Gen Y Labs

Old People Confuse Us

As Generation Y enters the work world, we are constantly shocked by the inefficiency of the office. Employers expect you to be at your desk from 9-5 (at the very least) despite the fact that you only have enough work to keep you occupied until one.

 For some reason, no generation before us has had a problem with being unproductive. They never questioned why they were sitting at their desks in the afternoon with nothing to do. They just sat there and waited for the clock to set them free. 

This mentality, that you are expected to waste your day in the office even if you finish all your work, is simply baffling to the Millenials. We believe that your job should reward you for productivity instead of punishing it. 

We're not opposed doing lots of work (infact we're always looking to make a meaningful contribution), we just don't want to be wasting time in the office when we could be doing something fun with our time.

For other Gen Y opinions on the working experience, check out the Concours Institute’s discussion of results from some recent Gen-Y focus groups.

What Gen Y Wants from a New Car

The automotive research firm AutoPacific recently published a study on what Gen Y looks for when buying a new car.

The study found that Gen Y is:

1. “more likely than the generations before them to consider purchasing a Chinese or Indian branded vehicle”

2. “more willing to accept hybrid powertrains” 

3. “more likely to want the latest entertainment technology in their vehicle”

I think that it is particularly important to note that Gen Y has become almost completely indifferent as to the source of products that we consume.

Whereas the Baby Boomers are fully willing to buy their electronics from China, but often balk at making big ticket purchases like cars from developing countries, Gen Y is willing to buy anything from anywhere in the world. We have the mentality that says: “If everything else we use is made in Asia, why shouldn’t we own a Chinese car?

The bottom line is that as a group, Gen Y doesn’t really care what the brand is or where the good comes from as long as we end up with a high-quality product at a low price. 

We’re Not Better. We’re More

Recently, Generation Y has received a relentless beating in the press for our so called sense of “entitlement”. With this in mind, I went searching for someone who is willing to defend the fine people of my generation. 

I think that Ian David Moss’ blog post “Generation Y and the Problem of “Entitlement”: A Bullet-Point Manifesto” does a pretty good job. Moss’ post states that no single individual in Gen Y is any smarter than any single person from Older generations, Gen Y just has MORE smart people.

  Gen Y has more educated people than any previous generation, causing the job market to be overwhelmed by qualified applicants. This has resulted in many Gen Y workers taking jobs that they are tremendously over-qualified for (I can name numerous finance graduates from the class of 2008 who are currently selling insurance with Baby Boomers who never spent a day in college).

  Moss brings up the great point that instead of sitting around and complaining about how over-eager and impatient Gen Y is to rise in the workplace, managers should take advantage of their more talented workforce  by installing a flexible hierarchy that allows lower level workers to contribute more to the company than they have in the past.

  The bottom line: Gen Y wants to work hard and contribute. Why not let them?

 

Gen-Y's Twist On Networking

For Gen-Y, networking has a very stuffy and formal connotation. When we hear about networking, we think about schmoozing over drinks at a boring industry convention. It just doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. That is not to say that we are not willing to participate in networking; we just look at it as a cost of doing business instead of a good opportunity to meet new people.

  But who says networking can’t be an enjoyable experience? There is an interesting article about a group of 20-somethings in Richmond, Virginia who set up networking events in a Wafflehouse Restaurant. The concept: get together and expand your network in a casual atmosphere (with lots of artery-clogging food!).

  While traditional business networking will always remain, I think that in the coming years Gen-Y will do an increasing amount of networking in casual situations. Gen-Y feels much better about networking when we feel that we are making genuine friends instead of just making connections that you will be able to use to your advantage in the future. Networking in casual situations will allow us to make important connections without getting the feeling that we are making “fake” friendships.

Gen Y Refuses To Join The Twitterverse

Here’s a news flash for all of you out in Twitterland: Gen-Y doesn’t Tweet.

That’s right, GEN Y DOES NOT USE TWITTER!

A recent study done by the Participatory Marketing Network shows that only 22 percent of Gen Y uses twitter.

While many people believe that Twitter has incredible growth potential in the Gen Y demographic, I strongly disagree. It is my opinion that the Twitter craze will simply never catch on with Gen Y.

The fact of the matter is that Gen Y already has access to every feature that Twitter offers from other social media sources. If we truly feel that need to express our emotions in 180 words, we have text messaging and social networking websites (Facebook’s status updates were around before Twitter existed) that are more than capable of fulfilling our needs.

Furthermore, I just don’t feel that Twitter has the same appeal to my generation as it does to older people. Millenials grew up chatting on instant messenger and have communicated in short, choppy, and more or less nonsensical sentences for our entire lives. Therefore, we simply don’t get the same rush that Gen Xers and Baby Boomers do from communicating using shorthand phrases (My Mom is absolutely obsessed with using abbreviations and emoticons).

I think that the final reason that Gen Y will never adopt Twitter is because we quite frankly think that the whole concept is just a little bit rediculous. The idea of tweeting about what you had for breakfast this morning is just strange. Don’t get me wrong, Gen Y is all about having access to as much information as possible, but there are just some things that don’t need to be told to the entire world.