By Allison Jameson

Today, women of generation Y (yes, that’s me!) who can bring our social networking skills and technology-friendly attitudes into a workplace definitely have an advantage. Many organizations today are looking for people who are tech savvy and who know how to utilize social websites to the company’s advantage.

Being a woman of Gen Y, I have a definite edge over some older workers who don’t have the computer knowledge and technology exposure that I do when looking for a job.

Growing up, technology was all around me and each day there was something new to try or to have. This wasn’t the case for older generations as there weren’t social networking sites, iPods, or even high tech cell phones.

I know many baby boomers and even some generation X'ers (I won’t mention any names, but you know who you are) who barely know how to use a computer, and the idea of text messaging baffles them. Now it’s not their fault, they just weren’t exposed to these kinds of technologies growing up, so it wasn’t the norm for them.

The new norm is that companies are using social networking and collaboration tools as standard business strategies. This allows us Gen Y women to use our social and tech skills to build software applications and work together with colleagues across the country, even if we aren’t IT majors.

Social networking and Internet communication is also effecting how Gen Y women hear about and find jobs. During my internship search for this summer I found many internship postings through my school website and on the Internet.

In fact, I heard about this internship through a classmate who sent me a message on Facebook. I corresponded with her through Facebook, and then finally sent an e-mail with my resume attached to Ken (my boss) and was e-mailed back to come in for an interview. The rest is history!

Image by: lightfusio