Most HR professionals know how further training works for long-serving employees. However, young professionals are often forgotten in these measures! Find out now what you should particularly pay attention to with Generation Y or Z and how you can win the young generation for further training:
Our working world is constantly changing, which is also determined by the new, young generation of employees. Tech-savviness, different priorities, and a completely new way of learning are particularly influential in this regard. Personnel and further training managers feel this change particularly acutely in the feedback on their further training measures. That is why it is even more important to take the special work and learning preferences of young people into account.
What makes further training for young professionals so special?
Before we can answer this question, we should talk about what distinguishes the younger generation from older employees:
When we talk about Generations Y and Z, for instance, they are usually born between 1990 and 2000 and thus have grown up with the Internet and digital media. This often makes it much easier for them to work with computers, and they are well-versed in handling digital media. For further training, this means that digital learning offerings are particularly convincing.
Ultimately, the younger generation is usually significantly more tech-savvy and is no longer accustomed to work without the Internet and computers. Additionally, younger people are used to short, snappy content due to social media and other platforms. This is particularly evident when you look at the most-used social media platforms like TikTok: Short videos are convincing!
Reading tip: If you want to know what you can learn from TikTok, I recommend this article: 5 Things You Can Learn from TikTok
Young employees are not only different in how they handle technology: Compared to most older employees, they lead a different lifestyle, have different priorities, and pursue different goals. Language also changes and becomes more informal. Many young people place a significantly higher value on their private lives, and work-life balance is becoming increasingly important. Communication becomes more casual, even in the workplace. Therefore, you should also design further training for young employees to be more open and linguistically relaxed or personal.
Reading tip: How you should shape the onboarding of young people has already been explained by us using the example of trainees: The trainees are coming! This makes onboarding simple & time-saving
For further training, this means: It is no longer perceived as a uniform compulsory event but must fit individual needs and requirements. A survey by the Haufe Academy has shown, for example, that young people are significantly more motivated to invest in their knowledge, even outside working hours, if the measure offers personal added value. Additionally, there seems to be a certain basic motivation among young employees that you should definitely take advantage of.
Survey by the Haufe Academy shows: Young employees are often motivated to continue their professional education! // Source: Haufe, Representation: blink.it
Further training for Generation Y and Z: Creating incentives
Young employees who are at the beginning of their careers often come directly from university or training – learning is therefore still well familiar to them. And that is exactly what you should utilize. You will probably repeatedly encounter the statement “Oh, I thought this learning business would finally be over!”, but with the right arguments, your measures will convince.
And that is why you should definitely create incentives and clearly communicate what added value your further training brings to them as individuals. Then a suitable further training offering can even become a motivator!
Practical example: Young talents at the SNIPES Online Campus
The streetwear and sneaker retail chain SNIPES showcases how this can look: SNIPES relies on a digital onboarding and further training strategy aimed at young employees – suitable for the target group. The following elements play a central and promising role at SNIPES:
The foundation: a suitable learning platform that collects all content.
Learning content tailored to the target group in video format instead of lengthy texts.
Voluntary further training opportunities that enable additional benefits.
If you want to learn more about this, feel free to check out this blog article by my colleague Laura: Interview with SNIPES: “This is how the learning platform becomes a fun platform!”
Suitable further training concepts for the young generation
The demands for further training are changing not only in terms of content but also in their design. Short content, preferably in video format, is particularly promising – this explains the increasing success of micro-learnings over the years.
Note: According to the current mmb Trend Monitor 2021/22, microlearning remains the most significant learning form in companies!
The concept is simple: Short, self-contained learning units that can be processed independently of each other. Ideally in video format, so they can be consumed in a few minutes. This reduces the barrier to entry, and the sense of achievement after completing a learning unit is all the greater. With a short quiz to assess one's own learning progress, you can indirectly provide feedback as a training manager, which additionally motivates. By incorporating different learning units, you also ensure more variety and design further training in the spirit of edutainment.
However, for microlearning to not appear arbitrary, it needs a clear content structure and visible learning paths. Especially young employees expect transparency about how individual learning units are interconnected and what competency goals they will achieve step by step.
All this connects the demands for further training among young employees and career starters:
Flexibility and spontaneity during course processing
clearly communicated goals and recognizable added values
direct feedback and recognition from you as the training manager
Building further training as learning experiences rather than mere fact transmission
All these aspects can be optimally combined with the microlearning method. Do you want to create your own microlearnings and are looking for inspiration? Then download our free microlearning guide and start directly with target-group-oriented further training for your young employees.
Conclusion
Further training for Generation Y and Z is successful when it is designed to be flexible, relevant, and digitally connectable.
Young career starters do not expect rigid compulsory programs, but learning offerings that fit into their everyday lives, their goals, and their life realities. Digital formats, short learning units, and clearly communicated added values significantly increase motivation.
If you design further training as a personal development experience rather than mere knowledge transmission, you will win young talents for continuous learning in the long term.
Updated on 26.02.2026
