A Generation Gap
I teach both adults in accelerated graduate programs and traditional students in undergraduate programs (at 8:00 AM!). Often times conversations with adult students center on changes in the workplace over the past ten, fifteen, or even twenty years. Conversations with my traditional (read: young) students focus on what they can expect in the workplace. Call it an old fashioned ‘generation gap’ but to me there is trouble ahead.
The issue is about ‘dues’. Not union or association due, but career dues. Most of my adult students, including their instructor, have paid theirs earlier in their careers. They took jobs that might not pay that well in exchange for positions that would provide experience, training, and opportunity. Some may have stayed with their companies and grown. Others may have left and leveraged their experience for a better, or higher paying, position. That seemed like the way to start out. Companies knew this and employees knew this. There was a mutually agreed to ‘value proposition’, using the vernacular of today.
But I am seeing this new generation not only rejecting that premise, but arguing that we old timers were stupid to enter into those deals with the devil. I have had conversations with students who tell me that they will not take entry level jobs and want, no expect, to begin higher in the organization. I tell them they may be disappointed with what they can expect and they tell me that their generation has loftier goals than mine.
A couple of years back a student who was on the verge of graduation came to me for some career advice. It seems that he had contacted a lot of companies about a job and no one had invited him in for an interview. I asked what kind of jobs he was going after and he told me he was interested in advertising and he was applying for jobs with documented requirements of 3-5 years of experience. I pointed out that he had NO viable experience in the field and that he should be going after entry level positions. He said that he expected to start higher in the organization. He may still be looking for a job.
Is there a generation gap in the workplace? Let me know your thoughts. Just post a comment on the page.
Matt Miller commented:
I would have to agree with Cindy. the psychological contract has
been broken time and again by corporations. The younger generations
heard about the results of past downsizing, but also hear every day
about the greed and corruption of corporate executives. With the
right training and technological skills that come natural, usually
they can take on a great deal more than managers think they can.
Train em and stretch em and they will thank you for it.
Michael commented:
I am a firm beliver that all must "
Cindy commented:
The workers entering the workforce now have seen their parents face
company downsizings and this has affected them in many ways. They
don't want to show any allegiance to a company they want to keep
shopping and moving ahead as best they can.
nonbeliver commented:
Many companies do not treat white coller employees as well as they
once did. You really mark yourself as a dinosaur if you still
believe in one career at one company makes sense, and you just put
you head down and be a good soldier. Sucker. "Dues" are just
another way to justify low pay while the employer uses up your most
vital years, the carrot just out of reach. At the end (mid 50s)
they toss you off like a used condom. Why sit in a holding pattern
3-5 years? Get some experience, learn, contribute, never stop
interviewing.
A Generation Gap commented:
Hope they have a bunk at the parent's house while they wait for a
"call" from a firm. After awhile, they (the traditional, read young
students) will have to reconcile job to gain experience versus no
job at all. Some of this can be attributed to just being naive,
some can be racked up to experience, further, a little comes from a
life of having things come a little too easy. Welcome to work.
Mary Walker commented:
I totally agree with your blog. Many feel a great deal of self
worth. They have the confidence that I think we failed to build on
in years past. When we finally got out in the work force, got that
first job, we were eager to please. We did not realize that we
could go in any place but the entry level unless we had a
connection. Now we offer classes on building your self confidence,
visualize your future, reach for the top. Sometimes we fail to
stress you have to climb up the ladder.
skipjack commented:
Great article and I see the "I want it now" in some of my younger
employees. While I hate the attitude I feel that we, the parents
and big brothers/sisters, of this new generation of workers are to
blame for the immediate gratification mentality. Our entire world
is built upon an "I want it now mentality." How many of us are
woried about this quarter's EPS as opposed to looking at the long
run? Why should we expect our children to behave any different?
PaperGuy41 commented:
Very Interesting article. I read another article about how the
younger generation will not take a whole lot of "dumping on" as we
"more experienced" may have had to put up with. That could lead to
a lot of job hopping on their part. How do you explain the positive
and negatives of that to them? In the current market, are their
negatives to frequent job changes or not? What about the reverse,
where someone stays at a job too long? I'd be interested in your
thoughts on that. Thank you and keep posting these excellent
articles.
