Millenial Career Research Paper

Every generation is influenced by its period 's economic, political and social events. From the Great Depression to the civil rights and women 's movements to the advent of television and advanced computer technologies. Thus generational background/situation may also affect the way they work. The key is to be able to effectively address and take advantage of the differences in values and expectations of each generation in the workplace. The current work place consists of four different generations; The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) who are slowly retiring and existing the workforce, The Generation X (1965-1976), The Generation Y or millennia (1977-1997), and the Generation Z who are about to or are just entering the work force. Although these different generations tend to want similar things in a workplace their environment/background has shaped their character, values, and expectations (Hahn 2011).

Why should Millennials be ridiculed with the feeling of entitlement towards their career? They have spent their entire lives building a strong foundation for this specialized career that is intended to make them both successful and happy. It’s not a dumb move either, to find a elite job and enjoy it is a very strategic idea in order to create the lives Millennials intend to carry out. Millennials are being raised in an economic recession similar to that of the Depression era. They have the same mentality to work hard and save money, unlike the spendthrift Generation X (Wright). Millennials are bringing a new work mentality, rather than working to make a living and being unhappy they are choosing a career that they love and adjusting it to make it enjoyable and be productive at the same time (Freisse). Probably the biggest, most important factor is that with this new attitude of Millennials, work is going to be evaluated by performance not attendance (Jowett). This is going to increase productivity and weed out those who are not working hard. Today’s generation, Millennials, isn’t a bunch of sensitive, can’t do it, dummy’s like is believed. But an intelligent, hard working, compassionate group of people.

Many employers are challenged with handling the millennial due to the lack of proper understanding of this generation since there is plenty of myths, propagated through anecdotes and assumptions. However the separation of the myths and the facts is important for an organization so as

Upon reflecting on the three main generations that comprise the workplace today, a few differences emerge. “Baby Boomers” grew up in a time when movements were prominent, the Vietnam War occurred, key figures were assassinated, the Watergate Scandal occurred, and television was introduced (Twenge et al., 2010; Schullery, 2013). Overall, “Baby Boomers” seem to exhibit a distrust of authority, value hard work, and want to enjoy their achievements (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Twenge et al., 2010). As such, they are results driven and give their utmost effort (Robbins & Judge, 2015). “Generation X” grew up in a time of computers, divorce, two career parents, MTV, and economic uncertainty (Twenge et al., 2010; Robbins & Judge, 2015). For the most part, they seem to exhibit the workplace behaviors of independence and a lack of commitment to employers (Twenge et al., 2010). They value a balance between work and life and place more focus on extrinsic rewards such as monetary compensation (Twenge et al., 2010). “Millennials” grew up in prosperous times with technology dominating the era and over-protective parents (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Schullery, 2013). Generally, they seem to place a greater value on employee benefits, leisure time, teamwork, and open communication (Society of Human Resource Management, 2004; Twenge, 2010; Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). In addition, they have also been given the labels of “self-centered” and “entitled” (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010).

Gloria Larson discusses that it is often noted that recent graduates of college have a high unemployment rate, causing people to wonder if college is preparing students for the workforce. She stresses that she believes students are prepared, based off of her school. Even so, she asks the question “what will it take to ensure that millennials are fully prepared in the workplace?” Larson then explains that a research company, called KRC Research took a survey of 3000+ stakeholders to look into this question. This survey hit on a key point: businesses vary on skills expected from their new hires, however most said they agree that new hires should have both hard and soft skills. The study also noted that more than half of business leaders prefer

Millennials are growing up in the information age and have many advantages that previous generations did not possess. Unfortunately, there are skills that these kids lack that are essential for today’s world called social responsibility. This can have the traits of perseverance through tasks, dependability, and work ethic. In the article, “Experts Zero In on Nonacademic Skills Needed for Success” by Sarah Sparks she explains in great detail of the faults in our generation.

Way too often, millennials are pushed by society to invest in a fancy career. Source A preaches, “Some people are hustled off to college. Then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, when they would rather be learning to build things or fix things” (Crawford). At a young age, guardians encourage children that they need to be doctors, lawyers, or teachers when they mature and this affects children because they believe that they have such a high goal to achieve throughout school. When children don't do well in academics college intimidates them. As source D illustrates, “ The case against

Before we look at any issue, any good psychologist will first evaluate their own bias. Although it is impossible to eliminate bias from any situation, it is important to, at the very least, identify the source of said bias. So before this essay considers the question of millennials in the workplace, let it first be known that the authors are, if not millennials, riding very closely behind millennials’ coattails.

Replacing Millennials with baby boomers is a problem because they do not want to take on the traditional style of work and life balance. Because of this, Millennials are more than likely to resign from their high-paying positions. Graen & Grace (2014) used the word “traditional” to describe the work life Millennials try to avoid. “Traditional” means repetitiveness of tasks performed at home and work. Millennials leave their high-paying positions because their daily routines of going to work and coming home each day seems boring to them. In the work setting, Millennials become uninterested in their work routine since they have already acquired all of the skills and knowledge required for their positions. Millennials have the urge to work outside

In a work environment everybody wants to climb the totem pole. For Millennials, they want to rise to leadership without working too hard for it. They are trying to reach the leadership positions as fast as they can and at times they are unprepared for the position they enter because they have not experienced enough along the way. Where Millennials are too fast to rise to leadership, people considered to be Generation X, who are known for their hard work ethic and experience are often complacent in the workplace. Though they gained their experience (unlike Millennials) by working their way up the chain of command and gradually paying their dues and though they also do not expect to be handed a higher position, like Millennials who feel entitled to higher positions in the workplace, they are also not as motivated as Millennials. (Bresman)

First of all the time period that millennials are growing up in is affecting how other generations look at their work ethic. From worldwide layoffs, soaring divorce rates, war, and unemployment, millennials have been through a lot already in their life for being so young. The unemployment rate and the increase of the cost of living is hitting this generation the hardest, it’s the main reason why young adults are still living with their parents. Young adults are most affected by the unemployment rate in general, which makes times primarily hard. In fact, in one report they found that, “Many Millennials couldn’t work right now if they wanted to. According to the report, 37% of 18–29-year-olds are unemployed or out of the workforce, the highest share among this age group in more than three decades” (Williams). Work ethic is difficult to define when so many are unemployed, after the recession hit in 2008 it has been especially hard to find a job. Although the economy is healing and people are starting to find more work opportunities, times are still strenuous. For some it can almost seem impossible to try and save money for college to get a job that can support the cost of living in this day and age. If anything millennials work ethic is strong, this generation isn’t just sitting around and waiting for a job to come to them. In order to live comfortably in this time period it’s essential that one has a job. They are taking this

• Their job-hopping ways can lead employers to question millennials’ loyalty, and diminish employers’ desire to want to invest in them. Only one fifth of millennials anticipate staying in a job for more than 5 years (Robert Half International, 2008). • They are overconfident, opinionated, and expect to be heard (Alsop, 2007). • They believe that they do not have to “pay dues” when they enter an organization. • They are uncomfortable with criticism and can become aggressive and even caustic when criticized (Tyler, 2008). • They enjoy structure and dislike ambiguity. • They prefer clear rules, well-defined policies, and responsibilities. • They claim to be committed to social responsibility and desire worklife balance. • They see themselves as indispensable beings with high expectations and a desire to be sought after (Alsop, 2006). • They see technology as something that is part of their lives,

Simon Sinek, a mainstream speaker on leadership, states that the Millennial Generation was set at a disadvantage and that it is up to the corporation to fix it. Sinek summarizes that the difficulties with the Millennial Generation can be summarized into four categories: Parenting, Technology, Impatience, and environment. The man then concludes that the corporations behind the work environment must change to accommodate for the millennial generation’s struggle. Personally, I agree with what Sinek’s statements, and I hope that corporations and Millennials like myself will listen.

This generation is raised by “helicopter parents,” who doted on them, giving them an ample supply of attention and validation. Because they are heralded with high expectations, Millennials tend to display an abundance of self-confidence and believe they are highly valuable to any organization from day one. They are extremely focused on developing themselves and thrive on learning new job skills, always setting new challenges to achieve. They are also the “can do” generation, never worrying about failure, for they see themselves as running the world and work environments. Generation Y have been raised within a time period where they have constant access to technology.

Growing up, as Tim Urban stated in his article; Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy “, we were raised “with a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility” (par 6). Moreover, what our parents didn’t tell us, is that we have to devote most of our entire life to achieve those possibility. However, our parents’ generation - the baby boomers, born in the 50s, raised by our grandparents. Were raised to “build practical, secured careers” (Urban par 4) But another for them to get to stable career they have to go through hard time, bad decisions and loss of love ones.