Isabel Runge, College Junior
As a junior in college, with many friends in their senior year, and others already a couple years beyond school, I have to admit that my main priority for the next couple of years is to be employed after graduation. With the employment and unemployment rates what they are, most of the people I’ve talked to are terrified of not being hired.
NPR recently launched a series of podcasts featuring millennials, in their own words, talking about why companies should start taking them seriously as employees, as leaders, as consumers, and as creators of ever more products and services in our economy. In #NewBoom, NPR ponders why “there are [now] more millennials in the U.S. than there are baby boomers, so why do they get so many eye rolls?”
Millennial reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin expands upon it this way:
Recruiters think millennials are unprepared in many ways, according to Bentley University’s PreparedU study. The job interview, however, shouldn’t be one of them. When it comes to getting ready for a face-to-face meeting, we got the inside scoop on what really works — straight from corporate recruiters at a Bentley Career Fair, with some psychological advice on the side.
Do your homework.
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.
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.
The Millennial Point of View
For many, the word “millennials” has become synonymous with “kids these days,” but the reality is that millennials as a generation have already aged out of the bracket of young adults and recent graduates. In fact, the majority of Generation Y is now in their mid- to late-20s, with the oldest millennials already 32 years old — married with kids and homes and retirement funds, albeit all to a lesser degree than previous generations.
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.
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.
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?
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.