I am in a Time Management training class today and tomorrow. One of the topics that came up today was the differences in work style among the three generations: Baby Boomers (Born 1946 to 1964), Generation X (Born 1965 to 1979), and the Millennials (Born 1980 to 2000). Here is what was summarized about the three different generations:
Baby Boomers: They created the 60-hour work week because they were so motivated and full of hope as they grew up. They also make up a majority of upper management today.
Generation X: Being latch-key kids made them self-reliant. They are horrible at delegating.
Millennials: Ask a lot of questions in order to anticipate needs. They want to make their bosses happy and need a lot of positive feedback and reinforcement. They had helicopter parents, or "hovering" parents.
The instructor is a Baby Boomer and a career coach so I asked her for some advice on a potential career change. After she gave me the advice, the Gen-Xer next to me asked why on earth I would want to change careers when the government job field I had was so good. I explained that I know I will have 3 careers over the course of my life and I have accepted the fact that I will not have Social Security when I'm old. As a result, I am planning for at least 3 different careers as I age. She still didn't get it--a career change into this other field I'm thinking about would result in a pay cut. I told her I didn't care because I want to do what makes me happy. I could see the blood vessels in her brain pop at the idea.
Anyway, the Baby Boomer career coach, who has two Millennial twenty-something sons of her own, gave some good advice which I would like to pass along…
If considering a career change, go to your alma mater's career website and see if you can find a page where you can post your question about a career field you're interested in. An alumni may answer. If they do, ask if you can talk to them and if they know of others who might be willing to let you talk to them for 15 minutes how about they got to where they are.
Something else you could do is call up the HR Department of an organization you're interested in and ask them if there is anyone in the organization, working in the field you're interested in, who would talk to you for 15 minutes about how they got to where they were.
The 15 minutes is relevant--no one wants to take more than that out of their day to talk to a stranger who is trying to figure themselves out. Still, people like to talk and would be more than happy to take 15 minutes to talk about themselves to anyone who may listen.
Before doing anyting rash like quitting your job or signing up for yet another degree, heed this advice and talk to people in a field that you're curious about. If you talk to these people and find that the career isn't a good fit, then that's great--it's a good thing you asked! Keeping searching until you find it and then come up with a plan of action on how you're going to get there.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Quarter-life crisis
Have any of you experienced the Quarter-Life Crisis yet? I think I experienced mine about two weeks into my first real job out of college. All those years of staying up late, study groups, and term papers to earn as many A's and B's as possible and graduate with a GPA above a 3.0. All of that hard work for--this? Really? To sit in a cubicle and do almost the same thing at work every day? Why did I work so hard to make that A in my Organizational Management and Theory class? Why did I ever fret over a C in Philosophy?
It was a real let down--the second week into a job working for this organization is all I ever wanted since I was probably 13-years-old.
What I wouldn't do to get back all of those years of unecessary over-achieving.
It was a real let down--the second week into a job working for this organization is all I ever wanted since I was probably 13-years-old.
What I wouldn't do to get back all of those years of unecessary over-achieving.
Friday, June 14, 2013
The Most Educated Generation
In 2004, I was set to graduate from college. The economy wasn't doing so great, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan was really getting bad, and my little BA in Government and International Politics didn't really give me a competitive skillset to quickly get a job. The economy was starting to level out and housing prices were beginning to double overnight. A professor recommended I go to grad school. At that time, not a lot of students were going straight to grad school. Little did I know, that trend would continue with so many Millennials to follow.
Because of the lousy economy of the past decade we are probably going to be the most educated generation ever but it comes at a price--literally. We are also going to be the most indebted generation ever because of our massive student loan debt.
Under pressure from our parents who wanted so much for us to "go to college and get a good paying job," we decided at the age of 18 which college we would attend and what our major would be. Two decisions that would shape not just our careers, but the rest of our lives. Some of us early Millennials chose a state college and a relatively in-demand major like finance or computer science, and are making it okay. Others of us chose the ivy league or private college, with a $30,000+/year bill, and a major that wasn't any more special than the equivalent major at a state college. Because of decisions made at 18, I know early 30-somethings who are married and want to buy a house and have children but can't do either because their combined student loan debt is nearly $150,000 which disqualifies them for any kind of house loan.
Fortunately, I chose a state school for both of my degrees and managed to consolidate my student loans right before the economy and housing market began to really crash in 2006. My total student loan debt was the equivalent of a brand new BMW 300 series with minimal options.
Honestly though, if I had it to do all over again, I would have earned my GED at 17, gone to community college for two years, and then transferred to a state college with a major related to the medical field or health administration. Are you wishing you had done it differently?
Because of the lousy economy of the past decade we are probably going to be the most educated generation ever but it comes at a price--literally. We are also going to be the most indebted generation ever because of our massive student loan debt.
Under pressure from our parents who wanted so much for us to "go to college and get a good paying job," we decided at the age of 18 which college we would attend and what our major would be. Two decisions that would shape not just our careers, but the rest of our lives. Some of us early Millennials chose a state college and a relatively in-demand major like finance or computer science, and are making it okay. Others of us chose the ivy league or private college, with a $30,000+/year bill, and a major that wasn't any more special than the equivalent major at a state college. Because of decisions made at 18, I know early 30-somethings who are married and want to buy a house and have children but can't do either because their combined student loan debt is nearly $150,000 which disqualifies them for any kind of house loan.
Fortunately, I chose a state school for both of my degrees and managed to consolidate my student loans right before the economy and housing market began to really crash in 2006. My total student loan debt was the equivalent of a brand new BMW 300 series with minimal options.
Honestly though, if I had it to do all over again, I would have earned my GED at 17, gone to community college for two years, and then transferred to a state college with a major related to the medical field or health administration. Are you wishing you had done it differently?
The First...
Since Kindergarten, a lot of us fought to be first. First in line to go to lunch. First to turn in their test. Graduating First in their class. When it comes to being first in a generation, well, we don't exactly have a choice in that matter.
I'm a Millennial who was born at the beginning of her generation. We are often labeled as "entitled" by the Gen X-ers and Baby Boomers in our lives but really, I think we're just misunderstood. When I finished college and started my first "real" job, I was misunderstood a lot. I was labeled as "uncooperative" and "entitled" because I didn't say "yes" as often as I was supposed to. Here I thought they wanted my original ideas. I thought I was being smart by asking questions in order to seek a better understanding of what my boss really wanted so I could anticipate it for next time. But no, I was really being "uncooperative," as they said.
It wasn't until now, in my early 30's when world was finally filled with other Millennials, that I realized I really wasn't being uncooperative. I was just misunderstood. This blog is going to talk about those misunderstandings as well as the challenges of being the first of a generation to experience a lot of things in a world of Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers who don't really like us very much.
It wasn't until now, in my early 30's when world was finally filled with other Millennials, that I realized I really wasn't being uncooperative. I was just misunderstood. This blog is going to talk about those misunderstandings as well as the challenges of being the first of a generation to experience a lot of things in a world of Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers who don't really like us very much.
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