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Ryan Healy is a recent college graduate. He is a founder of 
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New here? Employee Evolution is a blog written by Ryan Healy. Ryan is a Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist, the webs #1 social network for young professionals. Ryan speaks with organizations on best practices for recruiting and retaining Generation Y and how to effectively use social media to reach your target market. To contact Ryan, please visit our contact page.
Go to college, graduate with a technical degree and become a professional, preferably a doctor, lawyer or accountant. Join the workforce for a few years, then get married and have a kid or two.
According to my father this was the typical advice given to young baby boomer boys growing up. Their parents expected them to follow the same straight and narrow path as them. They had a few choices; follow the advice or rebel and make it on their own.
“Be whatever you want to be. Find something you love and pursue that passion. With enough desire and enough hard work you can do anything you set your mind to.
This was the advice I received growing up. Flash forward to today and I’m still trying to figure out what it is that I love. There are too many choices! Should I join the Peace Corps and rebuild houses in Mongolia? Should I work for a presidential campaign for a year? Should I go to Wall Street and become a money making machine with no time for a social life?
Not only can I choose any career, but I can choose any city, state or country. My family lives all over the United States and my friends live all over the world. I can communicate and keep relationships with them through the internet no matter where I move. I feel no pressure to get married or start a family any time soon. I can do all of these things when I am ready.
The choices go way beyond career and family. I can choose from hundreds of TV channels, and if I don’t like the graphics I can choose to watch them in HD. The Internet, where I spend too much time, is a big black hole of decisions about information. Even the cereal aisle at the grocery store can turn into a painful decision process. Life in the 21st century is a constant choice.
Pretty heated comment threads on Brazen Careerist about this topic. Way to go, Ryan!
Thanks, Danielle. I’m actually surprised at the negative responses. I guess some people just wish they had as many choices when they were our age!
I think change can be really hard for some people. And maybe some of them feel insulted that we’re pushing back and saying, no I’m sorry, that’s not what I want. Like it somehow devalues what they’ve worked so hard to attain. It will be interesting, however, to see what happens as all those hardworking boomers start hitting their retirement years. I think they’re going to cause as much of a shift in that area as we’re going to cause coming into the workforce.
That is a great point Danielle. We obviously don’t want what most of our parents wanted and I’m sure that bothers them. I think you are right about the retirement thing too. Boomers will hopefully begin to redefine what retirement really is. I know my parents have very different thoughts about their retirement then my grandparents did.
As long as it is progress, realigning values, goals and thoughts as time progresses should always be a priority. The status quo is boring.
I love and respect my genY daughter. She works very hard, tries new experiences and is a high-end achiever. I encourgae her to try-on new experiences so she knows where her abilities and talents allow for a fun fit or for a head-bashing challenge. I hope her experiences help direct her choice of careers. It’ll be hard for her since she’s very multi-talented. Genetics played a role with that in her two end-boomer parents. I’m sorry to read the boomer-bashing. Hard to believe, but there were choices boomers had to make when they were 20 and 30 about their time and career choices. It wasn’t any easier. That’s why you hear about people re-inventing themselves. I suspect genYers will have their fingers in a couple of pies to blend career with life-interests. The key though, is to start somewhere and make a choice.
There ARE too many choices. Just like Ryan, I was told pursue my passions ever since I was a child. Then I felt guilty for not knowing what my passion was. I took my love for music as a call to teach. Now here I am with a music teaching degree and no desire to teach. I moved back in with my parents and think “now what”. First I fret about what I should do with my life. Now, I am fretting about simply finding a full-time job. Ryan, what choices does one have if they don’t pursue jobs in the field that their bachelor’s degree is in?