Millennials. You can't pick up a business magazine without finding articles lamenting the work ethic, attitudes, and entitlement of the Millenial Generation. You also always find articles discussing the need of businesses to recruit, learn to understand, and relate to the Millennials if they are going to stay relevant in the market place. It seems such a conundrum, but is it really anything new?
Last week, I was reading a social media thread from a friend in our industry. This friend was complaining about an interview gone bad with a Millennial and was asking if anyone had any luck working with this new generation. The thread became one of the busiest for a few days, with a lot of "Me too's." What always pops into my mind are the quotes from antiquity bemoaning the "kids these days." It seems like something that likely happens in nearly every generation, or at least after major culture shifts.
My Grandparents' generation was formed by the Roaring 20's, the new freedoms of automobiles, and shocking the older generations with their antics. However, they soon also experienced the Great Depression and W.W.II, and soon became known as the Greatest Generation. My parents' generation was the 50’s, a great time of growth and prosperity. Following them, my generation, the Baby Boomers was formed by the 60's and 70’s. The Boomers lived out the Hippy Dippy Days of challenging every rule, moral, and social mores. The Gen-Xers were the "Latch Key Kids” of the 80’s who saw the rules change on their parents. They watched as their parents maintained a good job, worked hard, and retired - only for their pension to disappear. Now Millennials (Gen Y) are shaped by growing up not only as technology natives, but in a world that has been at war most of their lives. Not only that, but the domestic economy has been as bad as the one of four generations ago. The reason we talk about them so much is the same reason we talked about Boomers so much - both generations are huge and have made, are making, and will continue to make impacts on everything for decades. There were appr. 80 million Boomers, only about 50 million Gen–Xers, and now around 80 million Millennials.
So what are they really like, these mysterious Millennials? Commonly you find them working more than one job, one of which is often their own business. This is likely due to a very tight job market competing with Gen-Xer's and Boomers, who are now willing to take entry level and part-time jobs after being downsized. Companies get experience cheaper. The average household income has dropped 5,000.00 a year since 2009 numbers. This hits those new to the workforce hard, especially with large student loan debts.
They, unlike my Boomers, are “joiners." They are the potential salvation of clubs and organizations like the Masons. They are hard workers, collaborative, and love to work on teams. Are there slackers who feel entitled? You betcha - just like every generation before them. Remember, we didn't create a Nanny State government by just those who have voted in the last two elections. Just like in any generation, look for the cream of the crop and you can't go wrong.
