10 traits of generation Z

1. an essentially transient workforce, gen z will move to were the work is rathe than find employment in their home town.
2. relentlessly tested from nursery school onwards, they will see constant feedback and appraisal as the norm, not the exception.
3. diversity and equality will be a fundamental way of doing business, not a feel good perk.
4. generation z will have more degrees, diplomas and certificates than any other generation, but will need encouragement to notch up meaningful work experience.
5. many schools and colleges will be sponsored by employers in a bid to secure young talent early on.
6. high salaries will be less crucial as mortgages, bank loans and even private car hire will be consigned to the history books.
7. life will be lived primarily via the web and for those who find work less than satisfying, a second or virtual life will become their comfort blanket.
8. loyalty to employers and engagement at work will become an urgent priorty as young worker switch jobs and locations quite often.
9. generous access to tecnology as children but limited physical freedom means gen Z will grow up fast. The erosion of their childhood may see many of them breaking out of the rat race later on in life.
10. political life will become less significant as gen Z-ers exercise power via their online identities, not the ballot box.

These points were written by Virginia Matthews in an article name "Generation Z - New kids on the block".  This is a human resources site and although its very job orientated, it has some good points that help me understand my target audience.
http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/09/14/47303/generation-z-new-kids-on-the-virtual-block.html

RESEARCH -the abc of xyc

one of the books that i will be doing a literature review on is " The ABC of XYC understanding the global generations" by Mark McCrindle with Emily Wolfinger. Mark McCrindle is a social researcher with an international reputation for tracking the emerging trends and analysing the diverse generations. He is the founder and director of McCrindle research whose clients include over 100 multinational organisations. His highly valued research and reports have developed his renown as a futurist, demographer and social communicator.
Emily Wolfinger is a published academic writer and researcher at McCrindle research, Emily conducts social and generational research and writes research reports for both media and commercial clients.

so i have read this book and was very interesting and was exactly what i was looking for in understanding what generation x,y and z mean and how they differ from each other. it also had other great information which i will give you a quick rundown of the vital chapters and the information it relayed. i'll not go into too much detail as i'll leave that for the literature review.

Chapter one - Generations defined - this included information about;

• Generational characteristics - explains about how generations are defined, traditionally generations have been defined as the average interval of time between birth of parents and the birth of the offspring, but explains in much detail that todays generations are defined sociologically rather than biologically as a generation refers to a cohort of people born within a similar span of time and who share a comparable age and life stage and who were shaped by a particular span of time (events, trends and developments).
• Understanding your generation - gives information on all generations and how to identify each by year, social characteristics and the reasons for the changes in certain attitudes.
• Generation labels - explains all the labels for each generation i.e boomers, x,y,z etc and the reasons why they have these particular labels. also explains the different labels globally (when they differ).

Chapter three - The generation map;

• Demographics, sociographics and psychographics - explaining about how demographics give us society by numbers (the what and who), while sociographics define how we interact and operate in society (the how and where) and also how psychographics gives insights into the values, motivators and behaviors of a population (the why). An understanding of these factors, as expressed in the generations, gives us a great snapshot of where our society has came from and a forecast of the shape of things to come. 

These chapters were a great basis for my project as it gave me the background information as to what these generations mean, why they have the social attributes they have and how each interact with each other in both good and bad situations. As i am trying to create characters for a specific generation, Gen Z, the next chapter was especially appealing to me and helped me understand how to market to the different generations.

Chapter nine - Marketing and selling.
this chapter gave info on;

• Generation appeals
• what we buy and why
• The top five drivers of X and Y (generation)
• research case studies
• shifts in market research

ok so to cap this off this book has gave me insight into what i am dealing with and why. i would recommend this if you have any interest in this subject!!