Generation Y is considered to be individualistic and shaped by, among other things, the fact that during their upbringing they always had choices. Of course, they bring this expectation with them when they enter working life. Which skills, though, have they actually acquired and which ones do they tend to lack?

Dr. Nico Rose: If you look at the template of a typical member of generation Y - whether one actually exists is another question - there is probably some lack of skills, but even more significant is a lack of the desire to integrate into existing systems or to be a "yes-man". That was always something youth could get away with, and somehow it usually worked.

New is that the future generation of young professionals will have a very different bargaining power because demographic change plays into their hands. With an eye on Germany, we are looking at a labor market in which it makes virtually no sense to depend solely on job ads, simply because no one is "out there" who wants to read them. Almost the only way to fill open positions is by "labor piracy", and this strengthens employees’ situation enormously.

Research indicates the higher the number of available job alternatives, the lower the loyalty. In 2020, will specialization and reliability be more important than loyalty in the employer - employee relationship?

Dr. Nico Rose: I predict that our CVs will be considerably more fragmented in general, with a tendency toward ever-shorter "guest appearances" in a business becoming common. Many people will have ten, twenty, or more employers in their lives - and that's perfectly OK. This has nothing to do with loyalty. You are loyal, but only for three years. Then you move on -and perhaps even go back a few years later.

Trend researcher Sven Gabor Janszky said a couple of days ago in a lecture that in some firms, the HR departments could even consider a core competence to be that people voluntarily and intentionally develop out of the company after a few years on the job, and then, in ten years or so, come back on the best of terms.

Generation Y is said to enjoy international mobility, but at the same time to have great appreciation of private and family life. What forms of work-life balance do you consider compatible with the requirements of globalized markets and this type of employee? What competencies make future careers possible under such conditions?

Dr. Nico Rose: Here I would first of all put a question mark. I regularly read the evaluations among students and young professionals from institutions such as Trendence, Universum, and the surveys of members of the career network e-fellows.net. In regard to the term "international", it pays to dig deeper. If we do, we learn that the majority of young people in Germany are interested in "perceived internationality", and not so much mobility itself. That is, people enjoy working in Berlin in a cool office where there are people from twenty other countries.

They seek an international environment, but it’s better when it’s in their own back yard. Only a very small proportion of young people are interested in a "hardcore expatriate career" - seven countries in ten years. I have a feeling that many graduates today do two semesters abroad, and right after they get their degree spend three months backpacking in Southeast Asia - and this is enough for the moment. You also always have to approach the subject with an eye on the stage of life: When you’re in your mid-30s, married, and perhaps have one or two children, the desire for (international) mobility drops significantly.

What value do you see social skills as having in the future? Will their importance be higher or lower in HR work in 2020?

Dr. Nico Rose: They will remain as important as ever, but the spectrum of skills we have to have is likely to broaden considerably. Key words here are, for example, "leading virtual teams" or shared leadership. I expect that in the future we will see many more part-time management positions, or indeed that two people share a leadership post, and this creates new challenges for both the manager and those being supervised. In general, the workforce will become even more fragmented.

What will we see in all probability in many places, is a rather colorful mix of rather few permanent employees, many regular and not-so-regular freelancers, outsourcing, near-shoring and off-shoring. This means that keeping an overview and appreciation of each person as an individual with specific requirements will be a major task. And then soon all devices will begin to communicate with each other. This is another phrase I picked up from Mr. Janszky: "In the future, people will especially have to reach a decision when two computers at the same hierarchical level no longer agree".