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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Next generation set to be more assertive, self starting entrepreneurs

Profile of the UK workforce likely to change over the next five years

A new study comparing the preferred working behaviour of 1 695 school pupils to nearly one hundred thousand (91 044) working population profiles indicates the next generation could be more entrepreneurial but less verbally communicative potentially due to a reliance on technology. The study, carried out by Thomas International, the largest privately owned global provider of people assessments, compared the PPA psychometric assessment profiles of both groups and found that twice as many young people report a preference towards being competitive, assertive self-starters and therefore may be more likely to be entrepreneurial. High dominance people have a basic fear of failure and will expect and want freedom, authority, power, material reward and innovation to be part of their working lives.

The PPA assessment tool provides an indication of a candidates’ likely behaviour at work. It measures four factors – dominance (D), influence (I), steadiness (S) and compliance (C). Those completing the PPA assessment answer a series of questions, the answers to which indicate their profile or characteristic working ‘style’. All respondents will have a lead factor – D, I, S or C which is their most pronounced working behaviour.

“Those businesses hiring school leavers and graduates over the next five years need to take this change in working behaviour into account,” says Martin Reed, CEO of Thomas International. “If you hire a high ‘D’ you need to challenge them. They will be driven by tough assignments and a full workload. As a manager you will need to be direct and someone they can level and negotiate with on a person to person basis.

High Ds can be entrepreneurial, focused on results and driving growth but could also struggle to work for someone or within narrow boundaries so you may need to adjust entry-level roles accordingly.” 

The study also found that the next generation has a reduction in ‘I’ or influence as a lead profile. Someone with a high ‘I’ profile is friendly, persuasive and a real verbal communicator. The trend shows a 22% reduction, if this continues, it could result in fewer ‘people people’ in UK business.

“The reduction in ‘I’ could be an indication of a dependence on technology to communicate non- verbally across the younger generation,” says Suchi Pathak, Head of Psychology for Thomas International. “WhatsApp, SnapChat, Facebook and Blackberry messenger are all the preferred communication tools for younger people and this may be affecting their preferred working behaviour.”

Thomas International was founded in 1981 and is the largest privately owned global provider of people assessment tools to the SME market. Over 20 million people have completed a Thomas assessment from 60 countries in 56 languages. Two years ago, Thomas launched Thomas Education to work with secondary phase learning centres to release student potential using psychometric assessments. To date, Thomas Education has worked with 123 education centres across the UK and 3620 young people have been profiled.

The PPA assessment takes eight minutes to complete. The resulting report provides an accurate insight into how the candidate will behave at work giving businesses a greater level of certainty around staff recruitment and development. The report details a person’s strengths and limitations, their communication style, their value to the business, what motivates them, their basic fears and how they behave under pressure.