Aren't we all just Millennials anyway?

Aren’t we all just Millennials anyway?

There has been a lot written on Millennials recently as if the current generation joining the workforce are some kind of alien invasion.

“The kids today”, depicted as bizarre for expecting honesty, regular feedback, opportunities to develop quickly and influence company decisions.

The BBC published an article recently applauding KPMG for changing their recruitment process “following research suggesting millennials were frustrated by lengthy recruitment processes”. 

I don’t know about you, but I was pretty frustrated 15 years ago when Big 5 recruitment took months from application to offer.  And I’ve never been a huge fan of being lied to, stagnating in my role or having my opinions ignored.

So why are these expectations being publicised as “new” or exceptional when actually they have been around for decades?  

Isn’t the reality simply that the global economy has meant that we all have many more options in terms of our employment than we did 20 years ago?

Having a career for life is simply not a reality any more.  None of us need to work for 40 years in the same company in order to make Company Director.  In fact, most people now change jobs every 2-4 years.  Companies with long service risk becoming stuck in their ways and failing to address their customers’ changing demands.  Regular turnover is actually a benefit to the employee as well as the organisation.

Career changes are becoming increasingly popular with people training to be Teachers after careers in Industry or turning their hobbies and talents into Cottage Industries.  The rise of technology use in every aspect of our lives has also created such a huge demand for tech skills that people are working for themselves at an unprecedented level.

I don’t believe it is relevant to say that one generation has made this happen.  The global economy has opened up so many opportunities that we all have many more choices than we did before.  Maybe the Millennial Generation is better able to benefit from these opportunities because they have less financial and familial responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t expect the same things.

I would give the same advice to anyone from 16 to 60 – if your boss can’t have an honest conversation with you; if you aren’t developing your skills or aren’t able to share ideas with your colleagues at work, it’s time to get out of there!  None of us have to wait 3 months to get a job offer.  The world moves much too fast for bureaucracy these days; it’s comforting to see that big companies are finally catching up.