The Age of Millennials

Having worked closely with many students and young professionals over the years, I often find myself defending them.

• “They have low Work Ethic”  it is not true that they are missing a work ethic.  In fact I have many students who we’ve coached through out CollegeThenWhat® program to choose a major and career who are graduating college at the top of major universities.  This year alone, we have several students going on to grad school with scholarships.
  1. These young people work very hard.  They also have a lot more information coming at them than prior generations.  Everything they do can be captured and posted on social media.  Think back to the things you did growing up and what you learned from them.  Stupid choices lead to great learning.  But who wants to make a stupid choice when it may go viral?
  2. They are also strong team players.  The onset of so much media has driven parents to put more supervision on their children in order to keep them safe from predators.  Gone are the sandlot games in an open field where hierarchy was empirically taught.  We now have the new day of supervised play dates which have taught these kids how to work in teams.  How to avoid risks and appreciate mentoring and assistance.
  3. They have complex choices.  College is now an expected commodity.  I’ve tried to talk many parents into embracing technical college, an apprenticeship, or a gap year for maturing.  The answer 90% of the time is a resounding NO. College is the new 13th grade and an expected accomplishment for many students. With the skyrocketing costs of college, the unpredictable post 2007 job market, and the incredible average debt load for student loans, Millennials are tepid on coming to work for a company for 50 plus hours a week with two weeks of vacation after six months of work.  Many of these students will be paying off their student debt for decades.  A raise is not going to have the same impact as it has done in past decades of increasing their lifestyles. We need to see what that feels like from their eyes.
• What do we recommend:
  1. If you have a high schooler, please check out our CollegeThenWhat® tools.
  2. If you are hiring Millennials, please give them opportunities to work in teams, have mentors, get trained in interpersonal and communication skills, and work with them on having safe environments to grow.
  3. If they are open, talk with them about student debt.  You may be able to set up a bonus plan that pays for great performance by paying student debt down.

Embrace the fact they’ve changed how we work.  More vacation time, sabbaticals, flexible schedules, learning trips, and work life balance aren’t all bad. 

Let thewineingercompany.com know if we can help train your team to work with Millennials, develop your hiring plans to attract and keep them, and educate them on much need communication skills to be productive in the workplace.