BRIDGING THE EDUCATIONAL GAP BETWEEN THE JOB MARKET AND DIGITAL NATIVES

This paper presents the first results of an European project named IGen- “XX”. The objective of this project is to harmonize the needs and expectations of both job market and youngsters, labelled by Pransky as “digital natives” as an attempt to describe their relationship with technology. These youngsters are born in the late 1990s till mid 2000 having now between 16 and 21 years old.

Literature reveals that this generation can be characterized as being very engaged with parents, teachers and others. They are also less likely to resist authority relationships than Gen Yers did, but will only perform for individuals when they are engaged in intensive working relationships (motivation) (human connection). This generation more than any other suffer from the growing gap between the highly skilled and the unskilled. The technical skill gap is huge, but the nontechnical skill gap is even more pervasive. Managing Generation Z requires a huge remedial effort on broad transferable skills like work habits, interpersonal communication, and critical thinking and a huge investment in remedial technical training (skills gap).

This generation also knows more parts of the world than Gen Yers ever did, but they are likely to be far less geographically adventurous. They are plugged into the boundary less world on-line but the key to engaging them in their environment tactically is a relentless focus on the local (personalization) (global mind, local reality). The emerging Generation Z reflects a whole new way of thinking about difference. Again Generation Y was the transition, Gen Z is all the way there. They are less likely to fall into previously recognized categories and much more likely to be mixing and matching various components of identity and points of view that appeal to them. They are ever creating their own personal montage of selfhood options (infinite diversity).

In order to facilitate the integration of these citizens in the job market it is time to fully identify and understand what are their expectations as well as to deeply know what employers need from them. The final objective of this project is to help bridging the gap between these two generations, helping youngsters to better integrate in the job market and helping employers to understand this young generation.
In this paper we present some figures concerning the generation Z in Portugal at this moment and trends for the future. The results present came from a questionnaires, some interviews and focus groups developed. We also compare it with the literature review in the field.