Talking about Generations

By Cheila Esquilin

“You’re young. You’re inexperienced. You’re a slacker. You’re immature. You can’t hold down a job. You can’t handle any responsibilities.”

Does that sound familiar? Has anybody, lets say elderly, said those words to you before? That’s how my elders see me. But that’s far from how I see the majority of my generation. You heard that? I said MAJORITY. We’re in a tough spot right now. Most of us who are lucky enough to have jobs which some don’t like anyway and those who don’t are finding job searching impossible. Although we’re ready to contribute, we’re faced with Baby Boomers who don’t understand us and Generation X, who thinks we’re trying to take their jobs. Go figure.

I’ve seen articles that try to define Gen Y as some sort of “anti-work culture”. ( http://recruitinganimal.typepad.com/recruitinganimal/2008/12/the-funny-banker-on-gen-y-barbie.html) Granted, most Gen Ys are pretty young and mostly inexperienced, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what we’re doing or have what it takes to achieve our goals. (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1640395,00.html) Sometimes I think the older generations forget that they had to start out somewhere, too.

Do They Have What It Takes?
Gen Y is not frightened by the future. Gen Ys want job stability and money to fund their lifestyle and especially work/life balance. But, money won’t buy their passion or commitment at work. Why? Because unlike Baby Boomers and to some extent Gen X, they do not have a fear of authority nor of the future. The neural patterns stored in Gen Y brains are recession free, equity based, see plenty of job opportunities and cheap travel and are full of memories (even expectations!) of their baby boomer parents’ indulgences.

There are a lot of stereotypes out there, everything from “we’re the smartest generation” to “we’re the laziest generation,” all of which only make it easier to discriminate. I’m not saying there aren’t slackers among us. I know some of them firsthand. There are those who grew up having everything handed to them by their parents (spoiled brats!) – Gen Xs or Baby Boomers who were able to make it and wanted their children to have the best of everything. These Gen Ys always have the newest material things, their parents probably paid for college and they may have even walked into their first job without even having to try, just because they knew the right people. But I don’t think that handful of people should define my generation. There are many of us who have always had to work hard for what we want. (*cough cough* ME)

Adjust (Or move over, old timers)
Most people, no matter what generation they’re a part of, are scared of change, and there’s no doubt society has changed during our time. Because of this, some older generations see Gen Ys as a threat. Gen Ys are used to having information at the tip of their fingers, and grew up with an array of rapidly changing technology, making them extremely adaptable. While Gen Ys email and beam (with cell phones), Baby Boomers and some Gen X, still send checks and hand written letters.

Why Hire a Bunch of Slacking Multi-taskers?
We’re not afraid to share our ideas and tell upper management we think they’re wrong or that there might be an easier way to do something. Aside from our high values, Gen Y has higher collective SAT and ACT scores than previous generations and is able to do lots of things all at once. And while Baby Boomers and Gen Xs think our ability to multi-task is a curse, (he, he) taking a five minute break to check your Facebook or Twitter is no different than taking a five minute break to talk about your children, hang out in the break room or go have a cigarette.

“Millennials are going to change the face of business,” Nick Armstrong said. “Because we multi-task so well, I doubt the eight-hour work day will last much past the economic downturn. I doubt that the eight-hour shift in the office will last either. Personally, I lack the focus to sit in a dreary office, listening to my co-workers ruminate on whatever healthy food they brought in, hear Nosey Nancy gossip about everything and everyone, and spend half my day getting belittled by a patronizing, condescending, hypocritical managerial staff.”

How Gen Y is able to manage?
Due to the old-fashioned work style Baby Boomers and Gen Xs seem to be satisfied with, many Gen Ys are escaping by starting their own businesses. Many of us feel it’s more important to make a difference and share ideas than to be caged into the typical work style. I’m so proud and admire those enterpernuers who are making this happen. THANK YOU!

My Perspective
I think people my age tend to live more in the now. We grew up with The Dotcom Bust in the late-1990s, the September 11, 2001, and now have a economic recession to deal with. Because of those things, Gen Ys seem to be more concerned with where they are today and about doing something that will make an immediate difference than where they want to be 10 years from now. We do want to economize money and prepare for retirement, just as our previous generations have done, but there’s a more imminent feeling that now is the most important time, and everything else will fall into place. Just because we want to do something fulfilling – and it may take changing jobs 10 times to figure that out – doesn’t mean we’re slackers or unworthy. We were taught to find something we love and do that for the rest of our lives. We’re taking that to heart – it just may take a little time. Have you ever heard of the saying ” Patience is a virtue”? We obviously don’t want work to be our whole lives. Sure, work is important, but there are other things in life, too. That’s why it’s important for us to do what we love and want to be doing, that way work doesn’t feel so much like work and it could be also fun. We also respect our elders, regardless of what they may say. We actually admire and look up to them. The problem in their eyes seems to be that we only respect those who deserve it – those who have made a difference, whether that be in our lives or in any circumstances. We’re also a lot less likely to respect people who have a preformed negative attitude toward us. People should remember that you have to give respect to earn it. I speak of experience. Hopefully, you can accept that things are changing, provide a little bit of a challenge and learn to respect us the way you want to be respected, then you can find a good Gen Y employee. If not Generation Y moves forward without you. We are hanging tough.

Cheila Esquilin was born in the Suburbs of Bronx, NY. Raised in the small yet beautiful island of Puerto Rico. Currently living in Baltimore, MD where she found a group of friends that became into the family she never had. She works in a holistic, well known Pharmacy Your Prescription For Health since 05′. Working there has giving her the motivation to persue her own career inhe medical field. Now, she’s majoring in nursing to become a pediatric nurse. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, blogging, social networking, watching sports especially football, listening to her ipod, laughing and watching her litter sister persue her soccer career. She is very gratefull of the life she is living now and to the people who are in it.

Tags: Artikullocks, Baby Boomers, Generation, Generation X, Generation Y, Job