In the words of 29-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “To all of my friends who have younger siblings in high school or college, my number one piece of advice is: Learn how to program.” These words of wisdom coincide with the panel discussion at the “2014 Economic Forecast & Trends Breakfast Briefing” hosted by the Los Angeles Business Journal and the San Fernando Business Journal.
Business and real estate professionals on the panel discussed the bright future of employment in Los Angeles with a focus on the current rise in younger generation CEOs.
Job creation has increased tremendously in technology fields with new start-ups populating both the Silicon Valley and the Silicon Beach area of Los Angeles. This trend follows the success of brilliant young internet entrepreneurs like Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Evan Spiegel of Snapchat.
Panelist Jim Kruse, Senior Managing Director at Investor Services of CBRE, explained that it’s the reluctance of entrenched company leaders to hire inexperienced college graduates that has spurred talented, tech-savvy newcomers to launch their own start-ups. Seasoned CEOs may fail to realize that college graduates who possess cutting-edge IT skills are at an advantage in the all-important technology realm regardless of industry experience, bringing greater potential to connect with a current and future customer base. While applying technology tools is second nature to those who grew up with the World Wide Web, veteran CEOs may not be as knowledgeable about the latest mobile apps, social media trends or current online marketing strategies. Thus, they may be unable to use these tools to their advantage.
If current CEOs are willing to give inexperienced yet technologically adept job seekers a break – and mentor them – this will increase overall productivity. And if young CEOs continue to innovate and create start-ups, they will be contributing to the health of the economy and will improve the job market.
