“Boomer” is a term used for a person who was born between 1946-1964 , i.e., at the end of World War II. They will be the first generation to truly gleam the trail through the landscape of retirement in the 21^st century.

“Gen X” is a term used for the generation of people born between the mid-1960s and the early-1980s. It is referred to as an "in-between" generation.

“Millennials” belong to the generation following Gen X, and were born between the early 1980’s to the mid-1990’s. They are the graduating class of early 2000s.

Boomers are often considered intellectual and work centric, Gen Xers are considered independent, self-sufficient and give greater emphasis to work-life balance, whereas, Millennials are considered tech-savvy and achievement-oriented. Each generation brings something different to the table, and they all expect something different in return. Boomers are believed to be driven with self-actualization and decent compensation needs; Gen Xers want flexibility and Millennials crave positive reinforcement from the management and to feel that their work actually matters. By understanding these diverse psychological needs we can create an all-inclusive employee strategy that works for all generations. Identifying how to appeal to each generation’s communication modes and preferences during talent recruitment can contribute to a more a fluid process and a meaningful outcome.

While Hiring Baby Boomers

Experience is one of the most important reasons for hiring Baby Boomers in the industry. Considering boomer were inducted to workforce in a different era and their early-career communications were often handled telephonically or in-person; they might not be the most tech-savvy group overall. However, they do have quite a few years of experience and acquired wisdom that a younger recruit simply cannot replace. They have seen ups and downs and survived the storms. They have worked hard, paid their dues and are known to be loyal and flexible individuals, who are willing to give their everything to an organization.

While appealing to Boomers, one must ensure that the message is conveyed with respect for their legacy, how significant the brand is and how they can seek more control of their work life and ways to secure their future.

While Hiring Gen Xers

The Gen X group has a solid footing in the technological and non-technological world, they have the best of both worlds. They began their career at the same time digital technology started to become prominent. For this generation, LinkedIn and email are often the preferred channels to communicate over Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter. Gen X understands and appreciates technology as a convenience that makes life better. They are likely the most independent people in any workplace but perhaps, aren’t the most loyal. They are believed to be the first ones to move if the job isn’t right. Instead of incentives such as, financial perks & job security that Boomers might respond to, Gen X needs to know that there is room for growth. They are, to some extent willing to learn and adapt to new technologies and work processes.

To appeal to Gen X, the message should clearly convey that the organization recognizes their value and understands how to incorporate it into their day-to-day productivity and growth, and how the organization values work-life balance.

While Hiring Millennials

Millennials are the first generation to be raised during the dawn of digital age. For them, it’s hard to imagine what life might have been without Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and text messages. Infact, they were the first to be called out on their vigorous attention to texting and Facebook selfies and generally prefer digital communication over face-to-face interactions. Millennials are experts in balancing multiple responsibilities at once. They also expect a more flexible work environment than the previous generations and want to be at an organization that appreciates their work and gives them real-time feedback.

‘Working hard’ to both Boomers and Gen X means staying focused on the vision regardless of the working hours, even if that means having to sacrifice their personal lives. On the other hand, many millennials value their personal freedom, social contribution and flexibility over salary, vying for top job spots and being first to the finish line, which in a way has led them to different definitions of success than their predecessors.

In order to appeal to millennials, it is important to ensure them that there will be regular communication and they will be provided with proper mentoring and support to grow their career.

The most important element in the hiring process is sourcing effectively. If you can’t find the right candidates and if they can’t find you, you are stuck with the same ratio of applicants to qualified hires. It is the company’s responsibility to create a culture that appeals to individual generational needs when hiring, whether it be methods of managing and development or measuring individual performance.

Today, ‘soft skills’ and ‘recognition’ in the workplace are weighted more than ever before. To attract cross-generational candidates, the company should have an employee-centric environment that respects and encourages cross-generational structures for mutual success and growth.

Whenever a new technology emerges, it becomes easy to see what jobs it might replace. The challenge may be to envision what kind of new jobs may be born in the future. A decade ago, artists used to work with copywriters in order to prepare advertisements, but today with the help of computer-aided graphics the same is done by graphic designers, which took the scope of print media and creativity to new heights. The idea is that when we pass off some of our workload to machines, it broadens the scope of what was possible. We come up with new ideas, new innovations, and new kinds of work. In fact, many industries that are around today, like electronics, health, medicine, finance, and insurance, barely existed or did not exist at all a century ago. By that notion, it is never wrong to think of upgrading one’s skills with time. A report titled “Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All” was released on Monday, 22 January 2018 at the World Economic Forum’s 48th annual meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The conference was attended by more than 3,000 global leaders and industry experts. The report signifies a strong emphasis on job disruption and reskilling, it analyzed more than thousand job types that are in the crossfire of technology and pave the way to a major job disruption. According to the report, 1.4 million US jobs will be disrupted by the year 2026, due to technology and other factors, out of which 57% jobs will be women-oriented. However, the research also suggests that 95% of workers conjugated to the risk, would find quality jobs with higher pay if they have enough reskilling.

It is perceived that only 2% of workers would have a better opportunity to transition to new jobs whereas 16% would have no opportunities at all. However, at-risk workers who retrain for an average of two years could earn an annual salary increase of $15,000.The change is real and anxiety justified, however, new technologies often open up new frontiers of jobs that did not exist before. Imagine trying to explain what an ‘app developer’ does for someone in the 1960s. Focusing on machines that will replace jobs do not speak to how they might actually strengthen them. For example, when ATMs started rolling out in the '70s, they threatened to make human bank tellers extinct, however, banks quickly found that ATMs made it cheaper to open new branches, and the result was more branches and more tellers than ever. Since the arrival of ATMs, the number of bank tellers has doubled. Why? Well, once bank tellers were freed up from dispensing cash, they started forging relationships with customers, solving problems, and introducing them to new products like loans and investments. The net effect was that bank tellers became more valuable to banking.

What about the future?

Automation is accelerating and spreading to more industries faster than we've ever seen before. Machines are increasingly replicating skills that we once thought were unique to humans. AI algorithms are trading in the stock market, recommending products to us, and guiding airplanes through the sky. Robots are being developed that someday might be cooking your meals, running warehouses, or performing surgery, all by themselves. So, is this time different? Luminaries like Elon Musk seem to think so. He has predicted that soon, robots will be able to do everything better than us. And Stephen Hawking has warned that artificial intelligence will replace humans completely. Lots of people seem to think it's only a matter of time before these ever-smarter machines make most of today's workers obsolete. So, should we be worried? Well, yes, it is, just like it was different after the printing press was invented or the assembly line or tractors or computers or any other invention was made that changed the world.

All of these new technologies transformed the way we work and adjusting to them wasn’t simple, inexpensive, or immediate. But if the past is any indication, this radical leap forward in technology is at least as likely to create jobs as it is to destroy them, even if these new jobs might sound as strange to us, as an app developer does to someone who's never seen a cell phone before.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum stated that the only limiting factor considered in the world of ‘opportunities for individuals’, is that the disposition of leaders in creating investments in the process of re-skilling people, that has a direct impact on bridging worker onto new jobs. The importance of this investment will be massive for businesses, as well as, for workers who may find a new purpose in their lives. People with transferable skills like collaboration and critical thinking abilities will have the most beneficial transition in this period. As President John F. Kennedy once quoted, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

The staffing industry provides career opportunities and workplace solutions for some 16 million Americans each year which makes a vital contribution to the United States’ workforce and economy. The industry generated $428 billion in revenue worldwide in 2016, according to the “Global Staffing Industry Market Estimates and Forecast: May 2017 Update” released by Staffing Industry Analysts, where the US, Japan and the UK — made up a majority of the revenue. Temporary staffing generated 89% of the revenue, with the remaining 11% stemming from place and search. Staffing firms have had their plates full in 2017 between the talent shortage, technology adoption, candidate and client engagement, and ambitious revenue goals. Thus, staffing firms must choose wisely when allocating resources such as, time and money. Staffing firms have also taken a proactive approach to technology adoption: 64 percent of firms use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to track candidate activity and 60 percent use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for business development.

Outsourcing various functions of a business is not a new practice; many use outsourced vendors for payroll, email hosting and other back office functions. Specifically, through offshore models such as, sourcing and screening which are a growing trend in outsourcing recruitment-related tasks. The significant cost-effectiveness of leveraging offshore labor markets is the major benefit of this business model. There is the simultaneous increase of their bandwidth and productivity, by releasing in-house recruiters from some of the more tedious tasks of their job.

Through online networking, inbound marketing and innovative staffing software, technology is evolving at an unprecedented rate, impacting all industries while the days of Rolodexes and newspaper ads are long gone, leaving recruiters and salespeople alike to build their books of business. There is also the growing importance of verified sales intelligence and predictive analytics. More than just a verified list of contacts, it is now essential to gather data on complex org. charts, technical environments, online behavior, and more. The more you know about a contact and their company, the more basis you have for building a solid foundation.

Staffing firms have high hopes for 2018, though a number of disruptions and challenges stand in the way of them looking to improve revenue and profitability. Expectations for the year can be met if the firms are able to anticipate and rise above these challenges. The talent shortage has been the most mentioned obstacle for 2017, it’s likely to continue for 2018, while more than 60 percent of all respondents rank it as the top three challenges, followed by pricing pressures (53 percent) and economic uncertainty (37 percent).

 Conclusion

The statistics above prove that the staffing trends have been improving for the best over 2017. Though downfall has been witnessed in both growth and low in demand at times, that does not seem to hinder the rate at which the staffing industry is growing. Today, the ladder of success for staffing is not looking to stop but is grabbing onto opportunities everywhere possible.

What is a Bitcoin?

Bitcoin has gained tremendous attention in recent times. Bitcoin is a form of cryptocurrency or digital money. Cryptocurrency can be classified as virtual currency or alternative currency to a facilitate transaction. The entire process relies on a real-time ledger of the transaction in blockchain . Bitcoin is the first kind of cryptocurrency which was invented by an anonymous person or group named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.

How is a Bitcoin created?

Bitcoin is created as a reward for the process called Bitcoin. Miners use open source software to complete two tasks for ‘Bitcoin mining’; 1) miners authenticate the validity of new bitcoin transactions that are remaining to be recorded on a public ledger, and 2) miners should decode an encrypted, unique ID, produced by the bitcoin formula, to compute the confirmed records to  public and for that they are awarded or discover bitcoins. The growing list of records of these transactions are called “blocks”; every block contains a hash pointer to the previous block which acts as a link, this chain of blocks is called “blockchain”. A blockchain is a public ledger for all bitcoin transactions.

Threats pertaining to Bitcoins:

What made Bitcoin popular is anonymity, however, unfortunately, criminals also enjoy anonymity. Bitcoin made the process of money laundering much easier. There is also a rise in the number of hackers who use ransomware attack on the target; the developers of such ransomware want a ransom paid in the form of Bitcoins to release hacked computer files.

The blockchain is essential in bitcoin formation, however, it has its vulnerabilities - they are easy to locate and overtake which gives hackers multiple chances to attack. Bitcoin wallet is also commonly targeted as there are reports of wallet theft containing the massive amount, scams theft, defunct "stock exchange".

"Silk Road", a website on the dark web to purchase drugs and other illegal items was shut down by FBI.

Since blockchain is decentralized and offline (not in one server), it cannot be controlled by a single entity and so it has no single point of failure, however, there have been major security breaches in recent years as sensitive data such as, account details, name and address of bitcoin owners had been exposed to malicious hackers. Another way bitcoin can be compromising is when an attacker installs ‘keylogger software’ that can help them identify the codes to a bitcoin user’s wallet.

Members of the bitcoin network must be aware of this risk and take all necessary precautions against keylogger applications. There are also many fake wallet applications floating in the market; recently Google kicked out 3 fake wallet application from the Google Play store. The applications pretended to be authorized wallets but were a complete scam. These three apps that were downloaded by users were identified as 1) Bitcoin mining 2) Blockchain Bitcoin Wallet – Fingerprint 3) Fast Bitcoin Wallet.

Besides these fake apps, cybercriminals are now designing malware that uses personal computers of users to mine cryptocurrencies; these infected systems let the malware use their computing power, without the user’s knowledge. By hijacking a computer or phone, a hacker assigns the job of mining on those devices. Enormous amounts of computing power that is required to solve complex mathematical problems are involved in the mining process and authenticating a transaction which ultimately leads to the generation of cryptocurrency as a reward.

Bitcoin, of course, isn’t the sole reason for cyber attacks. With the exponential increase of devices that are connected to the net, otherwise called the IoT (Internet of Things), hackers have more ways of peeping into our data systems than ever before. We are all progressively exposed to cyber attacks and with bitcoin; it has become easier for cybercriminals to make profit while remaining anonymous.

Every cryptocurrency comes with a promise to turn the world around but only a few survive; however, Bitcoin may be here to stay. The US government has acknowledged Bitcoin as a property and is trying to regulate it as ‘property vulnerable to exploitation’. By registering corporations that use Bitcoins, the government is trying to make payment for criminal activities using Bitcoin more and more difficult.  However, as the popularity of bitcoin increases so do the new threats pertaining to the exploitation of bitcoins for various criminal schemes. Cybersecurity specialists need to perceive the impact that bitcoin has on their profession and the way it might influence their way of conducting business. We cannot stop the growth of bitcoin, but we sure can try to protect ourselves from its undesirable effects. As the cybersecurity pioneer, John McAfee, describes, “You can’t stop things like Bitcoin. It’s like trying to stop gunpowder.”