A Message to Generation X

Most of the questions I get from Human Resources and Recruiting professionals about Generation Y are the same. They are all about why this generation expects to get so much so fast, why we feel entitled to flexibility, why we think we deserve high pay immediately, and so forth. The thing that surprises me every time is that it's not the Baby Boomers who are so upset with Gen Y, it's the Gen Xers. The more I pay attention, the more obvious it is that it's the Gen Xers who think we're just lazy, entitled Millennials.

It's one of my jobs to know the generation gap, so I checked out the cover story from a 1997 issue of TIME called, "Great Xpectations." Here's a key quote:

. . . more and more (Gen Xers) are prowling tirelessly for the better deal, hunting down opportunities that will free them from the career imprisonment that confined their parents. They are flocking to technology start-ups, founding small businesses and even taking up causes–all in their own way.

It sounds like both Gen X and Gen Y want the same thing! The problem is that Generation X did not get what they asked for, and Generation Y is seemingly being catered to like we are owed something. After reading the TIME piece, I can understand better Gen X's frustration. But I think it's time for us all, X and Y, to move forward, together.

So, here are 3 reasons Generation Y can and will pick up where Generation X left off and make the workplace better for us all.

Y Has Better Demographics

Generation X was simply too small to force any kind of change. There are about 50 million Gen Xers in the United States compared to nearly 76 million baby boomers and 77 million Millennials. When Gen Xers graduated college, the jobs were not there. With only 50 million people to fill the positions, and plenty of boomers around to fill the middle management jobs, companies had their pick of candidates. Employers took advantage by hiring only the top candidates and paying them as little as possible.

Generation Y is 50% bigger than Generation X, and with Xers dropping out of the workforce to take care of their children, employees, not management, have the power and even a recession won't slow down the job market. Generation Y has the same confidence, the same ambition and the same savviness as Generation X had in their twenties, but the demographics are in Gen Y's favor. Y can ask for change and actually get it.

Y Has Better Technology

Generation X came of age when the internet was just coming into common, public use. There were great new technologies and plenty of opportunities to strike it rich in Silicon Valley, much like there are today. But the 90's were still a time of traditional media and marketing to the masses. So if you wanted to make your voice heard, you had to pay thousands for a TV commercial or somehow become a celebrity. Today, anyone with a bad job can start a blog and tell the world why work should be better. Plus, where there was no easy way to create a collective Gen X voice, the Web is now all about community. And Generation Y embraces the idea of community like no other generation.

Y Has Better Teamwork

Generation Y is the ultimate "team" generation. Despite what the media says, it's not about us versus the rest of you. It's about how can we all work together? How can we all be happy?

We're not competing now and we never were competing with the Baby Boomers. We're the entry level grunts and they're the big shots in the corner office. We don't threaten their jobs and they don't make us work long hours because we don't report to them. But Gen X hated, and still hates, the Boomers. It makes sense. The baby boomers were directly managing the Gen Xers, and because of the demographics I pointed out above, the Gen Xers had to work the long hours or risk being fired and (easily) replaced.

Generation Y escapes the bitterness toward Gen X, or toward any other generation. We know we're lucky to be joining the workforce as Boomers leave and Gen Xers can't fill all of their shoes, but it's not about me versus you, and it's not about Gen Y being all that different from any other Generation.

So my message to Generation X is: let's forget the past and all hop on the bandwagon. We can make work a great place to be, and we can do it together.

At Work, Size Does Matter

Recently, I started thinking about how company size affects work experience after talking to a friend about his new job. He is one of five employees at his office and there are no satellite offices in other cities. I was intrigued because I've never worked at a company that small. I've had some internship experiences at companies with fewer than 50 employees. While these gave me a glimpse into what it is like to work in a smaller environment, being an intern just isn't the same as being a "real employee" for various reasons. The rest of my experience has been in larger environments and the conversation got me thinking about what both environments can offer millennials at the start of their careers. I was further intrigued when I came across this 2007 survey from NetWorld, which shows that the larger a company is, the less likely employees are to say they are very satisfied with their jobs. For the purposes of this post and the sake of clarity, I'll define small companies as those consisting of about 100 or fewer employees. Large companies are those with 500 or more employees and medium size is everything in between.

My hunch is that during the first few years of your career, smaller companies could allow you to be a lot more hands-on from the start. Based on my own experience and the experience of friends who work in small environments, it seems like it is generally easier to be given and to take on more responsibility at a small company because there are fewer coworkers to pick up the slack. At small companies, job descriptions tend to be less fixed than they are at large organizations so it is easier to step outside your everyday responsibilities and try out other roles, which can be great for your professional development. You also get to interact with employees that are more senior than you are quite often. "I see the big cheese daily and work directly for him," my friend observed.

When I think about the different types of small offices I am familiar with, most of the examples I can come up with are nonprofit organizations. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm based in D.C. Still, I think it's a relevant observation because nonprofits do seem to make up a significant number of the smaller offices that frequently have openings available to employees at the beginning of their careers. Unfortunately, some of my ideas (based partially on experience and partially on stereotypes) about working at nonprofits illustrate what can be really bad about working for a small company. Not only can you take on more responsibility, but you often wind up being required to juggle a whole lot of responsibilities outside of your job description whether you asked for it or not. At nonprofits, people tend to assume that you're passionate about their work and that the money is secondary. They're also obviously not-for-profit, which often means that they're on a tight budget. So for a nonprofit employee, this means little or zero compensation for your extra hours of work. But you're probably learning a lot too.

On the other hand, the opportunities at a large company can really enhance your professional development, even if your job responsibilities initially do not. When you're entry-level at a big corporation, you're often there to fulfill specific duties and your responsibilities are probably the sort of thing you can master quite quickly. The well-oiled natured of many large companies tend to make it more challenging to step outside your assigned job and take on more, although it's not impossible. But the real professional development at a large company lies in the fact that the place has more resources, which can benefit you in a bunch of different ways. Some big organizations offer employee training sessions that focus on everything from computer skills to presentation techniques. Many large corporations also love to fill management and senior positions from within and some have internal educational programs to help with this purpose. It's a lot more theory-based, but an ambitious employee can usually find ways to work himself or herself into situations or positions where the theory can be put into practice.

When you're job searching or weighing up job offers, you probably won't have the luxury of picking from companies of many different sizes. But it's worth considering how the size of the organization will influence your professional development. Everyone will have a unique answer for this question, but considering your ideal can certainly prevent you from winding up in a situation that doesn't work well for you. In general, working at a small company offers you the opportunity to hit-the-ground running, while the experience at a large company is more of an exercise in armchair observation and assertive initiative. Individuals experiences obviously vary and there are many other factors that will play into what a job means for your professional development. As my friend who works at the company of five noted, "It all depends on who your boss is, if they are willing to let you take on major projects etc." And that's the subject of a different post.

Millennials in the Newsroom

As millennials come of age, they're infiltrating the work force in all areas and all industries. Many, like me, are becoming journalists. And some, like me, are continually re-evaluating this career decision. While I think you can find recovering journalists in almost every generation (I've chatted with way too many people who seem to have concluded that being a journalist was more appealing on paper than in practice), there are some unique reasons why the news room can be a toxic place for millennials. At the same time, the digitalization of news is providing opportunities that mesh really well with the Gen Y mentality.

Keen observers of Gen Y know that this generation craves work-life balance. For us, sacrificing a personal life to climb the ranks at work isn't a reasonable trade-off. We want jobs that can accommodate life, not a life that has to accommodate the job – an aspiration that is often at odds with the status quo in many work places. It is an especially lofty goal when it comes to journalism, a career that often requires late hours and weekend work to meet deadlines.

Predictably, millennials in journalism aren't happy about those long hours. According to a 2005 Poynter survey, journalists between 20 and 34 years old were most likely to say they had considered leaving journalism because of work-life balance issues. And newsroom vets generally aren't getting it. Danna Walker, an adjunct journalism professor at American University who also works as an editor and producer at CBS, says that "the older generation didn't know what to think" when millennials first showed up in newsrooms. "The assumption is that millennials aren't as willing to pay their dues," she says. In fact, the whole "pay your dues" mentality is "worn out," according to Bea Fields, author of "Millennial Leaders." Control tactics do nothing to attract and retain Gen Y employees, as Fields explains over at Y Blog.

Newsrooms also rarely meet Gen Y's mentorship and training expectations. A young journalist recently submitted a question to "Ask the Recruiter" columnist Joe Grimm, a well-know recruitment and development editor for the Detroit Free Press. The recent graduate wrote that he got "minimal feedback" from the editors at his paper, leaving him with "no idea" whether he was doing a good job or a bad job. "If misery loves company, you have plenty of both," Grimm writes in response, citing a survey that found that lack of training is the number one complaint that journalists have about the profession.

But millennials aren't totally doomed to an otherwise unhappy or non-existent future in journalism. The Internet and multimedia news can add a "wonderful dynamic" to newsrooms, says Jill Geisler, a journalism leadership and management specialist at Poynter. Young journalists with technical skills are in big demand to staff news Web sites. As a result, many new hires are commanding respect from day one because they're often the only person in the newsroom with the multimedia know-how to perform certain tasks. "As editors realize they need new approaches and people with new media skills, younger folks are becoming more valued," Walker writes in an e-mail. A Gen Y friend who works for NBC in Washington, D.C. tells me that she and some of her other colleagues are sought after by their older newsroom counterparts who are hoping that the millennials can teach them a thing or two about the computer programs they learned in journalism school. In many situations, multimedia is not only allowing Gen Yers to get a foot in the door, but it's immediately positioning them in roles where they are taken seriously from the start.

In addition, the expansion of online news is also catering to Gen Y's job-hopping tendencies. New positions are popping up in many companies that are launching or expanding Web sites to complement print work. Job-hopping within the industry is common, observes Meg Martin, a multimedia producer for the Roanoke Times. "There's a lot of crossover and a lot of news organizations are encouraging people to explore different positions," Martin says.

The news industry is facing a moment of significant challenges and prospects in terms of recruitment of Gen Y journalists. Will digital news be journalism's proverbial "knight in shining armor" when it comes to recruiting millennials and then retaining them for longer than five minutes? Could it set journalism apart from other industries in the quest to adapt to Gen Y? The answer will certainly depend on how individual newsrooms resolve work-life balance concerns, training needs and other issues that matter to millennials. But for me and the thousands of other millennials with notoriously high student loan payments, the bottom line might just end up getting the largest say.

Grad School and Experience: A Scientist's Perspective

People decide to go to grad school for a variety of reasons, some good and some not so good. I went to grad school straight out of college because I had an interest in science and no career aspirations. After college the only job prospect I had from our career services involved moving home and taking a lab technician job that paid less than the stipend I received in grad school.

Looking back on it now, I really had no idea what I was going to do, even during grad school. And what ensued turned out to be one of the most educational experiences I have ever had.

Just because you have an advanced degree it does not guarantee you a job. In some situations, such as the one I am going to introduce, it can actually work against you.

Typically, after earning a PhD one embarks onto another period of time known as a post-doctoral position (post-doc). This is an intense period of anywhere from 1-5 years when you become the "workhorse" of the lab, not only performing your own experiments, but also advising graduate and undergraduate students (this is analogous to a residency, for all you Scrubs/ER/Grey's fans).

You work long hours and make virtually nothing (the NIH pay scale starts at roughly $37K with medical insurance and that is assuming that your institution actually pays using the NIH scale). When your contract is up you are expected to either have landed a professorship or find another post-doc (which can end up being an entire career for some people).

With a glut of scientists in a market where the science budget is the lowest ever, things were not looking good. Towards the end of my tenure I realized that the bureaucratic nonsense of academia quickly beat the enthusiasm for basic research out of me.

I was tired of being a slave, so I decided to try to change fields. Let me tell you, it's not easy trying to market science to anyone else but a scientist!

Here is where my ability to network saved me because even before defending my Ph.D. thesis, I had two solid job offers, Job A and Job B.

Job A was a scientist position for a healthcare company. It was a riskier jump into the real world because there was not a direct translation of my skill set. If it paid off, the dividends were huge. On the other hand, Job B was a nice ease into leaving the science world, like a warm bathtub. I was still doing science based work, but I was slowly transitioning out of research.

Guess which one I chose? Yep, Job A, because I figured I could make it work. After a week of orientation they decided I was not cut out for it and disbanded my position, and subsequently the entire department with it. The way I found out was awful. I had to drive out to the company headquarters, an hour away from my apartment. I was 1.5 hrs late for the meeting with my boss due to a traffic accident. Once I got there I had barely said "good morning" when he broke the news. I drove back to my apartment and sat there, still in shellshock.

So there I was, one month out of school in a strange city and unemployed for the first time. I had never been without a job, even as a kid I had always lined my jobs up early. "Now what," I thought. So I did what any other person would do in this case, I called every contact I knew of; friends, colleagues, head hunters, people I had just met. Then I searched for jobs outside of my network.

I ended up applying to a number of jobs in a multitude of fields, finance, medical writer, even some low research jobs that I was overqualified for. Luckily Job B was still available and I took that after a few stressful weeks. Here are 5 lessons I learned that can serve us all:

1. Just because you have a PhD, or any advanced degree, it doesn't guarantee you a job

This may sound like I'm beating a dead horse, but until your thrust into that situation you don't really worry about it. Grad school is what you make it! I received an education in life as much as science. I liked my research project and even branched out to find others, but I consider myself lucky. Some students I knew never found their niche and burned out quickly. I did things that are important to building future success like not getting straight A's, volunteering, playing sports, and networking everywhere I went. When I was panicking to find a job my advanced education actually worked against me because I was overeducated for entry-level positions in my field. The jobs that required a PhD wanted experience I didn't have. What the heck I thought, I went to grad school to avoid that whole mess. Nope, it actually makes it worse.

2. Experience trumps all

Companies always want experienced individuals. Period. I found out that 1 year of a post-doc translated to 2 years in other industries. Lots of good that information did me when I couldn't even land an entry level position.

3. Salesmanship is an art that only experience gives you

Being able to sell yourself becomes incrementally harder outside of your own field. Had I gone on to a post-doc I would have been fine. Moving out of science I had to market my talents in a manner that non-science employers could appreciate. It was only until I actually attempted it that I learned how. Had I developed my name and branded myself properly I would either still be at Job A, or have had an easier time finding a new job.

4. Don't lose the ability to hold a conversation

Even in this age of mass communication the important aspects of life are still carried out person to person (i.e. dating, interviews, networking etc.). With all the means of communications today teenagers are becoming more dependent on text messages and emails and less able to hold conversations in real life. You may have 900 friends on Facebook, but can you ace your next job interview or business presentation? Our generation is big on teamwork and corporations are realizing this fact and making amends to help facilitate communication amongst its workers to harness this energy. If you can't tell them why you will be a crucial member of their team, they will never know.

5. Like Verizon, it's all about the network

In an age that is based upon rapid dissemination of information it's still all about who you know. We are a generation who thrives on social networks and contacts with hundreds of people at the touch of our fingertips. It really is a great way to keep your options open when hunting for a job. I was told once that the majority of job listings found in the big science journals were only formalities, the candidates were already in mind. If you think about this, it makes perfect sense, as the job you are looking for will rarely be posted in an ad or database.

Ask These Questions to Make Sure Your Boss Won't Suck

It would've been nice if someone told me that there are early warning signs that determine whether or not your boss is going to suck. I had to learn the hard way.

Unfortunately, that's the case for most of us. As early as the first interview, we're so consumed by how we're perceived by the company that we don't take the time to look at who we're going to work for; even when they're sitting directly across from us.

In an interview, the questions you ask are just as important as the questions your potential boss asks you. They can determine what the relationship will be like and they can determine whether or not working for this person is really right for you.

What time do you typically get into the office?

If your potential boss can't at least answer this question with a hint of certainty, it's hard to say whether or not you can count on them to be there when you need entry-level support. It's understandable that throughout any given day, meetings, lunches and workshops will keep any boss from committing a daily dose of their time. I've learned that the morning is usually the time to get the guidance you need out of your manager.

When I worked in corporate communications, my boss was missing in action for the majority of my 8-hour days. If I needed to meet with her, it was up to me to catch her while she ate breakfast and read the morning news. Otherwise, my day was going nowhere.

Having a boss that can't commit to what time they will show up in the morning is dreadful. And unless of course they can commit to meeting you at some other habitual point in the day, you're not going to get the attention most entry-level workers crave during their early career.

What time do you typically leave the office?

Just as important as when your boss gets into the office is when they leave. If they're someone who never stops working, it's probable that they'll have a hard time understanding that you do.

Penelope rarely turns off work mode. Her hours are erratic and it completely clashes with my ability to have a "work-life" and a "life-life." Luckily, I'm not in a position where getting fired concerns me. Unfortunately, most people are.

If you hope to have a life outside of your job, unpredictable bosses are the worst. You'll either spend hours waiting for something they may need rather than calling it a day, or you'll leave at a reasonable time and get blasted the next morning when it turns out that something important came up and you weren't there.

What type of person do you like to work with?

Having a manager who knows exactly who they want working for them is crucial. First off, it says a lot about their character. And secondly, it shows that they'll know how to get the best out of you if you're hired.

A boss who knows who they want to work with shows that they know enough about their own strengths and weaknesses to choose people that will work well on his/her team. When I was an intern reporter for a collection of community newspapers back in New Jersey, there was one editor that I consistently did assignments for. She was overburdened with hard-news (borough council meetings, crime reports, etc.) and because they were such high priority, her feature/soft news stories were suffering.

Seeing that I was such a great people person, she realized that she could leverage my abilities by using me as a feature news writer. I went out and met with people around the town she covered, found the stories and covered the pieces of the news that were missed because of her workload.

What is your boss like?

The people that your boss has to deal with will inevitably play into how your boss deals with you. If their boss is really demanding, you may be seeing less of them, but more challenging work. If their boss if more lax, you'll probably see more of your boss, but less challenging work during your day-to-day.

How you deal with the answer to this question all depends on what you are looking for most in a job. We'd all like to have both challenging work and a manager who is always around to help, but you'll never find that perfect balance.

Accept that fact. Then decide whether or not your boss's boss is going to make your job better or worse.

How do you like to communicate with your employees?

When I look back at my first part-time jobs as a baker/cook, a gas station attendant and a liquor store employee, what I miss the most is the face-to-face communication I received on a daily basis. To me, nothing beats the value of that kind of personal attention.

Both the corporate world and entrepreneurship have been tough. Communicating the way I like is sometimes impossible. Blackberries and laptops are essential in order for us to stay connected…it sucks.

So first, face the fact that 75 percent of our communication is going to be electronic. Next, make sure that your boss does make an effort to communicate with you in person. If they don't you'll unavoidably become disconnected and you won't like it.