WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MILLENNIAL WORKING IN THE CORPORATE WORLD?
Gulp. It’s finally happening. I’m about to move from a 2 handle to a 3 handle. I’m just a few days away from the day that calculates my age — so please allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is HO… naw, it’s still Michelle. It’s really just the same me but with a slightly more respectable age to report for when I have those sometimes fun, sometimes awkward “how old do you think I am” conversations. Age is just a number and I’m still the same girl that I was yesterday aside from the fact that I have done a complete 180 this year..… I’m now an ex-banker that has turned into a digital nomad. On that accord alone, maybe I should re-introduce myself. However, anyone that knows me likely isn’t too shocked in this shift as I’ve always been hard to tie down — not in the way of commitment issues but more along the lines of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego. So why the change? How does this happen? Who am I? Well I am a female professional, with a finance background, lover of sports from ballet to baseball but most of all I am a typical Millennial. I’d guess that most of you reading this are one as well but let’s hear from the experts at Urban Dictionary as to what that might mean:
Millennial /mɪˈlɛnɪəl/ — “A special little snowflake.”
It goes on from there to describe us as overachievers according to ourselves, educated but reliant on our worked-at-the-same-jobs-for-the-past-40-years-to-ensure-we-were-provided-for Baby Boomer parents, technologically advanced…. oh and we are idealistic and adamant about finding fulfilling careers. I don’t believe the desire to find a fulfilling career is special to the Millennial bunch but rather that we are willing to make more concessions to ensure that we find it — this is where our idealistic nature comes into play. Finding this “fulfilling career” comes in different shapes and sizes but for the most part Millennials want to be impactful in their work, have a voice, and feel a sense of purpose. We want to have flexibility in our work schedule, reduced hierarchy and overall have fewer formalities. All of this matters because we now make up for the largest generation in the workforce for the United States and Canada, 73 million and 9.1 million respectively. And most importantly, it mattered to me.
I had an amazing position and what I had previously envisioned as my dream job at one of the six big banks in Canada in their commodity derivatives group. I really enjoyed the people that I worked with, the job was challenging, fun and had a relaxed work atmosphere especially when it comes to a bank. However, there were aspects about it that still didn’t make it ideal. It was lacking flexibility in my work schedule as I was tied to my desk during market hours and I didn’t feel like it added much to my sense of purpose. If we go back to the Where in the World is Carmen San Diego part of my character, this isn’t just saying that I like to travel and see different countries but more that I like to experience them. I want to see more than just the first layer of the onion in the countries I visit. I want to get to know the people, learn from other people’s perspectives and provide social help where I can. Traveling gives me a sense of purpose, sharing these learnings with people back home and pushing social norms is more important to me than making sure margin has been made on a derivatives trade. Now with that being said, if I could have kept my job at the bank, been able to work remotely and travel the world while doing it, would I have? Heck yes! Unfortunately for me I didn’t realize that was a possibility at the time and left the bank to move to Spain in search for a digital nomad position.
Lucky for you and for me, I have found Remote Year. Remote Year is all about pushing the norms and being a first mover in shifting what holding a corporate job looks like. Many companies have spent millions of dollars on research and programs that target Millennials so that they can have increased retention and better talent pool selection. This is changing how the workplace operates and I’m proud to be a part of making it happen. So all I can say for now is don’t necessarily quit your day job!
