Yet it's precisely these tools -- and users' proficiency levels -- that are dividing the generations into warring factions. "A millennial is more likely to communicate electronically or be more involved in social networking," says Sherry Aaholm, 's vice president of IT.

Take, for example, Bonner, who practically showers with his BlackBerry Storm and claims his familiarity with Web 2.0 tools is "almost innate." He says he regularly relies on wikis, Twitter and microblogging services like Yammer to communicate with colleagues and swap information. "Boomers prefer conference calls and e-mails, whereas I prefer texting and wikis," says Bonner.

But it's not just the Web. "There's a lot of new technology -- like agile software development and open source -- that young kids have picked up, whereas some of the older folks are still working on migrating," says Jeff Schuster, a recruiter at IT consulting company Halo Group LLC in Novi, Mich.

Boomers are better known for their expertise in more traditional technologies such as IT infrastructure and operating systems. That's good news for FedEx, which is always on the lookout for IT professionals with the skills needed to support its largely mainframe-based package-tracking system. But that type of expertise can limit boomers' prospects elsewhere, Schuster says.

And it's not just about skills; attitude also plays a major role in who gets hired. For example, millennials' eagerness to adopt new technologies -- and some boomers' tendency to resist doing so -- may make recruiters think twice before bringing on an older candidate in need of extensive training.