YES LIVE: Gen Y Staff Impact & Resource One's Gen Y Financial Ed Program

Unfortunately, when some think about young adults' work habits, tired stereotypes come to mind - "lazy, inexperienced, un-motivated, naive..." Naturally this makes it harder to land a job they are qualified for, no matter what the resume says.

Philip Crocker, Director of Financial Literacy at Resource One Credit Union, like many young adults exemplifies the exact opposite of these stereotypes. He shared his experiences climbing the credit union ladder as a young adult and how he personally has had an impact at Resource One Credit Union. He also talked about Resource One's financial education program and gave advice on creating financial education programs targeting young adults.

Key insights from Philip's presentation:

• Ordinary People “Can Do” Extraordinary Things
• Believe in Your Staff – No Matter What Their Age or Tenure
• Cultivate – Plant – Nurture - Empower
• Realize that today’s Gen Y Employee may have different self-fulfillment needs than other generations of employees.
• Find the right person for the position – discover the person who has the desired characteristics, everything else can be taught.
• Create a Financial Education Plan that Works with Your Strategic Vision
• Do not re-create the wheel…
• United We Stand – “There is Plenty to Go Around”
• Create a Network and Use It – “Stay Involved”

Earlier, I asked Philip what he thought the greatest challenge is facing credit unions in serving 18-to-30 year olds. Here is his response:

Glad, you asked for my opinion. I certainly do not have all the right answers. Here is what I see as great challenges for my credit union as well as most others. I will answer this in two parts.

The first part is that the whole credit union movement has got to get better at courting and retaining this age group of consumers. Every credible article or information source that I read seems to suggest that this age group is at risk for flight. There seems to be a loyalty issue with this age group. In my opinion, I do not think that it is a loyalty issue. I just think that all of their options have been laid before them. These options are in their face through many different delivery channels. This age group can be influenced by so many more delivery channels than were previous generations. While every age group is susceptible to these same delivery channels, I think that this age group has embraced all forms of media for gathering information. This age group wants to make up their own minds and may not easily fall into the ranks with the way they conduct their personal finances. To many it appears to be a loyalty problem, but I challenge the industry to stay relevant and in their face. Which leads to my second part…

The second part is that we have to stay relevant to their needs. We have got to get away from throwing out a bunch of features and tying them into a bow and calling this “new product line” a Gen Y friendly alternative. How long or how far will an insincere attempt to try and grab this market really get a Credit Union? As a credit union or a “movement” we need to stay relevant with this age group and really pinpoint our product offerings, levels of service, and ease of doing business to meet their needs and not a business plan.

So in summary we need to gain their interest, keep their interest, “be relevant” or they will go somewhere else. There are still many choices out there, even though our landscape has changed lately.