Never let it be said that Gen Y, or whatever the heck the ’00 generation is calling themselves these days (Millenials? Oughters? Big Fat Zeroes?) aren’t shy about self promotion. Twitter friend @AJae tipped me to this article wherein the author seeks to instruct potential employers about what to expect from the new generation of workers.
The short version: We can contribute, but you’d better give us what we want or we’ll throw a pout the likes of which God has not seen.
The longer version is worthy of being run through the Reasonable Employee Translation Tool, which I just happen to have had installed in my brain thanks to good parents and a working knowledge of a little thing called “negotiation”.
So, let’s see what happens when I run this Ego Manifesto through the RETT.
We’re a generation that spends our days on the internet. Unlike time spent front of the television, much of our spent online makes us learn valuable information and engage in meaningful conversation. As a result, we’re always learning more about our specific interests and picking up new skills. If we aren’t being challenged, if we’re not constantly learning from the projects we take on, if we’re not allowed to test new waters — you can bet we’ll seek out new jobs.
Translation: You had better indulge our hummingbird-sized attention span because we’re sure as heck not going to bring anything like focus to the table. Also, let us freelance, no matter what crazy road our Energy Shot-soaked brains take us down, even if our freelancing sets our project behind because, convinced that we’ve found the One True Shortcut, we’ve jacked key resources.
And whatever you do, don’t make us work outside our “specific interests”. We don’t have time for versatility or independent cross-training.
In a time of low job security, rather than taking the single corporate job path, many of us will explore our options, whether that means taking on multiple jobs or starting our own businesses. One of my friends is a lab research assistant, fashion designer, corsage maker, and a pilates instructor. Others hold regular day jobs and are bloggers, freelance writers, web developers, or designers by night. By branching into different professional territories, we’re taking opportunities to strengthen our abilities and expand our networks.
Translation: This really doesn’t have anything to do with our jobs, but I felt like throwing it in just to show how crazy versatile we really are, even though our other interests aren’t going to have much to do with what you’ve hired us to do. Hummingbird-like attention spans, remember? We’ve never heard of the words “extra curricular activities” or “hobbies” and think that we’ve invented something new when we figured out that we could make money on the side with our other pursuits.
No longer is a company just a place to toil away at a desk from 9-5 — we’re looking for a vibrant community in which our coworkers are our friends and our bosses are our mentors. We want a company that’ll provide structure without hovering over our lunch breaks or dictating the way in which we get things done.
Translation: Supervise us, but, you know, not really. Also, don’t tell us how to do our jobs. We want our bosses to teach us what they know, but don’t expect us to do what they tell us to do. We’ll take, but not give (even if giving means following a work procedure that worked long before we got here). So we’re going to be behavioral cases from the first day we show up.
Oh, and since we’re spending all our free time with our side jobs as personal motivators, circus trapeze artists, and NFL assistant head coaches, we’ll need you to provide us with friends. Because no one ever made workplace friends before workplaces became “vibrant communities” or anything.
We’ve been taught the importance of asking for exactly what we want. We’re not afraid to raise difficult questions in the workplace. Especially now that the channels of communication are wide open, we have fewer reservations than ever about taking our ideas to top-level management. Moreover, we recognize the value of great career mentors — because we can literally contact anyone in our dream profession, we will seek these people out, ask for opportunities, and strive to build relationships with them.
Translation: If you thwart our brilliance in any way, we will stab you right in the back. And you’d better feed our ambitions or we will find someone who will. Oh, did we mention that we’re a little fuzzy on the concept of loyalty? Oh yeah, last point. Right. Sorry. The energy drink’s wearing off.
While Generation X continues to emphasize the importance of maintaining a professional online image, we who grew up using Facebook and MySpace as places to share our photos and lives with our friends don’t want to turn it into a purely professional arena. I’ve found that the most meaningful connections I’ve made were when I’ve exposed the more personal aspects of my life. Plus, the next generations will literally grow up documenting their entire lives online. It’s unrealistic to expect them to erase their histories off the internet once they reach a certain age. Employers must learn to judge job applicants not by their past but by what they can bring to the company.
Translation: Just because we and our friends have posted a thousand pictures of me downing jello shots, puking into a toilet, and getting teabagged or gigabytes of salacious fantasies involving a turkey baster, Patrick Dempsey, and two llamas doesn’t mean we’re irresponsible and could bring your company a really bad rep should some of the old (and by old I mean anyone over the age of 35) and ridiculously rich fogeys who spend bazillions of dollars hiring our company ever see them. Old people don’t use the internet, duh! What? Photo printers?
Besides, having us drunkenly flaunting our bazooms on Girls Gone Wild or flailing our wang about like we were a Viking warrior could be good for the company if you know what we mean *wink wink nudge nudge*.
It’s true; we do have a sense of entitlement. Our parents raised us to think we could do anything — and as a result, we’re determined to have exactly our dream jobs. We’ll keep searching until we find something we can do that’s personally fulfilling. However, as long as our careers provide both the opportunities and rewards we thirst for, we’ll be more than willing to invest serious time and energy into our work. If you can give us that, we’ll be star performers.
Translation: we’re awesome because our Mommies and/or Daddies said we are! Nothing you say can dissuade us of that notion, which is why we spent all this time telling you exactly how you need to cater to us. The most important thing in the world to us is us and if you can’t get with that, then you can’t have our super-awesome star power. We have yet to realize that to this point in our lives we’ve been a big fish in a small pond and we’re about to swim out into waters where no one cares what our parents told us nor what how highly we regard our own abilities. We’re about to become little fishes in a big pond where there are plenty of people who are as skilled as we are, if not moreso. The world is about the slap the taste our of our mouths, just as it has plenty of generations before us, but we’re not quite clever enough to crack open a history book and learn that.
Look, I’m not trying to puncture the future dreams of this lady or any other Gen Y-er who believes they’re ready to storm the world. Okay, I’m trying to puncture them a little bit because there is this thing out there called reality and it really doesn’t care about you or me. Your energy and versatility will serve you very well, but your apparent selfishness and ego won’t. What it will make you is a problem child no one will want to work around and you will not find your dream job that way.
If you’re a Gen Y-er and you read this, and you want to start getting a little mentoring from an older person, then let me make one recommendation. Learn to give. I’m not saying that you should become a mind-numbed robot or a drone from 1984. I’m saying that the professional world requires taking and giving. You are going to bring something to the table that no one else will, but so will all your co-workers. Don’t wait for your boss to feed you; soak up new information yourself. Be a sponge and don’t be afraid to do scut work, even if it bores you senseless. Everyone has had to do it and everyone will continue to have to do it so long as there is scut work. Be patient. You won’t do scut work forever.
And chill on the online stuff a bit, huh? You have a reputation and it is worth money to an employer, too. If you bring them a shabby reputation, then they’re going to pay you shabbily, if they pay you at all. I’m not saying you should stop entirely, but maybe there are some things that the world doesn’t need to know. Use good judgment and wisdom and your bosses will be impressed with you and will trust you. That’s how you get better, higher-paying, more fulfilling jobs.
I like the energy, guys, but the ego really does have to come down a few notches. I don’t want to see you crushed before you get out of the box.
Hmmm… harsh interpretation.
There is a difference between a supersized ego and confidence in our abilities. Frankly, I’m confident in my abilities, and in many ways, a self-promotional attitude is beneficial in getting ahead. (Case in point with most prominent bloggers. Content may be king, but content that no one reads is useless.) I’ve been very motivated all my life and I work damn hard at any job that I do. And while my mom taught me that I can accomplish anything, she also taught me work ethic like no other.
For the record, I think my former internship bosses will vouch that I did the “scut” work, spreadsheets and all. With a smile. And then sent thank-you cards in appreciation of their time. I’m willing to work (for free) in exchange for a worthwhile learning experience. Is that so much to ask?
I’m also not saying we SHOULD be entirely transparent. I’m just saying that it’s going to be more and more difficult to tell the younger generation NOT to be. Sure, the older generation started posting at age 25? 30? They were already well into their professional careers. Of course it makes sense that they have been carefully crafting their online images. For my baby cousin who will blog from the day he can type — in a time that everything is Google cached, how will we be able to ask them to be wary of EVERYTHING they post online?
My intention with my guest post was to help the
older generation get why we work the way we do, and how it can actually benefit companies — if they will just listen. Not sure, then, that the message really came through.
I sincerely hope a good representation of my generation will come along and prove to you we’re worth more than you think.
More thoughts here:
http://byteresawu.com/2008/12/.....ereotypes/
Would be happy to hear more of what you have to say.
Ha! Okay, kid….tell me your Youtube ID so I can verfiy these meaningful conversations you are having. LOL
@Cheesestick – I don’t really YouTube, but it’s resawu. And you can find me at http://twitter.com/resawu.
@Teresa Wu -
Teresa, I hope that the end of my post helped confirm the point that I do find your generation valuable. I did want to share the benefit of my experience in the work place. Thought it may seem odd, I hit the job market with many of the same thoughts about myself as you did. I was (and still am) quite confident in my skills and knowledge. I’m a lifelong short-attention span kid, so I know how grinding scut work can be.
I admire your work ethic, but that’s not the first, or ever second, thing that came across in your piece. There was precious little in your post about what tangible benefits you and your generation can provide to an employer as a Gen Y-er. It was all about what you need and what you require and what will make you leave.
As for transparency, yes we should make sure we warn coming generations to be wary of TMI. That it becomes difficult does not mean it shouldn’t be done. It means that we should step up our efforts to teach them how to protect their personal and professional reputations in an era where losing both is far more easy than it was even five years ago. If we care about them, we’ll do our very best to show them the dangers ahead just like older generations have done for us (whether we listened to them or not). Some won’t listen, but some will. And those who do will be a lot better off, don’t you think?
[...] spectacular amounts of heat and little light — check some of the trackbacks, especially this rather grumpy one.) What if businesses change in the same way? What would a Generation Y organisation look like? [...]