Gen-Y, Millennials, Net Geners

It may sound silly, but I didn’t discover which generation I belonged to until this summer.

When I started working for TalentEgg in July, I realized there were a lot of employers out there who were really interested in attracting young people to their company.

Many of them wanted us to know they had an on-site gym, or weekly Rock Band parties, or flexible hours. Companies that seemed boring and straight-laced tried their best to sell the fun and flexible possibilities for entry-level hires.

Lauren Friese, who is TalentEgg’s founder and president, has not only made finding meaningful careers for students and recent grads her business, but she’s also become a Generation Y ambassador. To those of us who are actually Gen-Yers ourselves, being an “ambassador” sounds ridiculous. Why do we need ambassadors?

But to the generations that have come before us, Gen-Y ambassadors are extremely valuable if they can actually bridge the gap between the two, or three or however many generations. Lauren does that really well and has become an expert on Gen-Y in the workforce.

So, I figured out that I’m part of Generation Y as well. Typically, Gen-Yers were born between 1981 and the early 2000s. What defines us best (according to the generations before us), however, is our use of technology and our spoiled/lazy/selfish/self-entitled attitude, especially when it comes to work.

The ability to use technology is great and it’s understandable why employers would find it valuable. But what about the rest? Why are we (or why do we think we are) in such high demand if we all display those negative traits?

Assuming we all possess those traits, the reason is that our parents and grandparents, the Baby Boomers, are retiring. Although we apparently demand high salaries right from the get-go, they’re nothing compared to the bloated salaries of the Baby Boomers who have been working for decades, sometimes in the same job.

We’re also better educated than our parents and grandparents. My dad scraped by on a high school diploma for more than 15 years and went to trade school in his mid-thirties. He did manual labour, wore a tool belt and didn’t reach a management position with a six-figure income until his late forties, and he got that job because of his more than 20 years of expertise.

Now, I don’t expect a six figure income when I start. Especially not with a journalism degree. But I expect to be able to make a living, live independently and start to pay off my student loans. I think most people my age expect the same. That would probably amount to about half, or less, of what our parents might make after decades of experience.

Employers are thinking, “Awesome! They know more and cost less!”

But then there are all the things that make us unattractive to the older generations: Spending too much time with technology, all the time. Multi-tasking, but not just on work-related things. Short attention spans. Work-life balance, with a little bit of extra life. Our desire for informality and flexibility. Our expectation that we will be rewarded often for the good work we produce.

This clash seems to be popping up everywhere. Earlier this week, Don Tapscott, author of “Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World,” was on Spark on CBC Radio promoting his book and basically selling all the traditionally negative attributes of Gen-Yers, or Net Geners, as positives. It was really refreshing and made me feel really good about myself.

But then I read Steve Maich’s article in this week’s issue of Maclean’s and my ego deflated a little. Maich scoffs at the portrayal of millennials by people like Tapscott and says this is a generation difference like any other: “Young people have always thought they were smarter than their bosses, that they deserved more money, more freedom, more responsibility, and more recognition for their efforts.”

He also says the sooner employers realize that Gen-Y isn’t special or different from other youngest generations in any way, the sooner we’ll work harder and discover we can’t be successful with more life than work at work.

So which one is it? I think it’s probably a bit of both. Or at least I hope so.

But then again, I’m just a “spoiled, shallow and selfish” Gen-Yer/millennial/Net Gener. What do I know?