Research on millennials, conducted by Bentley University and others, consistently indicates that more mentoring, hands-on opportunities for learning, and a comprehensive grasp of technology are all initiatives that can benefit millennial career preparation while in college.
When all three come together, as they have recently at Bentley, it presents an unusual opportunity for students to gain insights into how to enhance their career success.
It’s no secret that the rising cost of student debt is a growing national crisis: the latest numbers suggest that seven of 10 college seniors last year graduated in debt; the total student loan burden in America today currently tops $1.2 trillion, a number that has tripled in the last decade, and at an interest rate of up to 12 percent.
This week, millennial actress and recent college graduate Emma Watson gave a powerful speech to the United Nations, launching the UN’s new solidarity campaign called He for She, which urges men to look at gender equality as more than a women’s issue — and for women to stop thinking that feminism is anti-men.
Bentley University’s Millennial Preparedness research study raised a number of issues about millennials in the workplace. In the coming weeks, PreparedU, in a series entitled Generational Voices, will present opinions from millennials and non-millennials alike on a wide variety of these issues. These views may contrast or coincide, but each will provide perspective designed to enhance insights resulting from the PreparedU data.
An up-and-coming software company in the heart of the Silicon Prairie is not only easing the major pain point of Generation Y — finding a good job, when 40 percent of all unemployed workers are millennials — but it’s also completely built and run by millennials themselves, from the co-founders to the company’s “Job Squad” of campus intern-ambassadors.
When Gen X bad boy Bret Easton Ellis calls you Generation Wuss, no doubt you’re going to mount a defense. But is there any truth to the author’s claim that millennials — “Who [were] cocooned in praise — four stars for showing up, you know?” — crave recognition and can’t handle criticism? Or are millennials pushing for a more open, transparent, and communicative workplace culture that benefits us all and makes us more productive, loyal employees?
Known by some as the Amazon or iTunes of e-learning, Portland, Oregon–based OpenSesame offers more than 20,000 online courses on subjects such as how to develop employees’ skills, comply with regulations, and grow your business, all through its massive open online course (MOOC) platform.
In November 2013, when Bentley University collaborated with the Bloomberg Business Summit in Chicago to present initial PreparedU top-line findings, panelist Shama Hyder made this astute observation about millennials and their career preferences: “Business in general has a branding problem. Most students still think of commerce as synonymous with Wall Street greed and Enron-like fiascos.