The Gig goes live…

To quote one member of your Generation:

“Gen Yers are determined, ambitious, creative, and very hardworking. We expect nothing but the best from ourselves. We have extremely high standards and expectations. This is what makes us great. So for all of you that are putting our generation down, we’ll make sure to laugh at you while you are in the umemployment line.”

Wow! Do I detect unchecked pride, narcissism, and maybe a mean streak here? I’m glad there is so much optimism among the 20-somethings… that’s how it’s supposed to work… but it’s been like this for, oh, 200+ years in this country: read your history, or even the old editions of The Philadelphia Inquirer before the Civil War and you sense that that generation thought they were extra-special because they were truly American, having been born here, and that they were in a new country, that did things a new way… the only difference if that they were a bit more modest. The youth coming of age around the time of the telephone… after The Great War… and of course, the Boomers after WWII… all came of age during -BIG surprise here- a big change in the world. And that’s okay, that’s actually good! Gen X came of age when the Cold War ended (it was no longer “Us (the West)” vs. “Them (commies)”), and we saw the birth of the Internet as a popular tool… and we -despite what you may have read- were not a bunch of loser mall clerks (although that IS one funny movie)… we were accountants at the Big Five, lawyers before Sarb-Ox, nurses and doctors, teachers, managers… and full of promise and great ideas and everything youth is supposed to contain.

But the idea that THIS generation is really the FIRST generation that wants change and will deliver… ehhhhh, I hate to break it to you, but- you’re not. ALL young people want to change the system (look at the college protests in Iran!) and have different ways of communicating, entertaining, living… but after reading the whole article (and nodding my head at some parts and chuckling at others), I believe it had two flaws that are the chinks in its armor.

Having ONLY a member of Gen Y write this article is like asking a barber if you need a haircut: where is the objectivity? Nadira, overall a good article, and yes, there are some things changing because of Gen Y… but at times you make it sound like everyone was dressed like and acted like the NASA ground crew portrayed in “Apollo 13″… sorry to break it to you, but casual Fridays (which are now seen to be a DETRIMENT to some businesses), telecommuting and offering perks to attract the best talent are nothing new… they just change to reflect the current situation (the more things change…). Societal evolution always takes place, whether it’s 1796, 1860, 1920, 1948, 1964 or today… high school and college graduation speeches have told their audiences for DECADES that they are special, charged with the future, to make a difference… part of the beauty is that we young people take that to heart and try to make a difference. It is only after a lot of hard work that we realize… it takes a lot of hard work to make a difference. A LOT. And if you can persist, kudos… but for a world increasingly focused on instant gratification, can that be possible?

I also take issue with the lumping of all 20-somethings together… and focusing only on the best and brightest. True, FORTUNE is geared towards the best and brightest, but do not forget, this generation has one of the highest rates of illiteracy since The Great War, the highest rate of criminal activity/incarceration, a declining rate of graduates willing/able to live on their own, a record number of 20-somethings declaring bankruptcy, a very high rate of out-of-wedlock births (and by turn, a high rate of people dependent on the federal government for shelter and food and medical care)… and don’t forget that the majority of the members of Gen Y are NOT college grads, or even partially college-educated for that matter, and of the millions that DO graduate from college, the vast majority are coming from public or run-of-the-mill private universities, with a very small slive graduating from elite schools, and a fraction of that slice entering the workforce with advanced degrees… I guess I’m cautioning against thinking that all is well for the entire generation…

I, like the author, am optimistic, but only because I know that MY future will be bright, due to hard work, better education, and a variety of experiences that are of use to current and future employers. I know that MY lifestyle will be good, that MY retirement is already being taken care of due to my financial planning, that MY neighborhood will be a good one… but as for the REST of today’s young adults?

Well, that’s why they have gated communities, right? For the smart optimists who work smart, plan ahead… and avoid getting too big for their britches.

Dear Nadira,

After overcoming the personal pride and silly embarassment I felt inside my corporate cubicle, I found myself in awe of your insight and perspective when describing OUR generation. In the words of Anchorman, Ron Burgundy, “[Nadira], you know how to cut to the core of me.”

Nadira -

Great article on the management of Gen-Yers. Thank you for being a voice for our generation.

As a twenty-something, I had to wonder just what career the author was coming from and how I could get into it. I’ve never been demanding at a job, have never been so earnestly pursued, and have not known anyone who has needed to be seduced into working a long shift. Frankly, if any company invited my mother to my first day, I’d be mortified - and seeing new employment. I don’t want to be judged by how my parents see me.

Honestly, how many of us Gen-Yers actually lived the idyllic childhoods supposed for us? Endlessly being carted from place to place, always hearing how “special” we are? Who got that as a child? I certainly didn’t. I had my first job at 14 and saving one semester where my father paid for my dorm, made my way through college completely on my own and completely debt free.

I found the article somewhat insulting, personally. I don’t expect special treatment at work - I’m there to do a job, and I’m there to do it well. I don’t spend all day Googling Lindsey Lohan and I don’t want my boss to act as my parent. I want them to act my boss. I’m there to learn and get the job done, and all that I ask is that I be treated fairly for my skill set and position. Anyone else who demands more than that is spoilt, and I rather resent the implication that all twenty-somethings must fit that bill.

Well, I guess I’m a prototypical gen-xer - bitter, morose, grungy, annoyed by gen-yers. Anyway, I think it would be interesting to compare the Chinese Gen-Yers to the Americans. Just a thought.

NADIRA!!!!!!!! My long lost twin! It was like looking in a mirror and I loved it!!! We neeeded to take a long hard look at our wonderful selves!
To the oldies but goodies- LIGHTEN UP! you made us this way!! Deal with it….

This article gets written every year or so right around graduation season. It generally follows the same well-worn path:

‘Generation __ is only interested in _____ and doesn’t like ____ . If you do some _____ and integrate cool things like ______ and ______ they will be much happier workers.’

The article was interesting and apparently my senior leaders, to whom I provide daily counsel, thought it fit me. I am willing to speak my mind but only do so when I have something relevant to say.

I am 27 and on job number 3… All incredible, all more senior than the next. I expect to be heard because in my profession I’m talented; however, I’m humbled by all the people who teach me daily. The companies who hire me know what I’m looking for culturally, financially, etc. because it’s made clear in the interview. The last company was Fortune 5 and today I support a Fortune 100 organization… I left the latter because there was no work-life balance and leaders treated me not as their peer (though I sat at the same table as them) but as a lackey - “just do what we want without regard for your knowledge or what’s best for our associates.” Today, I make a difference. The company respects my role and what I contribute and, while I love my job, it’s just work. Now I leave early for workouts when possible, take advantage of summer hours and don’t apologize for better time-management (e.g., not saying “yes” to everything) because some times things just aren’t an emergency - I don’t support the ER.

The bottom line: it pays for me to be a triathlete and ironman competitor, it lets me spend my weekends writing… And someday I’ll leave this company if it stiffles my life or stops being interested in my voice.

I grew up with working parents who didn’t always have a lot of time… Some in GenY might feel entitled to work-life balance but perhaps it’s because we’ve seen what happens to families and adults without it. I might expect to be heard but for me it’s not entitlement because of my parents’ coddling… It’s because I’ve worked hard and continue to try and perfect my craft.

It is correct that the descripters used for GenY aren’t all the different from previous generations… But the world we live in IS different and we WILL change it - because we’ve been given the confidence to do so and we have the knowledge base to do it smartly.

Now with all the said… There is one point in the article that I don’t agree with: It’s not cool to live at home forever. I don’t date men who do it and can’t name a single friend who lives with their parents.

2.) I work HARD and contribute daily to the work place. When necessary, I am here 12+ hours without complaint or expectation of reward.

With me being a borderline gen Y’er working with a bunch of oldies I can definately identify with the “old” attitude about work. At 29 I am the Systems Administrator at the company and find myself idle for most of the day. I have 3 computers at my desk each tasked for different purposes. of the hree only one is a “desktop” the other two are laptops. The company issues laptops for every employee to foster a mobile creative enviornment. Even the main servers are managed at rackspace. The one thing I cannot understand is this: if 98% of my work can be done via VPN and VNC/remote desktop, Why should I even come into the office? I am available via IM, Blackberry, phone. so there is really no point. why can’t the managers understand this?

“Once he’s said his piece, I’ll shoot it down with brand-new expressions and some fresh ideas. By the time I’m done, if he so much as mutters, he’ll get stung by my opinions on his face and eyes—like so many hornets—he’ll be destroyed.” (from Aristophanes, The Clouds, circa 423 BC)

In other words, “nihil sub sole novum”.

All these writings about Gen X or Gen Y or (presumably) Gen Z seem to be little more than an example of the Forer Effect:

“The Forer effect (also called personal validation fallacy or the Barnum effect after P. T. Barnum) is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.” (Wikipedia)

I’d say that pretty much everything in the article is like that. Very general talk about young people encountering the work force. It could have been written in 1907 and probably been just as accurate (swapping telephones for blackberries, &c.)

Welcome the wonderful world of “business astrology”.

I enjoyed reading the article and like other posts here think much of what is being reported as ‘new’ has been said of previous generations.

The big question will be can Gen Y’ers truly change corporate culture. Any look into history provides a great example of generational claims to change, However as a veteran of a few F-50 companies the phrase “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss”.

Can Gen Y change investor’s focus on earnings, accept lagging or underperforming financials?
My guess is they will step in line just like the baby boomers and just like Gen X when they are measuring their fashion sense and tennis lessons against stock options and the cost of tuition in 2020.

Read the first lines and last lines in your feature story (sometng about gen y and how the’re oh so different from the previous generations etc..). Yawn. My ten year old tells me the same thing everyday how he’s do cool and different from me and how I won’t understand blah blah. Like all the “oldies”, I just yawn, nod, and go my way. 30 something boss sitting after a meeting and reflecting about the 25 year old with a tattoo? Unlikely. Thinking what to have for lunch and whether the dry cleaners will be open after work.. more likely. We’ve been your age, done your things, proved ourselves, moved on. Yawn. We don’t have time to thnk about you 20 somethings. We have more important stuff to do.. like zipping thru groceries for six people, and paying a lot more bills than just those borrowed-gucci-on-installments … and frankly, you lot aren’t that very impressive or important. When you’ve built a few houses, downscaled your lifestyles to help pay for dad and mom’s medical bills, put a few kids thru school, and high school, and maybe even college .. then talk to the generation before you about your accomplishments. Oh wait. Generation Z won’t have time to listen to you - what with their own bragging day in day out. And you’d have grown plenty old to be worth anything by then. Ouch.

Btw, sorry to hear you’ve been kicked out of three jobs in three years. 23 is supposed to be a time you start showin g commitment to life. It’s plenty long, you know. It goes on for.. generations.

This blog is for people who need to at each other on the back for accompllishments they think are fantastic, and the amazing part is they are the only ones that think so. This is the generation that has forgotten that their parents gave them life and the ability to see.

Hi Nadira,

I just came across your article - blog or bog or whatever - and really have no idea what you want to say. Ok, so I am 0, not exactly twenty-something, but I believe that the people you are writing about would be more accurately reffered to as “twenty something wannabes in the suburbs of Corporate America”. The real 20-somethings I know (and I was one until just last year) in real Corporate America are really .. working… usefully contributing.. and probably have nothing to relate to in your writing.
Corporate America is not hip hop, reggae, gibberish street slang and punk style. Its a tradition that spans generations.. from A, B, C to X, Y and Z… and those who are successful in Corporate America have no idea what age they are, because age simply doesn’t matter.

OMG, I love this blog!

I only wish it were a forum rather than a blog! (But that’s cuz I’m GenX/Y, or maybe that’s a Gen-Hermaphrodite =P)

It’s really funny to read the Gen X-ers’ comments; bitter much?

To those X-ers/Y-ers and Gen-Hermaphrodites who see the world as your oyster and full of opportunities, keep on the good fight. We’re the ones getting the $$$ and recognition (unless you have a crappy boss or work for a crappy company, of course, but that’s another study in and of itself).

After reading this, I can now understand why corporate America would rather ship decent jobs to countries where workers would feel honored to be offered $15k a year.

Not only did the writer seem to assume that nobody was born between 1960 and 1980 (anyone you might have seen who appeared to be older than you but younger than your parents was naught but a figment of your imagination), but, yet again, the latest writer trying to define a generation has made theirs much larger than it really is. According to Strauss & Howe’s GENERATIONS, GenX was born from 1961 to 1981, and the Millennial Generation (GenY, The Class of 2000, whatever) was born from roughly 1982 through 2003.

(Interesting to note that Strauss & Howe predicted in ‘91 that GenX would always be spat on and looked down upon, but to be ignored altogether–that’s a new one!)

Perhaps because this article came from CNN/Fortune, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that it focuses on the Lottery winners who snagged prestigious and well-paying jobs at a very young age, while similar articles about GenX at that same age focused on waiters and record-store clerks. For those of you who did win the career lottery, congratulations, and enjoy it while you can. All the rest of us who got good grades and earned a resume full of degrees yet never got the breaks you did have been working two or three jobs to make sure you guys don’t run out of cappuccino and cat toys.

I wanted to answer some of the questions Carolyn from Kansas posted the other day:

“How to act in a corporate culture that involves a lot of drinking- is it OK to get drunk with a firm partner? Everyone else is…”

-Carolyn,it is certainly okay to take part in happy hour and have a couple drinks with the partners of your company. However, you never want to get DRUNK in front of your boss- even if he/she is drunk along with your colleagues. I have seen numberous employees get drunk and make a fool out of themselves in company sponsored happy hours. Trust me, people end up talking about the foolishness- you don’t want to be a part of the rumor mill. And you certainly do not want to get a reputation as being the girl who always gets drunk. It’s okay to enjoy yourself but also keep in mind that you still have to be professional-it is a work sponsored happy hour.

“How can I stay grounded with my spending when my first salary seems so large (but really isn’t), and everyone around me is driving brand new Mercedes and vacationing in Asia?”

-It’s okay to treat yourself to a couple of things with your high salary, but you need to be smart about it and save your money. If you are single and young and have a very high salary (Lets say 100K plus) you really should be saving 30% of it. This is assuming you don’t have much expenses besides your rent and utilities. What happens if you lose your job in the next couple of months? You don’t want to accumulate expense that you would not be able to pay. Most Americans are two paychecks away from poverty. Be smart about your spending from a young age and you will be better off. And it’s certainly okay to treat yourself to a vacation- you can budget that in. I also recommend that you meet with a financial advisor and talk about some of your investing options.

“Is it OK to not attend company functions in which I have absolutely no interest- like ‘family day’ at an arcade?”

-Do most of the employees attend the event? If so, you should just stop by for at least an hour. It’s okay to miss small corporate events once in a while- but you want to attend all the major ones like holiday parties, employee appreciation, open house….etc. You want to be a team player. Also, working relationships are built during these functions and you don’t want to miss these opportunities. These relaxed events are great for getting to know the C-level executives of your organization along with your colleagues. Performing well at your job is important but it’s equally important to be someone people enjoy working with and being around.

“And what’s the best way to begin a conversation with your superiors when you decide you want to live elsewhere (but work for the same company)? Is there a minimum amount of time you should stay in the office location that hired you?”

-I think most organizations are open to employees wanting to relocate- especially if there is a desire to stay in the same company. I don’t really think there is a “minimum” amount of time you should stay in an office location. But I would think you at least need one year. However, you have to be an employee who has really proven herself/himself at the job and that specific office. No one is going to move an employee who is not performing well. Before having a talk with your manager do some research and find out if there are any openings at the location you want to move to. Also be flexible on the date of your desired move.

Hope this helps!!

Check out my blog: http://elvinyavuz.typepad.com/

“We dont need you.”

Posted By Stan, Miami, Florida : May 15, 2007 4:59 pm

Actually, you do. Retire already and we will run things just fine (and probably more efficiently.) As far as your comment about lack of problem solving capabilities; not true. Don’t negate the years and years of problem solving practice forced upon us in our educational settings. I’m tired of older generations acting as though life begins when you first walk through the doors of a corporate office.

The article was pretty good, moreso at the beginning, but inaccurate in the later statement “Dorsey - who in true Gen Y style dropped out of college to write an earlier book… without having either graduated or gotten a job” in that that behavior is much more geared towards Gen X’ers. (which are also more often viewed as being born in 1979 and later) Gen Y’ers are publicly viewed as all college grads in professional (accounting, sales, etc) careers, as the article heavily leans!

One thing that strikes me as definitive of the Gen Y workers, is the self-centered focus. At work, they generally focus on themselves, not making any sacrifice, and not putting in an extra effort. I’m sure this happens because they know they can have that behavior without negative consequences- and as stated in the article, companies are more than willing to coddle them. Outside of work, they focus on their personal enjoyment- even when volunteering, they are concerned about how they look or how the volunteering action affects their image! It’s almost unfortunate, really, when you look at the big picture. (and I’m speaking about my own generation and peers here!) One hopes someone or something sparks a change in the behavior to be more “society focused”.

I know this is CNN/FORTUNE, but what about the non-professional careers, such as the laborers and trades? This is a swiftly disappearing contingency of American society, especially for the younger generations, not to mention the future ones. This transition will definitely affect the makeup and lifestyle of our future society, and it would definitely be relevant and interesting to research the details. Good luck!

Of course this generation would be just like their parents. “It is all about ME!” Great another 40 years of listening to how good and smart and pretty you all are! I have had to listen to that crap from the baby boomers. How can one generation be so conceited? Your generation is not any different than any 20 something that came before you. Who cares! I just want a paycheck, it is all down hill after 30 anyways. What will be interesting is to see how Generation Y will react to the next group of 20 somethings in 10 years. I am sure there will be many things written about them. Will there be generational jealousy? In my opinion, yes! Anything that takes the focus off you and your generation should be attacked. After all you are here to save us, just like the baby boomers thought they were going save us all. Green house gases and greed are all good things. America has been ruined by the Baby Boomers.

While reading through the many comments, I have come to find that there are some narrow minded, stubborn, stuck in the 18th century people in this world. Of course it is mostly coming from the older generation that is feeling very threatened by us Gen Yers. We are the ones that are making huge changes in the corporate world and some of you “old timers” can not handle that. Let’s get with the times people. Gen Yers are changing the way business is done. We can get more work done in a 40 hour week than any other generation can. I think that you other generations are intimadated by what we can and are doing. Gen Yers are standing up to “higher ups” and questioning their dumb rules. We are challenging organizations to make much needed changes. Changes that other generations were too scared to even attempt to try to make a reality. Gen Yers are determined, ambitious, creative, and very hardworking. We expect nothing but the best from ourselves. We have extremely high standards and expectations. This is what makes us great. So for all of you that are putting our generation down, we’ll make sure to laugh at you while you are in the umemployment line.

I found the article wonderfully written and accurate. I am 25 and in my fourth year with a Fortune 500 company. Funny thing: I was raised perfectly middle class, went to a community college for two years and graduated from University of Texas at Dallas (not Ivy League by any means). I also had a daughter at 18 and a son at 19, and I still find the article very fitting and true. I don’t fit the perfect mold because no one does. My music keeps me focused, and I know where I can find resources online for research and how to use the shortcuts in programs or figure it out, so I get it done faster. I believe that efficeincy is the key. I have had to ask for more to do several times in my four years and I still get it done in less than 40 hours. I also get the kudos for doing so. You’ll find more Gen Yers staying longer at a company when they start having kids. That’s the only reason I’ve been with my company so long. It’s stability. My husband likes to change jobs frequently, so who would keep the insurance going. My concern is for the next generation who is being told they should get a prize for showing up. Now that’s snot nosed.

Nadira,

Keep up the good work! I look forward to reading more about us twentysomethings in the workplace.

Eboogie is 100% right. Sure, everything is exciting and new, and you are filled with enthusiasm right after college… but by the time you are in your late 20’s, you are going to feel burnt out. You can’t change the world, or your company, in one year. More likely though, you will find that five years have gone by and you have accomplished nothing.
Sure, you will have some money in the bank and a decent title, but what really will you have done? There will always be people obsessed with age and status, but what good does a great job do you when you are less than 30 years old, and can’t walk up a flight of stairs in your appartment without getting tired? What good is all this corparate climbing going to do you when you die at 50 from a heart attack?
Your 20’s are your golden years, and you only get to live them once. Don’t waste them in an office trying to get somewhere that is actually nowhere. Go out and do things while you are still young, still have energy, still have no commitments, are still in good shape, and are still good looking (no matter how attractive you are, you will look worse in 20 years). Watch American Beauty and wake up!!!

I am a 28 year old and up until a few months ago was a manager at an accounting firm. The “entitlement generation” - a less attractive title than Gen Y - is a generation which I am technically a part of. My last two years in public accounting I had the pleasure of attending meetings where the partners at my firm discussed the lack of drive, lack of professionalism, and lack of common sense displayed by my generation. I know they weren’t talking about me, but I understood exactly what they were talking about. Put your head down and work hard at the beginning of your career before asking for special treatment and favors. Once you’ve developed your skill set and have proven yourself within an organization, you deserve the perks most young workers are demanding right out of college.

Did you have something to say in this blog?

Great Article Nadira…absolutely spot on.

I am a Gen Y’r albeit slightly older one and I can attest the change in attitude is even prevalant at business school where I recently graduated with an MBA. It was amazing how many times speakers and guests were asked about work/life balance first before their business activities and career advice.

I would like to add three other thoughts about GenY behavior.
- I was intrigued by all the perks that the big companies are piling on the interns and new hires. This was exactly my experience during the late 1990s and 2000. However, a group of my GenYrs went through the painful recenssion afterwards, were all the “fluff” and vision went out the door and was replaced with cost cutting and layoffs. That has actually made my cohort even more wary of corporations and thus increases our already high individualistic attitude.

- Secondly, I feel that the Internet has led to so much transparency that we are skeptical of everyone, from politicians to corporate leaders. The Enron scandal, firing of US attorneys etc. all these do is to feed our mistrust of large organizations.

- Lastly, to build on your point of September 11 making us confront stark reality. I saw the event first hand since I worked in lower Manhattan and needles to say it has very much affected my attitude towards enjoying life and family more than focussing on work.

Nadira,

During my hourly perusing of all things CNNMoney, and a way to stretch my mind from a boring task or two, I happened to run across your article. Fantastic.

At first I was a little offended, but in a great way. I was insulted at the same time I was very thrilled that the attention was on me! [i]“Is this really how they look at me?”[/i] It was not until the end of the article that things started to click a little for me as I am looking for a “real” job after college.

Often times we, the twenty somethings, are placed in a box and told that we will need “five years experience” to fully understand concepts. Honestly, I think that we are changing this idea. I have recently had the opportunity to interview with some great marketing firms that are more interested in the “how do you think?” question rather than relying on previous experience. I’d say that the unsung heroes of our Generation Y renaissance are those boomer professors that have taught us “how to think”.

Nadira, I thank you for the article and hope the blog continues!

As a 25 year old finishing up my 2nd year at a fortune 50 company. I have to say I’ve been waiting (indeed expecting) something like this for a while. I just want to say I absolutely love this blog and will visit frequently! In fact, what’s even better would be a cartoon strip, kind of like Dilbert for Gen Y people!

Fun and humor aside, I have to say some of the comments made were dead on. Yes, I probably work shorter hours and have a better work life balance than my parents generation, but I frequently find myself “slowing down” my work pace because a. My fellow Gen-X and boomers co-workers cannot keep up, and b. Frankly I would have nothing to do for the rest of the day if I finished everything by 11am in the morning! As anyone who has worked in a cubicle knows, having nothing to do is FAR worse than being busy. What does that say about Corporate America?

I have a hard time conforming to some of the generalizations set forth by my fellow twenty-somethings. In fact, this haphazard conveyance of headphones, designer coffee, and hipster clothes being icons of GEN Y is ignorant.

As a 22 year old in corporate America, I have worked insanely hard to achieve my current goals. Listening to music in my car didn’t get me to a six-figure income. This is precisely the distinction between GEN Y phonies and future CEOs.

What about those of GEN Y that put themselves through Ivy League education at minimal expense to their parents? Aren’t we the real standouts because we didn’t rely on mom and dad?

well done.

its 5.10pm and in my office wrapping up my day at start up finance company. ive been in the corporate world a year now, and its been a wild ride.

Nadira, you were right on. obvioulsy, you can not discribe all 78MM of us exactly in one article, but as a whole you did well.

i hope that this becomes a series of articles, there is a lot more to explore here. as a generation that grew up with technology in a way no other population on earth ever has, its very interesting to see how long it takes a gen y’er to complete the same task as our older peers. we maybe a little demanding, but trust me, when deadlines heat up around here, its my blackberry lights up.

i am sure you are seeing all across the country, what i am experiencing here; in a work place designed for those 20 years older than us, we just do not fit. we feel as if our time is wasted, that we are taken for granted, and things just wont work out. but if you find a work place, like i have, that is willing to use all that you have to offer, the sky is the limit.

i have quickly become by bosses prized golden boy, and yet, sometimes his nemisis. he loves the amount of work i can accomplish in a day, the new ideas i come up with, and how i manage my team. he hates, when i ask questions that i am not supposed to, or seek logic or reasoning behind a meaningles task. he wishes i would stay late more, but loves that i respond to emails on my blackberry at 3a.m. or send him a proposal at 2.

we may be bittersweet in someways, but if i were a CEO of a company today, big or small, that wants to grow in leaps and bound over the next five to ten years, i would do everything i can to study, adapt to, and learn how to use this unstoppable force.

and a slight bit of insider advice to the corporations out there already feeling the worker shortage crunch, challenge us, value us, and let us grow, or we will leave. not out of lack of gratitude or loyalty, but simply because we can. we may all be entering the corporate world now, but most of us see it as a cheaper mba, most of us have plans of learning what you do right, and what you do wrong, so that next year or down the road, when we start a company and become your competition, we will have more knowledge under our belt.

the organizations that stay ahead of this changing curve will will enjoy the most productive and innovative workforce that world has seen, those who dont will be scratching thier heads trying to figure out why a 10% 401K match just isn’t as appealing as it used to be.

nadira, keep up the good work, you have me hooked.

Any suggestions on the best way to communicate to your current company your desire to relocate to a warmer climate in 12 months.

Was asleep at my desk until I saw your blog pop up. Look forward to more shared insight and a continued exploration of the following question, Does the Gen Y worldview support the success of U.S. American corporate culture?

I really don’t even believe there is a Gen Y, let alone anything special that needs to be done to accomodate younger workers.
I am in my 30s and when I was younger, these same types of articles were being written about people my age. We were called Gen X, ‘children of baby boomers’. Sound familiar?
This generation is absolutely the exact same as every generation before them — they are the youngest group entering the workforce. When put into proper perspective, the traits listed to describe them could apply to any young person at any point in history: naive, socially aware, multi-tasking, informed, demanding…

Thank you! Thank you! As a Gen Xer and in my 2nd year at a Fortune 500 company, I have a lot of similar questions to those posed above. For instance, why is my life so much like Dilbert and why didn’t I let Dilbert warn me before I took the job?? Although I love my cubicle, some corporate culture is utter-nonsense. But, could I do it better? Or do I just have this Gen Xer optimistic nature about me? Well, either way- there are new ideas flowing from us young folks and I believe we will achieve the greatest of all things possible!

I’m actually starting an employee network/engagement group here at our company focused on Gen Xers and the difficult and unique challenges they face, such as:
“How do I save enough money for a down payment on a house?”
“Where do I start Investing first?”
“What are ‘corporate politics’ and how do I abide by them when I seem to question everything?”

I’ll be providing your blog to everyone as a guide… maybe you can be a potential speaker?

I thought the article provided an interesting perspective on twentysomethings that has general truths. Having been a twentysomething earlier in my career, my aspirations were not unlike those of twentysomethings today. I clearly thought I had all the good ideas to make a corporation work using the education my parents paid for. Along the way, I switched companies about every 3 years and gained a lot of perspective along the way. On that path, I realized that there was a lot I did not know that I needed to learn if I wanted to really succeed.

Twentysomethings today have the blessings of technology (highly advanced versus the TRS80 and IBM PC I grew up with) and new ways of networking. The key challenge for twentysomethings is to learn what they do not know and apply the technology and what they do know to solve it.
As a senior manager hiring a lot of new college grads, I know that I have a lot to learn about you as much as you have to learn about how business operates.

I will guarantee all twentysomethings one thing. Twenty years from now, my 5 year old daughter will be causing you the same issues and asking the same questions about why you do what you do that you ask today.

Hats off to Fortune Magazine for realizing that there is a need to have a forum for Generation Y professionals! We are the generation that experiences the “Quarter Life” crisis. Yes, we had a very sheltered college existence and were rudely awaken by real life a couple days after graduation. What happened to the thought that we would do something challenging with our lives after college? What happened to all the important knowledge that we learned in those very expensive classes? We found out the harsh way that we might have to do mindless grunt work to for a couple of years before doing something completely challenging and worth waking up for every morning. Now granted this is not everyone’s experience- but unfortunately, it has been the experience for a large number of us. Having five years work experience under my belt, I wish I had a mentor at the age of 21 who could have guided me through the college to work process. Someone to sit with me and talk very frankly about the business world and how to best maneuver through it. Someone to share their mistakes so I wouldn’t have to make the same ones. But alas, I guess we learn most from our mistakes. I look at where I am today- at a job I love which challenges me every day. I can’t help but wish I found it sooner. I think as generation Y we learn most when we are collaborating and telling stories. So here is to the success of this blog! And lets all remember- we are the generation that invented blogs!

Feel free to check out mine!
http://elvinyavuz.typepad.com/

This laziness/lack of work ethic that is spoken of I believe can be alternatively viewed as a change in priorities. For many of us childhood was spent with a babysitter while our parents ground out sixty and seventy hour a workweek. The older we have gotten the greater the fault we see in this way of living. There is a sudden desire to be satisfied and content. The boom of young entrepreneurs is a testament to this.

I agree with the First comment, they are a spoiled and superficial generation and have no staying power or problem solving abilities. I wouldnt want them on my team at work. Furthermore they have a long way to go because the baby busters and Generation X have been been waiting in line and now its time for Baby Boomers to step aside and along the way take your impulsive paris hilton video game generation with you. We dont need you.

Just added this as a favorite to laptop at work while listening to my iPod on my docking station in my cube. As a 25 year old leading a team of 20 somethings I look forward to reading more. You’re right on. Don’t let anyone tell you differently (how Gen Y of me to say.)

Nadira,

The Article is fantastic! Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate. In response to some of the comments that have already been made, I challenge them to look around. At face value many of us Gen Y-ers are snot nosed, over parented, ivey leaguers, whose parents pay off tuition and network us into great jobs– but look beyond that. Everyone has a story and I disagree that this article is the voice of an elite group. While the above may be true for some, think of those who have worked their tail off to get where they are.

Parental support is so important without which OUR parents wouldn’t be where they are today. So priorities have changed, loyalties have matured, but based on the evolution of generations, this is only natural. It’s not fair to say that we are no different. We are, just as Gen X was different from its predecessors.

While it’s very important for us to be “catered to” and to be respected in a way for us to feel of value, it’s also very important for our generation to prove ourselves worthy of this treatment and to, not necessarily conform to what the corporations are, but to adjust on a comfortable level. Eventually, a happy medium will be reached and what is unfolding in front of our very eyes will come to fruition: The corporate world of Gen Y will is born.

It will mature and become what will be known as status quo.

As for generalizing an age group…it’s impossible not to with the myriad of cliques, varying levels of education, priorities and ambition, and so forth, that is so present in our culture. So go with the majority, the most ambitious. Isn’t it better for our generation as a whole to be known for its strengths and successes as opposed to being known as its pot-smoking, binge drinking, tanning salon attendant cohorts, so-to-speak. After all, new generations are always chastised as “those kids”, the group of radicals without direction. Thank you for depicting us in a positive light.

The Gig seems as though it will prove to be a good tool for gen Y-ers. For those of “us” to whom that term applies, we are all very similar and have the same questions as Sebastian from Washington, D.C. Lets answer them for each other. After all we need to figure it out somewhere and who better to ask than our peers.

We are a different generation — one that is as loyal and dedicated as those before us, but seek the work hard / play hard balance in life. We create our own landscape of news through blogs and such, yet use the media scape to ground us into the world that we live in and dream of changing.

It is a good time to be 25.

Having hired hundreds of professionals in my career, I (a boomer) have found one key thing about the majority of Gen Y that your article failed to touch on; they are the “superficial” generation. When it comes to work, if it is fun or exciting, they are there. If it involves study, diligence or advanced learning, for the most part, count them out.
This attitude has followed them from school, where few took challenging courses (intensive study, difficult, possibility of not getting an ‘A’), but 90% did a semester abroad (vacation w/ credits?)
For glamor or glitz, or marketing to their peers, I would hire a Gen Y. To solve a complex business problem, I will hire international students from India or Eastern Europe who will work hard and apply themselves.

Don’t let the naysayers bring you down. Your article was both relevant and entertaining.

Everyone has different upbringings and perspectives. I chose to ignore the few points that didnt apply to me instead of coming on here and bashing the whole article.

I’m looking forward to your blogs about us “twentysomethings”…we finally have a place to talk to people on the same level as us.

Thanks Nadira

I will admit that i’m not sure whether i’m part of Generation Y or Generation X, but I”m in my late twenties and I feel miserable doing what I”m doing. I see the same thing amongst people in the finance industry where you put in long hours and you may get compensated at a higher level than someone in a different industry, it still doesn’t always make up for the lost time and energy and constant backstabbing one must endure in this corporate business.
It just seems like everyone wants to ask your age just to see where they are relative to someone else in their age range. And another infamous question is “What do you do?” If I had a dollar for everytime I was asked this I may have stopped working by now. Its just a real fake business with alot of fear. Everyone is afraid that someone else may be vying to backstab them and take their job. I know i’m venting…..but i’m sure there are alot of people out there who know what i’m talking about.

While some posters seem very perturbed at the depiction of 20 something workers in the article, I thought it was right on. As a 25 year old in his second job with a Fortune 500 company, I can tell you that a lot of the writer’s points are validated every day in my own life. I don’t work that much, mostly because I get all my work done very efficiently. Work is not the most important thing in my life, not even close. I have no shame or misplaced sense of caste or whatever you want to call it about speaking with the powerful people in my company. I have met them all, and they put their pants on one leg at a time. There is a big difference between showing respect for experience and knowledge, and feeling like you’re not good enough to talk to the CEO (though you better have something good to say). I do want to move up quickly, I don’t anticipate spending my whole career with one (or even just a few) companies, and I see a lot of people in my age group just like me filling the halls of my company. Granted, I went to business school (though at a public university, albeit one of the best) and don’t have the same worldview as a barista with a degree in comparative religion, but I think Fortune addresses people in my demographic more than the liberal arts set. I found it envigorating to read the article and realized that I was not the only person my age who didn’t see the point in 60 hour weeks, despite my parents’ exhortations to work hard and ask no questions about why you’re doing so. You can call me lazy, entitled, egocentric, or any number of other negative things. While doing so, however, you should check whether my laziness is a manifestation of superior productivity, my entitlement a sign of confidence, or my egocentricity a recognition that I am capable, energetic, and just the sort of person corporate America needs. I realize the (for some) astonishing arrogance of this post, but it doens’t bother me. I haven’t met many CEOs who don’t have a belief in themselves and their abilities that borders on arrogant, and as the article pointed out, my generation is already aiming for the corner office.

As an apparent Gen-X individual who has two sisters in high school, I would like to point out that a tremendous amount of sacrifice often goes into the personal lives of these children while they are growing. When I was in school, your extracurriculars were things you did in addition to having a life. Now, they ARE your life, as students attempt to diversify themselves as widely as possible to compete. Your high school friends are likely your peer group from you yearbook committee, school paper staff, band members, gymnastics partners, sports partners…they form the whole circle rather than just a part of it, so cliques become stronger and more important.

And the classload? Forget it. If you thrust the valedictorian of my own high school class in todays JUNIOR classes, he’d likely have struggled. When I took Calculus as a senior, it was a special course offered to only a few individuals who had special aptitude toward mathematics. These days, it’s sophomores and juniors who are in Calc I, trying to figure out if they should do Calc II or Statistics in senior year.

In a way, it is the ultracompetitive nature of a few in the boomers and GenX that shaped GenY. Parents are determined to make sure that their children have all the tools to succeed, and they are well armed with their own successes and failures. Students must increasingly focus on school and competitiveness to get into the best schools, and when everyone in your top 10% has a 4.0 or higher (AP, honors, and IB weighted) and manage to maintain 4-5 active extracurriculars, you realize that a lot of high school seniors have been holding down a full time job for 4 years already.

I am the Baby Boomer Mom of 2 twentysomething Gen Yers. I haven’t overly mothered my children, but have raised them to be self sufficient and independent. They are both bright and have high hopes and expectations right out of college (which I paid for as they went). I have worked since I was 14 and have always been self motivated, as my children appear to be. I am a female senior officer in the Marine Corps, and I like to think that my kids didn’t get the stale, tow the line corporate image from me! I think I provided them a role model that says if they work, they can succeed. How true that relationships will make or break your career. That companies are realizing this and changing to attract the Gen Yers is commendable. I enjoyed the article and I believe that your characterization of the Gen Yers is pretty accurate. And that isn’t a bad thing. These “kids” will make us think and help us to change. Good for them!

I found most of the article to be spot-on. Reading through the comments posted seems to reinforce this observation.
I’m looking forward to reading articles and discussions relevant to my life and my age group. Ultimately though, I think that the issues our age group faces will have to be resolved politically through forward thinking, strong leadership, and an end to buck-passing. I think that most of us vote; we’ve always been pushed so hard to do so. But I think that we’re yet to see any political options that will actually work for us. I worry that this could ultimately lead to a general, Y-indifference for the political process, leading to a prolonged stagnation. But I hope that forums like this, linked to major-media sources, will help shed more light on these issues and get them their deserved attention…That is, if we can keep from whining too much

Hate to say it but it seems overall pretty accurate. However, there’s a lot of cross-sections that aren’t included here. I think the media tends to focus on the privileged Generation Y. The ones who went to pricey colleges, have a lot of debt, and got their first job with a high paying salary and not knowing what health care is all about.

I have to admit in my colleagues my age that is pretty true. However, some of us worked through college, don’t have debt, and think our 401k and healthcare package are at this stage more important than our starting salaries. I think though the general themes were pretty close. I do wonder what it will mean as my generation grows up. We can’t always stay idealist and demanding. And I think given Gen X still being a factor in the workplace that it is up to Generation Y to become hard workers and conform to the corporate world rather than the other way around in order for both to succeed and prosper.

Very Cool! I finally read something that helped me understand why I am the way that I am! It was so comforting to have read the article about Gen Yers; and know that I am not the only one that has these expectations or radical perspectives! And yes, I am Special!

Sounds great! I’m a twentysomething one year out of school working for one of the Big Four accounting firms, and could absolutely use guidance of the sort you’re talking about! A few topics I’m particularly interested in:

How to act in a corporate culture that involves a lot of drinking- is it OK to get drunk with a firm partner? Everyone else is…
How can I stay grounded with my spending when my first salary seems so large (but really isn’t), and everyone around me is driving brand new Mercedes and vacationing in Asia?
Is it OK to not attend company functions in which I have absolutely no interest- like ‘family day’ at an arcade?
And what’s the best way to begin a conversation with your superiors when you decide you want to live elsewhere (but work for the same company)? Is there a minimum amount of time you should stay in the office location that hired you?

I’m looking forward to reading more on The Gig!

Must the media persist in lumping an entire age cohort into a narrow and ultimately inaccurate collection of stereotypes. I fail to see the usefulness of depicting an entire generation of young adults as a bunch of privileged, over-parented brats- except to save lazy journalists time, effort and critical thought processes.

Instead of cherry picking stories about a bunch of corporate climbers is some kind of charmed, ipod commercial life as in “Attracting Twentysomething Worker.” Twentysomethings want what our parents and their parents wanted, a good job that can cover a decent cost of living, and time to spend with our family. Every generation has faced obstacles to attaining this dream, and Generation Y is no different. Why not talk about the soaring cost of healthcare (or company’s failure to provide it,) the soaring cost of housing, stagnant wages, and corrupt education lenders that turn middle class college students into indentured slaves?

Or, if Ms. Mira would prefer to focus on the Standford and Ivy League grads of the world, whose parents pay off their tuition and network with friend for Fortune 500 jobs, be upfront that you are the voice of an elite group and certainly not of an entire Generation.

In reading your article “Attracting the twentysomething worker” I found myself with a quirky smile agreeing with most of the observations made about… well someone like myself. Being one of those twentysomthing workers I find many of the statistics you provided shocking to read however when I consider myself again, I realize that I fit in with many of them. However it was when I reached some of the information you wrote about on the 2nd page of said article that I as what you would most likely describe as a typical generation Yer began to question some observations.

You state that “Gen Yers hadn’t learned much about struggle or sacrifice” while this may be true in the most traditional definition of struggle or sacrifice, I believe credit has not been given to the non traditional struggle and sacrifice that many Gen Yers have made. Just getting into college is a struggle in itself, that’s not including figuring out how you are going to pay for college once you are in. More often than not I have seen college students working 2 or 3 jobs just to be able to afford to live in college. This is just one of many examples that could be provided. So maybe our struggle and sacrifice is there its just not the same as it was before, just like everything else about Gen Y.

Later on you quote “’They’ve been made to feel so special, and that is totally counter to the whole concept of corporations.’” Again maybe the whole concept of corporations needs to be changed. That concept was created based on the workforce of the time. Instead of corporations blaming Gen Y for not conforming to them, maybe its time for corporations to realize that they are not the end-all be-all dream of the coming workforce. Maybe its time for them to adjust, change, become adaptable so that when another generation shift comes they aren’t stuck looking like a deer in the headlights. If they don’t then most likely we will swerve around them and keep going, possibly taking a minute to reflect upon what just happened but ultimately forgetting about it. Corporations that take these steps to shift with the market instead of cementing themselves to the past will be the ones that survive and the ones that thrive.

My current employer (Crowe Chizek) has realized this and taken steps to help balance work-life. This is one of the main reasons I chose them over many other options available to me at the time of my graduation just a year ago. I believe that other companies will realize that they need to shift their thinking and adjust their game plan; much like E&Y has done by entering into the world of facebook.

Those companies smart enough will be tuning into “The Gig” because they will soon realize that it can be (and hopefully will be) a place for them to better understand (to the extent that they can) Generation Y.

It is a bit ridiculous to assume that twentysomethings are wandering around aimlessly with no idea of how to succeed. The attracting twentysomethings article, in my opinion, was poorly written and essentially condenses down to this —
1) You can always spot twentysomethings because we wear big headphones, hipster clothes, we do yoga, we drink designed coffee, and we have a laptop, blackberry, ipod, and digital camera.
2) We cant separate ourselves from our parents.
3) We are needy, entitled, and not that into work.
4) We are realizing that we were not promised a happy, healthy tomorrow so we are determined to live our best lives now.
5) Business cards make us feel important as does getting to sit in on management meetings.
6) We think outside the box (wow, something that could be considered positive)
7) We now outnumber baby boomers

How Fortune can generalize like this is beyond me. I cant imagine the feedback if someone were to generalize males or females, a particular race, nationality, etc but I guess Fortune thinks it is alright to generalize an age group. Forutne needs to start thinking outside the box and not stereotyping people like this.
(I apologize for not using apostrophes but I didnt want to mess up the html formatting)