiles and news stories.


Copyright © 2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Guías para trabajar con la Generación "Milenio"

May 23, 2008.
Managing Millenians, a BNET survival guide.

Confident, forward-thinking, and 80 million strong, Generation Y will reshape the workplace. Here's how to get the best out of your youngest workers.

Even if you were born to boss, you'd do well to bone up on today's crop of 20-something workers. Called millennials, this vast and important generation of employees is our workforce's next big infusion — and, many would believe, management's greatest challenge.

Other news outlets have stereotyped millennials as self-absorbed. Coddled. Entitled. But such labels often mislead, and they certainly don't tell the complex and sprawling tale of this new generation. Which is where our seven-part primer comes in handy.



Copyright © 2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Convertidor de formatos de archivos en modalidad SaaS. (Software cómo un Servicio).

Mayo 20, 2008.
Convertidor de formatos de archivos digitales (ficheros).
Media Convert.

Media-Convert funciona gratuitamente sin inscripción

No hay que instalar nada, es decir no necesita instalar ningun software en su computadora. Sólo necesitan su explorador Internet habitual.
Pueden convertir múltiples formatos de ficheros. Además sus ficheros son accesibles 7/7 días, 24h/24.
Estamos siempre a su servicio.

¿como convertir un archivo?

Seleccione el formato de entrada, de salida y presione Convertir.
¡Es fácil!



¿Por qué utilizar a Media-Convert?

Simplemente porque Media-Convert es la mejor manera de convertir ficheros de audio, vídeo, presentación ppt, documento, hoja de balance, etc

obteniendo las siguientes ventajas:

  • menor peligro de infeccion a discos duros, ya que no tienen que instalar programas informáticos en su ordenador, los cuales pueden contener virus, spyware (espías), etc
  • la accesibilidad desde todas partes en el mundo a través de una conexión Internet.
  • pueden realizar la conversión desde un cybercafé, en el PC de un amigo o en el de la oficina, y a continuación cargar a distancia tranquilamente el resultado en su lector mp3 o cualquier otro soporte (ordenador, teléfono portatil).
COPYRIGHT © 2008 DePapaya.com
All rights reserved.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Qué es un Blog-Video

dotsub.com 2007
"Qué es un Blog"; en idioma sencillo.
Lee LeFever

Un video para aquellos que se preguntan porqué los blogs se han vuelto tan populares.

Hacer "click" sobre la imágen para ver el video.

    COPYRIGHT © 2008 DePapaya.com
    All rights reserved.

    Sunday, May 18, 2008

    Editorial "El Pais" Cali, Mayo 17 2002.

    Mayo 17 de 2008

    El Editorial

    Internet es futuro


    La profecía fue escrita hace poco por la empresa Nemertes Research: una 'nación' con 1.330 millones de habitantes, más de la quinta parte de la población de la Tierra, colapsará en el 2011 y millones de videos, blogs, fotos, canciones y archivos de texto que circulan a diario por la web morirán en tres años, a menos que un superhéroe encuentre la manera de salvar el mundo cibernético.

    Pero en tanto este apocalipsis se cumple o no y mientras los gomosos de la red celebran hoy una versión más del Día Mundial de Internet, vale la pena reflexionar sobre el futuro que este medio de comunicación puede representar para los colombianos. Entonces queda claro que los interrogantes sobre el futuro, además del anunciado infarto de la web, se refieren a las pocas posibilidades de acceso a ella que todavía tiene la inmensa mayoría de compatriotas.

    Las estadísticas indican que sólo doce de los 44 millones de personas que habitan el país hacen uso de la red, lo que está muy lejos de significar que todos ellos sean internautas. En realidad, muchos únicamente son usuarios ocasionales que visitan los llamados café internet para entrar en contacto con sus familiares y amigos en el exterior o que utilizan con no pocas limitantes los ordenadores disponibles en empresas, colegios y universidades.

    El problema se puede definir de otra manera más categórica: sólo el 16,3% de los colombianos tiene un computador en su casa y únicamente el 15% de las pequeñas y medianas empresas utilizan la web para sus negocios. Quiere ello decir que la mayoría de la población no tiene acceso a los datos disponibles en el ciberespacio y que el país no está preparado para afrontar el desafío que éste implica.

    De ahí que sea urgente la masificación de las llamadas Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación, TIC. No para que la red se convierta en el sitio de donde colegiales y universitarios sacan sus tareas sin el menor esfuerzo, sino para que conozcan todas las herramientas que ella ofrece para ampliar sus conocimientos. Y para que los pequeños comerciantes e industriales aprendan a competir en el mundo globalizado.

    Así, el internet podrá ser utilizado para muchas otras cosas que compartir datos confidenciales con desconocidos, citarse a pelear después de clases y entrar a páginas de dudoso contenido que incentivan la trata de personas y la explotación sexual de menores. Pero eso sólo se logrará si el Gobierno Nacional aumenta la inversión en investigación y desarrollo, que hoy apenas alcanza el 0,5% del PIB, incorpora este medio de comunicación a los primeros procesos de aprendizaje y cumple la meta del Programa Computadores para Educar que indica que para el 2010 deberá haber un ordenador por cada 20 estudiantes.

    Cuando eso ocurra, los colombianos tendremos razones para esperar que la profecía no se cumpla. Para que los 162.662 millones de sitios web que ya hay en el planeta sobrevivan al 2011. Y, sobre todo, para creer que ya nuestro país ha comenzado a superar la brecha digital y que hemos entendido que el acceso al conocimiento es la clave para acercarnos al mundo desarrollado.

    Abrir artículo en el Browser.
    COPYRIGHT © 2007 El País Cali Colombia