Post-90s Grows making their debut!
Since 2007, the BASF "Grow" Graduate ProgramTM has attached nearly 300 outstanding talents across Greater China to join the company, who are affectionately called “Grows”. This year, post-90s Grows debut their career at BASF.
Colleagues were amazed that Sophia was a post-90s when she began her first day at BASF. The general consensus among some employees is that they feel "really old" when sitting next to such a young colleague.
Born in the 1990s and growing up in the cyber era, post-90s – often the only child in their family – have been labeled as confident, creative, off-beat, self-assertive and unorthodox. In 2013, they start to bade farewell to campus life and started their careers.
The BASF "Grow" Graduate Program™ started in 2007 aiming to identify and develop talented, passionate and enthusiastic graduates across Greater China. In just seven years, nearly 300 outstanding talents have joined the company through the program. The new recruits are called “Grows” at BASF.
This year, post-90s Grows debuted within the company.
“Self-worth” foremost
Being the youngest “Grow” in 2013, Sophia was nevertheless calm, capable and experienced in her work – in a word, very professional.
When talking about the differences between post-90s and 70s or 80s, Sophia smiled. “We favor more novel software and are fancier in our presentations. In contrast, post-70s and 80s are more traditional and few use new software like Prezi.”
Readily adaptable to new things and in overall competence, these post-90s add new blood to the company. They also display stronger confidence and higher expectations in their first job.
So can the BASF “Grow” Graduate Program meet the expectations of these newcomers?
After rounds of stringent screenings over several months, Sophia, who stood out in the interviews, joined the program. Looking back at her choice, she said: “The job rotation proved to be very attractive to me, which let me experience different positions and find the most relevant field to realize my self-worth. I definitely love it!”
Lively environment and open dialogue
Jerry, another post-90s “Grow” was “adorably cute” with his short hair and rabbit teeth. He was chosen as one of the models for the campus talk campaign poster. When he saw his large portrait on the roll-up, the first thing he did was to pose for a photo with it.
In general, post-90s have enough courage to express their needs. They are independent and sensitive about their own feelings. Recognizing that, BASF is committed to building an excellent work environment in line with the “Diversity and Inclusion” culture. This enables the Grows to speak freely and promote communication between employees of different ages.
“My guide and supervisor were more than willing to listen to me and I felt quite at ease in this mutual-respect and inclusive workplace,” Jerry said.” Besides, multinational companies like BASF offer great opportunities for the starters to broaden their horizons. Working with colleagues from different countries and backgrounds can be surprisingly fruitful.”
Post-90s = “job-hoppers”?
Most post-90s are the only child in their family. Raised in a prosperous environment, they offen do not take working or earning money as the most important thing in life. Instead, they place more emphasis on personal interest and life quality. This is why some people consider post-90s to be job-hoppers.
“For now, Grows have been quite stable in the two-year job rotation. The turnover rate is far below the industry average, meaning these young professionals are satisfied about the development environment we provide at the early stage of their career, and, of course, BASF ‘Grow’ Graduate Program itself,” said Joyce, a specialist of the BASF “Grow” Graduate Program.
In September, the BASF “Grow” Graduate Program for 2014 graduates was launched around China. Eight campus talks in six cities were packed with eager graduates, with many of them had to stand or sit on the floor for the whole session. After rounds of evaluations and interviews, more post-90s would joined the big BASF family to create chemistry together!
