Hellobee Boards

AMAZING. My company just published an article about Gen Y in the workplace and how it affects businesses + real estate, I totally sent this link to the writer.

Thank you!

I thought it was really interesting! Although I think that they skipped over three other important factors that make our generation sort of generally unsatisfied career-wise:

1) our economy actually does suck now. We grew up during a booming economy (mostly) and we thought if we worked hard we would get jobs we could use our degrees in. But right as a lot of people started graduating, the jobs started disappearing, the stock market plummeted and people stopped retiring because they can't afford to (thus not creating more job openings). So I think our job situation actually is worse than it was for our parents.

2) We're over educated. ALL of our parents told us that we could/should go to college and get fabulous white collar jobs. And more than that, that this route was the only route to happiness. But there aren't enough fabulous white collar jobs to support our entire generation. We still need mechanics and plumbers and construction workers. And those jobs should be given a lot more respect than they are, because they are honest jobs that should pay enough to make a good honest living. I think our generation's "white collar only" way of thinking is dangerous.

3) Our parents often don't fully understand that things are a bit harder for us than they were for them financially. We are mostly strapped with huge student loans and higher cost of living than they were. They didn't even necessarily have to go to college to get a job that could support a family of 4. We have to work our asses off pimping our degrees out to support just ourselves and our ramen noodle habit.

But, that being said, I still thought the article was really good. And I do think happiness is primarily a factor of expectations. I don't really find myself afflicted by this gen-y depression because my goals are much less lofty than many (nice husband, house, some pets, maybe a baby, and a job that gives me enough free time to enjoy my awesomely normal and boring life). But I see my friends who are more ambitious than me career-wise really struggle with this.

I loved this. I'm not a GYPSY per se, but I do have a hard time thinking about being at a company for a long time. Especially in this day and age where just because you were working there for 15 years doesn't mean anything to the company.

I never bought into the you must love your career. I work because I need to pay bills and I want to travel and enjoy life. I'm not trying to define myself by what I do.

I think the article was pretty interesting. But that interview question sucks. As the candidate, you HAVE to say that yes, you're better than everyone else. Who would say they're not and expect to get the job? It would be better to ask them what would set them apart from other candidates.

Also, I find it hard to identify with this generation, given I was born in '78. According to their definition I belong to it, but I was never part of the "everyone gets a trophy" generation.

I agree with @Mae: that a lot of frustration for my generation (whether it's Y or not) was the lack of a booming economy and the inability to get a job that utilized our college degrees. But at 35, I personally don't fit this mold anymore. And neither do most of my friends, even the ones a few years younger than me. This seems very much a young twenty-something issue.

I do agree about the expectations and comparisons part. But I also think that being happy is about appreciating what you have.

@mediagirl: I can't access that link, do you happen to have the HuffPo link?

@looch: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/generation-y-unhappy_b_3930620.html

Interesting! DH and I are pretty abnormal when it comes to our generation, it seems. He has worked his way up the ladder at his company for the last 10 years, and would be totally content to continue to do so for the next 20. I feel the same way about my job.

We both also don't feel like we have to OMG LOVE our jobs. It's work. I was told all the time growing up that I should love every day at my job (what's that phrase? 'if you love what you do you never work a day in your life'?), but in reality, that just doesn't happen. Some days suck. Some days I do wonder if I should go down another path.

@Mae: I totally agree about the over education. College was mandatory for me, and now I have tons of debt and a job I could have gotten without my degree!

@Maysprout: I agree. I work at a university and have seen both. My (twin) sisters are good examples, actually. One is working 2 paid internships + a job right now, and is working her little butt off to do well in school so she has a bright future. The other is barely working, complains daily about how unfair the teachers are, expects handouts from my parents, etc. So yeah, there are both!

Thanks for the link, now I have read it and I think the article itself was well written, I loved the graphics, they did make me chuckle a little!

I need some time to think about what my opinions are on this topic.

@littlek, yes, being "less successful" (financially speaking, solely) than your parents take some getting used to. I won't be retiring in my 40's, that's for damn sure.

@mslipgloss, I am still struggling with that definition. Many days, I do look at work as just "work". But i realize that i sit here 8 hours/day, so I don't want to hate it, either, and my career *is* important to me. If it wasn't, I wouldn't work. And i'm still young, so I"m still nurturing that career and trying to figure out where it's going.

@Bookish: oh man, insult to injury! lol If I am able to transition from law to photography as planned, I'll be in the same boat. Although I met some of my very best friends in law school so I can't say I'll ever regret it (debt or not).

@MsLipGloss: Agree. DH struggles with this because he can't separate "job" from "who he is". I don't associate who I am based on my career.

@Maysprout: I agree completely.

I found a lot of humor in this article, and thought it had some very valid points. I agree that Gen Y-ers tend to be more picky and selective with their career and life choices, and would rather do something that they're passionate about than "settling", but these are sweeping generalizations and from what I've observed, a lot of college grads these days would just like to get a job - any job!

As a whole, I found it very skewed and put all the blame on Gen Y when there are so many more factors involved. Rising college costs mixed with stagnant/decreasing wages plus continued, escalating inflation have a lot to do with Gen Y's dissatisfaction. I would think even those with realistic/reasonable expectations and from previous generations would be hard pressed to find their expectations met in an economy like this.

The article also places no blame on the Gen X generation when they are deserving of at least part of the blame. Who do you think got us in the financial rut in the first place?

@Mrs. High Heels: I agree. I find a lot of the *characteristics* cited in this article to be true of young people in general, as opposed to young people from any particular generation.

Ok, I thought about it a bit, and here's my 2 cents:

I am not a Gen Yer, I may be a Gen Xer, but who really knows where the boundaries lie (i was born in 1975 if any one gives a crap). When I was in college, I thought everyone got consulting jobs with Deloitte or a finance job with JP Morgan. I got neither, but I did get a job that has since turned into a lucrative career.

When I think about who I am, I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend. I very rarely classify myself as a Wall Streeter or a Project Manager. Those just happen to be things I do during the day to fund my life, because let's face it, I have no trust fund. Whatever I have is mine because I worked for it.

That's where I see the difference. I had my first job at 15. I worked as a lifeguard at a local pool. I got my certifications during my gym class because my school had a pool and we convinced the teacher to hold the classes. I decided I needed a job with real world experience, so I dug out the phone book and sent letters to all the brokerage houses in my area. I got a call back and I was the receptionist. Eventually, I started handling the Branch Manager's accounts. I wasn't afraid to start at the bottom. It seems to me that people entering the work force today wouldn't even consider answering the phones, that it would be beneath them. But you know what, I bet that job looks decent after you can't find anything.

@mediagirl: thanks!

I think the larger issue at play is the shift that's occuring in terms of offshoring white collar jobs. We're not reacting well as a country, we're complaining that the jobs are going offshore but we're lagging behind in innovation, which is what built this country.

@mediagirl: I am right there with you . . . imo, that makes us Generation Awesome! I, too, have worked from the ground up, starting with working through college with crappy jobs, and, at least in undergrad, usually working 2 jobs while going to school full-time (although my first true job was as a full-time nanny the summer before my senior year in HS), starting out in corporate America as a receptionist and rising through the ranks, deciding to go back to law school (and figuring out how to pay for school and support myself), and then starting all over again as a new attorney right before a huge economic crisis. I understand working for what I want (which I why I work at night after a full day at work and after solo-ing all of the late afternoon and bedtime routine activites for LO), and not expecting any handouts or breaks. I am suuuuper appreciative when they come along, but that's because I don't expect them.

@MsLipGloss: omg, are you me? what are the chances that we both started out answering the phones?

@looch: Hahaha! As a matter of fact, some of the *ladies* I worked with at my corporate job never bothered to learn my name . . . they just called me the *front desk girl*. When I left for law school a few years later, several these same *ladies* either interviewed for my position (I was conducting the interviews for my replacement) and/or sought career advice from me. I am sure you can imagine what part of the *advice* entailed . . . !

This is interesting, and growing up in a very affluent community (in the poor section) and going to a fairly ritzy liberal arts college (on grants and scholarships) I definitely know lots of entitled Gen Y-ers. They get degrees in something impractical, lean on their parents for financial support well past college, complain that they aren't taken seriously at work, complain that they can't buy XYZ rightthisminute.

My parents were very solidly lower middle class when I was growing up. My mom was a SAHM, my dad was (still is) a blue collar worker, and while my childhood was wonderful, they didn't give me unrealistic expectations of my future. I worked for everything I wanted, starting with babysitting at 12, and summer/after school jobs starting at 15.

Now at 30 I am more successful than my parents. I think, as the article says, this is the reason I don't relate to the people they are describing - because my reality exceeds my expectations. I never expected to love my job every single day, and I never expected to have everything I wanted by my 20's.