According to the New York Times, the Millenials are emerging as a dominant demographic force. What does that mean for the rest of us? This is the group of people born after 1980 but before 2000…a giant group estimated to number at least 80 million Americans, more than the baby boom generation. This group grew up with 24 hour TV, fused over by marketers and college recruiters, dissected by psychologists, demographers and trend-spotters and they are finally coming into their own. The group is being identified by recruiters, audiences, other generations, travelers, and their patho-psychological attributes, etc. Many individuals have a tendency to look at this generation and consider them ‘narcissistic’ and ‘entitled’. However, a Pew Research Center project which presents a sequence of reports on Millenials found that they were not an ‘entitled’ generation but a complex and introspective one. They, as young members of society, have weathered many public traumas: the terrorist attack of September 11, the Great Recession….the images of Iraq and Afghanistan and for the older Millenials, Okalahoma City and Columbine….episodes lived and relived, played and replayed on TV and computer screens.
Millenials are very skeptical of institutions, both political and religious. Thanks to the crash of 2008, Millenials know how fleeting wealth can be and they prefer to acquire not more, but less. 64 percent of all Millenials interviewed in the Pew Research said that they would prefer a job that they like paying $40,000 a year than a job that they don’t like paying $100,000 a year. The average Millenial has no problem running a company out of their parents’ basement because they reject the security of a corporate job and will riskily persue their own ventures. At the same time, record numbers of college graduates are applying for positions with the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or Teach for America. They bring new perspectives to the work place that add value to their employers, even though those strengths also carry inherent weaknesses from a corporate perspective.
Immune to hierarchy or labels and raised in an era of social media and crowdsourcing, Millenials are fiercely inclusive. Studies show that Millenial managers are more likely to build culturally competent teams that ignore race, gender, sexual orientation, age and physical abilities, among other characteristics. This diversity of perspectives can drive stronger decision making and should be encouraged. Millenials don’t just want a job; they want to make a difference. An MTV study showed that 83 percent of Millenials want to work for a company that values their creativity. More than 90 percent are motivated to work harder if they know where their work is going and 92 percent expect feedback in this type of environment.
Their shopping habits are interesting as well; many of them reject name brands and buy their clothes at the Kohl’s and Targets of the world or spend disposable income allocated for fashion in places such as Plato’s Closet. H&M is a big name for this generation due to the fact that the chain is very conscious of the chemicals utilized in the material/fabrics that are being sold. They have grown up with Title IX in the background of their lives and many of them are exercise conscious as well as food conscious. ‘For Millenials, food isn’t just food, it is community’. An estimated 12 percent of all Millenials are vegetarians compared to 4 percent of Generation X and 1 percent of Baby Boomers.
Millenials have grown up with the sense that failure is a likelihood but it seems to be that they have accepted that fact. In the workplace, rather than contact an IT specialist, 61 percent attempt to fix the technical problems themselves. 71 percent stated that they have utilized Google to help them solve a workplace IT issue. However, they have grown up ‘sharing’ information with Social Media and in the workplace they need to ask themselves the questions: Does this post help someone? If yes, publish. If no, don’t publish.
Interesting facts about Millenials that make me pause when I think of this generation:
1. They can’t remember a time before the Internet.
2. Their childhood occurred during a time of peak economic prosperity in the United States.
3. They don’t remember the fall of the Berlin Wall or have any Cold War memories.
4. They were not yet adults when 9/11 happened.
5. They were deeply affected by at least one other post-1990 event….perhaps the Rwandan genocide, the Great Recession or even the election of Barack Obama.
Another fact that I find amazing about the Millenials reported by the Pew Research Group is that they are generally eternal optimists! ‘They believe that their own best days are ahead of them.’ Surprisingly, so do I!!!
Millenials are very skeptical of institutions, both political and religious. Thanks to the crash of 2008, Millenials know how fleeting wealth can be and they prefer to acquire not more, but less. 64 percent of all Millenials interviewed in the Pew Research said that they would prefer a job that they like paying $40,000 a year than a job that they don’t like paying $100,000 a year. The average Millenial has no problem running a company out of their parents’ basement because they reject the security of a corporate job and will riskily persue their own ventures. At the same time, record numbers of college graduates are applying for positions with the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or Teach for America. They bring new perspectives to the work place that add value to their employers, even though those strengths also carry inherent weaknesses from a corporate perspective.
Immune to hierarchy or labels and raised in an era of social media and crowdsourcing, Millenials are fiercely inclusive. Studies show that Millenial managers are more likely to build culturally competent teams that ignore race, gender, sexual orientation, age and physical abilities, among other characteristics. This diversity of perspectives can drive stronger decision making and should be encouraged. Millenials don’t just want a job; they want to make a difference. An MTV study showed that 83 percent of Millenials want to work for a company that values their creativity. More than 90 percent are motivated to work harder if they know where their work is going and 92 percent expect feedback in this type of environment.
Their shopping habits are interesting as well; many of them reject name brands and buy their clothes at the Kohl’s and Targets of the world or spend disposable income allocated for fashion in places such as Plato’s Closet. H&M is a big name for this generation due to the fact that the chain is very conscious of the chemicals utilized in the material/fabrics that are being sold. They have grown up with Title IX in the background of their lives and many of them are exercise conscious as well as food conscious. ‘For Millenials, food isn’t just food, it is community’. An estimated 12 percent of all Millenials are vegetarians compared to 4 percent of Generation X and 1 percent of Baby Boomers.
Millenials have grown up with the sense that failure is a likelihood but it seems to be that they have accepted that fact. In the workplace, rather than contact an IT specialist, 61 percent attempt to fix the technical problems themselves. 71 percent stated that they have utilized Google to help them solve a workplace IT issue. However, they have grown up ‘sharing’ information with Social Media and in the workplace they need to ask themselves the questions: Does this post help someone? If yes, publish. If no, don’t publish.
Interesting facts about Millenials that make me pause when I think of this generation:
1. They can’t remember a time before the Internet.
2. Their childhood occurred during a time of peak economic prosperity in the United States.
3. They don’t remember the fall of the Berlin Wall or have any Cold War memories.
4. They were not yet adults when 9/11 happened.
5. They were deeply affected by at least one other post-1990 event….perhaps the Rwandan genocide, the Great Recession or even the election of Barack Obama.
Another fact that I find amazing about the Millenials reported by the Pew Research Group is that they are generally eternal optimists! ‘They believe that their own best days are ahead of them.’ Surprisingly, so do I!!!
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