The Millennial Generation: Not just young. We really are different.

The first in a series of posts about the millennial generation and generational issues. After a lot of reading and many conversations about the emergence of millennials in the workplace, I think it’s time to crystallize some of my thinking.

In the last week, I have settled into my new job at the family business. I also got news from one of my friends who left his job at a software development company to return to a work environment that better aligns with his principles and lifestyle. Another friend emailed about work, finally sharing that maybe he’s really just meant to start his own business. And yet another friend emailed to set a date to brainstorm about companies, blogs, nonprofits, etc…

We are all in our early 20s. We represent various professional backgrounds and personal interests, and we share the conviction that it is important to be deeply passionate about work and making positive change without having to sacrifice life. We’ve had enough experience already to know that our perception of success and its implications is a new one that’s challenging employers and older colleagues.

So when I read responses to articles such as “Twentysomethings ditch high salaries for job satisfaction” from Portfolio.com, I grew frustrated. Try this one:

“Obviously, these guys are not old enough to think about marriage, raising a family, retirement, etc. This is not a new generation thing, this is how young people think in every generation.”

As a 20-something who is married and has owned a home for over two years, I disagree. I graduated from college in 2005. I started out at a nonprofit and then moved to a for-profit communications agency. Almost three years after college, I was making more money than my parents did about five to 10 years ago. I was thinking about—and actively participating in, despite what the comment assumes—marriage, mortgage, retirement planning, etc. It wasn’t until last November, when my husband and I went on our first real vacation together since our honeymoon four years earlier, that I realized something was very, very out of sync with the life I had intended to create.

And that’s when some long talks began about what that meant… on a personal level and a professional level. A lot like the millennial stories featured in Portfolio.com’s article, I finally decided to take a cut in pay to follow my passions, have more control over my life, and develop one of my family’s young businesses. The decision wasn’t necessarily a slam on the places I had worked before–I was just making space for what I really want and what really matters to me and my family.

As I talk to more millennials and read articles like this, I am struck by the sense that this movement toward satisfaction over salary is not exactly a question of accessibility or age. This is not about people of a certain income being able to create a life that aligns with their intentions. And this isn’t about young people of any generation being free spirits. It may seem like a familiar sentiment, but I think what’s happening is truly distinct to the millennial generation. Here’s why:

We already know we’re working longer. Now it’s just a matter of how we’ll spend that time.
Older adults realized late in life that they’re living longer and healthier, meaning many of them will also want and need to work longer. My dad always expected to retire at age 52. Now in his late 40s, he can’t believe there was a time when he thought that was possible or desirable.

But longer working lives have always been part of the millennial generation’s reality, so we place special emphasis on staying power. We understand and even welcome the notion of working well into our 70s and 80s, and we are designing our lives for that kind of longevity. And we are also the kids who saw what happened after the dot-com bust, 9/11 and so on. Profits can come and go no matter how hard you work, but passion is yours. If the work is meaningful, it’s much more likely to sustain a person–making it easier for that person to in turn sustain good quality of work.

We’ve seen the “pay your dues” hierarchy, and many of us think it’s ineffective.
Many older adults worked in a system that promised security after a few decades of work. I recently attended a lunch session with a group of facilities managers. Within the first 15 minutes, I heard three introductions to the effect of, “Yeah, this guy’s happy—only 10 more years!” and “How are you doing? Where are you at, 27 years in now? Good for you.”

I can’t imagine a group of millennials having those kind of exchanges in the future… our lives are not built around 30-year systems. They can’t be. Here in Michigan, we’ve learned that the hard way. You don’t hear young people these days talking about graduating from high school and going to work on the factory lines.

As millennials, we believe our autonomy and independence are more reliable than those kinds of systems. We have watched an older generation pay into systems that have not fully rewarded them and certainly won’t adequately support them for the rest of their lives. We have worked for businesses that choose linear and safe process over organic and challenging progress. And we’ve looked at these approaches and decided not only are they not for us, but they can be ineffective in general.

We don’t think about our age as it relates to our desire to innovate. We just see better ways of getting things done.    
Millennial entrepreneurialism is a reflection of the unique times we’ve grown up in, a claim to the life we expect, and a challenge to broken ways of achieving success. Yet people tend to equate our entrepreneurialism to our youthfulness and technical savvy. While these are relevant factors, I think they often only help people feel better about dismissing our questions and contributions. For example, I have been told all of the following verbatim and in some variation:

• You are too impatient. (Might as well say I am too young.)
• Your expectations are too high; we can’t ask others to meet them. (Might as well say it’s hopeless.)
• Your skills are unique; we don’t really know what to do with you. (Might as well pigeonhole me, in that case?)

My first conversation that involved these statements was with my school principal in the eighth grade. I was very shy and asked to meet with her personally to share some serious concerns about my class (ranging from the boys’ rampant use of middle fingers to my struggle to improve my science grades). Her response: “Emily, you know you have really high expectations, and…” It turned into an old school Catholic guilt trip from there.

I started to believe that this kind of stuff was really just my problem, but now that I have worked alongside more millennials, I am so relieved to discover that many of us have always been this way! We have approached the world from a perspective of challenge, questioning, and innovation somewhat unconsciously. Now that we are coming into a world where there’s incentive to create mutual understanding, we may have the opportunity to share that perspective more collectively.

So how do we do that, and what defines the collective voice of the millennial generation? Tomorrow I’ll share what (I think) are the “three P’s” that will define the millennial generation.