Posted on 10/21/2008 8:01:55 AM PDT by reaganaut1
When Gretchen Neels, a Boston-based consultant, was coaching a group of college students for job interviews, she asked them how they believe employers view them. She gave them a clue, telling them that the word she was looking for begins with the letter "e." One young man shouted out, "excellent." Other students chimed in with "enthusiastic" and "energetic." Not even close. The correct answer, she said, is "entitled." "Huh?" the students responded, surprised and even hurt to think that managers are offended by their highfalutin opinions of themselves.
If there is one overriding perception of the millennial generation, it's that these young people have great -- and sometimes outlandish -- expectations. Employers realize the millennials are their future work force, but they are concerned about this generation's desire to shape their jobs to fit their lives rather than adapt their lives to the workplace.
Although members of other generations were considered somewhat spoiled in their youth, millennials feel an unusually strong sense of entitlement. Older adults criticize the high-maintenance rookies for demanding too much too soon. "They want to be CEO tomorrow," is a common refrain from corporate recruiters.
More than 85% of hiring managers and human-resource executives said they feel that millennials have a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com. The generation's greatest expectations: higher pay (74% of respondents); flexible work schedules (61%); a promotion within a year (56%); and more vacation or personal time (50%).
"They really do seem to want everything, and I can't decide if it's an inability or an unwillingness to make trade-offs," says Derrick Bolton, assistant dean and M.B.A. admissions director at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Boy are they gonna be surprised.
Reminds me of the Zappos offices, it looked like a kindergarten class party. But the company said it was important to keep the morral of the employees up.
And to think my morral builder was just simply a PAYCHECK!
Every profile of a young person today seems to be about someone with a 4.0 in High School, president of the class, a top athlete, went to Harvard or Yale, was editor of the school newspaper, then went to Stanford for the MBA, and got an internship assisting Bill Gates. Oh, and the kid plays 7 musical instruments, too.
Ummmmmmmm. Yeah, you can find some people like that, but they are not common. Yet I've seen a number of articles about the Millenial generation which seems to imply that 95% of them are far above average.
My belief (getting back to the topic of the article) is that one of the reasons some young people may feel entitled is that they keep reading in the paper that everyone in their generation is scoring that supercool, high-paying job -- so why shouldn't they? It's just not reality, it's something that the media is selling, and some young folks buy it. Then the media does a story on how those young folks feel entitled.
We'd all be better off if we got off the merry-go-round.
Isn’t what the WSJ just described simply “immaturity?”
Boy do I agree with that. So spoiled is a qualification now. Wait until they find out they can’t earn any money and their lives will be controlled by the government.
I can’t believe Obama is holds a Jobs Summit in FL. Is this a joke? It sounds more like one of those phony Job Fairs. I can’t believe he is actually standing up there trying to be different and show his skills as a community organizer somehow relates to the office of President of the US.
This is guy is unreal and the biggest joke I have ever seen.
I think these kids have been inundated with the reality show ethic also. anyone, no matter how untalented, odd, obnoxious or horrible can be rich and famous because MTV has made it possible. Think Paris Hilton, The Hills, Hulk Hogan, My Sweet 16 ,etc.
“Where do such feelings come from? Blame it on doting parents, teachers and coaches. Millennials are truly “trophy kids,” the pride and joy of their parents. The millennials were lavishly praised and often received trophies when they excelled, and sometimes when they didn’t, to avoid damaging their self-esteem. They and their parents have placed a high premium on success, filling résumés with not only academic accolades but also sports and other extracurricular activities.”
From the moment some of these kids arrived on the mortal coil, people have told them how fabulous, special, and super-duper they are. Why wouldn’t they believe it? Spare the rod and spoil the child.
But, to be fair, the society as a whole has become more and more like a petulent, spoiled child.
Let’s not forget what they see on TV, where people with coffee shop barista or part time bookstore jobs seem to have great lives, lots of toys, unlimited free time. This is also the result of the self-esteem movement that has told them how very special they are and that everything they do is superior.
The biggest problem these kids are going to have is they think the boomers are going to retire and they will be in high demand. After the last few weeks I know few boomers who are intending to totally retire anytime soon. Those expected jobs may not be coming as fast as these little s**ts think.
My step-son who is an older Millenial owns his own bike shop in Columbus, OH. Last week he was telling us about the people who work for him. None want to work more than 20 hours/week, they can’t do anything unless someone stands behind them and explains every step, they are very fragile both psychically and physically every little hurt and they have to take the day off and they have no self motivation.
He is working 12-15 hour day 7 days a week and doing very well, but these kids are killing him. He has actually said that in some cases he can do the work quicker by himself than having to stand behind these losers, holding their hand. If it was me it would be a real simple thing either you can do the job or your fired, end of story.
These are the idiots with MBA’s telling our corporations how to run their companies.
25yr.old know nothings convinced they know it all.
Reminds me to that there was a generational disregard among baby boomers when Gen X came into the workplace. There was age discrimination.
And now the boomers think they can keep their middle management positions and offshore the labor (R&D, support) and keep marketing and project management here.
50% of every demographic are below average.
I always turn to my wife and ask "Do they do any medicine at that hospital?"
People today are spoonfed a very false picture of the real world.
Well,this is nothing new. We know what the best and the brightest brought us and times have not changed.
They think they are the anointed ones.
Nothing much going for them, other than mommy’s and daddy’s connections and lots of money.
It’s a payoff to dem governors in red states. He needs them and their secretaries of state to make sure the counting goes his way.
He’s got plenty of dollars to spread around.
I would have estimated that at most 70% were "far above average."
Regards,
“More than 85% of hiring managers and human-resource executives said they feel that millennials have a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com. The generation’s greatest expectations: higher pay (74% of respondents); flexible work schedules (61%); a promotion within a year (56%); and more vacation or personal time (50%).
“They really do seem to want everything, and I can’t decide if it’s an inability or an unwillingness to make trade-offs,” says Derrick Bolton, assistant dean and M.B.A. admissions director at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.”
Most women past 40 can relate to the above. So many of the young women hired today, start having babies as soon as their new insurance will pay for it. They take the max pregnancy leaves before and after the babies are born. Sometimes the babies are brought into the office when Mom returns to spend about 20 hours for her 40 hour paycheck.
Any medical event for the babies require a complete day off for the mother. If they have mothers, grannies or sisters in the area, full days off sop when those family members see a doctor or dentist.
Lunch hours are spent shopping or whatever, and lunches are brought back to the offices to be eaten on the clock.
Personal cell phones are used throughout the day as well as office phones for personal calls during the work periods.
Office Computers are used for personal emails and internet browsing and shopping and non business sites. Sometimes personal portable computers are plugged into the dsl office lines. The new IPOD and Blackberry Phones are always on and take priority over what is supposed to be done in the office.
If kids are at child care, their day ends from 3 to 4:30 instead of the 5 pm closing hours.
The women over 40 and the younger ones with a work ethic end up doing all of the work not done by the entitled ones.
I remember this one guy in particular - real big guy, real loud, liked to wear funny leafy-print green suits. He had a particular knack of telling me exactly what I was worth and what my expectations might be for the day, the week, etc...oh, and he liked pushups. It's sort of amazing how right he turned out to be... ;-)
Genration WIHUIA
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