Confident and connected, yet a jobless generation.
The youth are hailed for their world changing ideas, yet the majority are unemployed. Who is responsible?
While a few regard the youth as future leaders, most others label them as ‘lazy’ and ‘entitled’.
While we may all have an opinion on the youth, let’s look at ourselves for a change, the older generation* and how we maybe limiting the employment opportunities of the next generation.
*I am loosely associating ‘older generation’ with all experienced professionals who have a Linkedin network of 250+ connections. I hope there is not too much ambiguity about this group as you read along
Personally, I like to look at young people as being hungry for more opportunities. Opportunities to learn new things, to use new tools, to change old paradigms, and to create a world suited to address the challenges of their generation.
I am about to tell you what young people think of the older generation or YOU, the reader:
You are lazy, entitled, proud and shallow.
I do not have studies or reports to prove this! I do not have statistics! I have quotes from my peers and friends! Unlike my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents, I am not a scholar. I have new ideas for doing things.
I have tried to illustrate the sentiment of the youth by borrowing from Joel Stein’s language in this TIME article about the Millennials.
My intention is not to be academic about human behaviours, but to reflect on our own shortcomings and explore new ways to connect and employ this vibrant generation into the emerging economy.
The youth say:
1. You are lazy.
The world is changing at a rapid pace, but most of the older generation is slow to adapt and wants to hold on to the status-quo for a bit longer.
dis nigga be like “get a job” an i be like “i applied to all the places” and he go like “go ride around an apply again”. dumb ass dont realize most places you apply online… Justin, How i is.
When was the last time you connected with young people to understand their questions and challenges?
Most educational institutes encourage the use of alumni networking and digital social networks as a way for young students and experienced professionals to connect. You stay behind digitally walled alumni networks under the pretext of using time efficiently.
Today, the youth prefer to use Quora for asking questions and getting answers from experienced thinkers and mentors. If you are not actively sharing your knowledge and answering their questions openly, you are lazy!
2. You are entitled.
The older generation has reaped the fruits of a flowering economy. You have had amazing professional experiences that you leveraged to build your professional network.
http://confessionsofjobseekers.tumblr.com/post/54054914792/kamauknows-unemployment-cycle
When was the last time you put yourself in the shoes of the youth and looked at job seeking from their lens?
You use Linkedin and other professional networks to mingle, exchange opportunities in the industries of your expertise and boast about the recommendations you receive from your peers.
The youth use Github, Dribble,GapJumpers, and similar tools to learn and build expertise for the future work place. Remember, they don’t have a (job or) professional network on Linkedin to showcase themselves and pat one other. If you are not concerned about young people outside your professional networks, you are entitled!
3. You are proud.
The older generation created all the things that we have and use today. I cannot fit the list of your accomplishments and discoveries here, but I can honestly admit that I am very thankful and grateful for all of them.
We need the internet to introduce us to new ideas and new people and different perspectives. And its not going to do that if it leaves us all isolated in a Web of one. - Eli Pariser @ TED
The youth have many creations and ideas to showcase too, but they can only get your attention after the confetti has settled over your celebrations.
Are you asking the next generation to solve and answer the problems that will affect them, as peers? If not, you are proud of your successes more than being interested in the leaders of the future.
4. You are shallow.
The older generation is well educated and many attended an educational institute of national repute, if not international. Your alma-mater has produced amazing leaders and innovators and most of you have leveraged that incredible network for your professional pursuits.
I didn’t go to MIT or get my PhD. My final roadblock in staying in this industry is my education. I have a business education, not science. And while I know a lot about business strategy, marketing strategy, accounting, and data analysis, I do not have a science degree. In the biotech industry if you have a degree from MIT or a PhD, you are basically just handed a huge salary and office no matter what experience you have or what horrible personality faults you possess (it would seem). Anyone else is just trying to catch up. - Start again Q!
Young people learn more about the challenges they are likely to face in life and at work from the internet than they can do from any number of top educational institutions, put together. If your criteria for judging a person’s merit includes the name of the University, courses taken or academic grades, you are shallow.
I don’t shower the youth with accolades or criticisms, I personally try not to limit their opportunities.
1. I actively answer their questions and share my knowledge to learn from them.
2. I connect with young people outside my professional network to help them showcase themselves to me.
3. I, mostly, ask young people for fresh ideas to solve my professional and work related problems.
4. This, in turn helps me spot talent early without being shallow and referring to conventional skill labels and badges.
