Millenials

It looks like our generations is now being referred to as the "Millennials". This refers to the kids born from 1980 to 1995, most of which are graduating college or soon to be out on the job market. There are a lot of stereotypes that go with each generation; the Greatest Generation saved the world. The Baby Boomers raised us and started the fast food culure, and Generation Y helped usher in the electronic age. How will our generation be seen? So far not in a flattering light.

Now if you took the time to read the three pages of Morley Safer's (foxy man eh?) old fogied rant on how us "youngun's have been coddled from cradle to graduation" you'll start to get an idea that many of the older hiring adults view us as soft and difficult to manage. This works against you and for you in a manner of ways. First the negatives, the preconceived notion will be that you aren't able to show up on time, are only good for technology related issues, and that you'll ask for things you don't deserve, like a raise. Of course this comes from our suspected "everybody wins" upbringing and lack of experience in the workplace. To the recruiter or manager you are about as useful as a warm bucket of spit.

But being a Millennial works for you in a number of ways, if you pitch it right. You can constructively construe your tech savvy and youthful inexperience as a pathway for creative problem solving. Not so good if you are in accounting but great if you work in logistics or a field where thinking on your feet is paramount. You can also surprise your interviewer by brining in a story that exemplifies your hard nose work ethic. For example, I would drop my 16 hour days in a law office when I was trying to get the firm's filing organized and caught up after a clerk left. You can also bring up a time when your parents differentiated themselves from others and did their best to mold your character and bring you up in a better and different way than other parents did. Like them taking away your "participant's baseball trophy" because your best effort wasn't good enough.

The job market is brutal and tough to break into. I went through 20+ interviews until I had my first job offer because it is difficult to make yourself stand out in a crowd of several hundred from different colleges. Do your darndest though to shed the Millennial image and be your own person rather than a stereotype.