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It seems a lot of younger kids on here complain about student debt and not being able to find a decent job. My guess is they're just not working hard enough or smart enough. I was able to obtain my MBA and become an IBM Senior Manager at 25 in 1959 and work my way up to Director in 1961 and VP in 1964. I did it by working as a drive in theater manager after I graduated college in 1957 and I stayed at IBM for 40 years.
Perhaps you kids shouldn't job hop and say in 1 career for decades. You have to make yourself irreplaceable. You will earn the company's respect and be able to retire with a pension just like I did.
Moderator cut: .
Nobody "sweet talks" their way into a management position on a cold-call interview. Nobody becomes a senior manager at 25 anymore, either. Nobody should be a senior "anything" at the young age of 25, but in 1959, all it took was to be white, have any ol' college degree, and a working pulse, and you became a manager. A little tougher today, and a lot more competitive.
If you were 25 in 1959, you didn't serve in WW2, almost certainly didn't serve in Korea, and you were too old to be drafted for Vietnam. All the while, you entered the workforce when America was booming, with no competition from war-torn countries abroad. All you had to do was show that you were reasonably alive, and the "battle" was halfway won.
IBM--Jesus, I was there for a bit. I can't imagine a duller, less inspiring place to work. ANYONE could get a pension from IBM, as long as they didn't drop dead from boredom first.
Last edited by yellowbelle; 08-20-2015 at 07:10 PM..
Reason: personal attack
You seem to know what your issues are. What concrete steps have you taken to solve them? I assume you are an adult and if so, it's no longer about what your parents did or did not do. It's about what you need to do to move your life forward. Get busy.
Well, I think the first thing I need to do is leave Alabama, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do that safely. Right now, I have a job (that barely makes ends meet), but if I move, I don't know how successful I will be at finding work.
DB Cooper,
It's not like that anymore. Companies don't value human beings anymore, loyalty means nothing, only the bottom line.
It's a whole different world now, a global business world.
You get paid for what you know, not what you do.
You are competing for jobs from the entire global community, so if someone in India will take 30K less,
for the job that you want, they will hire in India instead.
Get it?
That is the problem.
They will keep you til they can pay someone cheaper to do the same job, then they lay you off.
That is what the job market is like now.
No more getting a job with a good company and staying for 30 years, unless you happen
to know a hands on job, PHYSCIALLY having to do the job in the USA.
Like auto mechanic, maintaince, some job that you have to hire here in US.
It's a global economy now, and the young people know this, and the entire work life has
changed drastically.
Nothing you say in the post I quote is wrong. But. The world HAS changed and, unpleasant as that may be, we have to live in it. You have to take the jobs that are on offer, not wish for jobs as they existed in decades gone by. The OP is wrong to assume that positions and employers like his at IBM are the norm in today's global economy. But on the other hand, people in your position have to deal with reality.
One thing that could improve the economic situation for millennials would be for them to show more interest in politics. There ARE candidates and public servants out there who are trying to rein in corporate greed and hold Wall Street and banking institutions accountable to American citizens who are not part of the 1%. But if you don't get involved and VOTE, nothing will ever change. The super-rich are holding all the cards and it's the cause of many of the employment problems that exist in the market today as well as the bad government we endure at the state and national levels.
It seems a lot of younger kids on here complain about student debt and not being able to find a decent job. My guess is they're just not working hard enough or smart enough. I was able to obtain my MBA and become an IBM Senior Manager at 25 in 1959 and work my way up to Director in 1961 and VP in 1964. I did it by working as a drive in theater manager after I graduated college in 1957 and I stayed at IBM for 40 years.
Perhaps you kids shouldn't job hop and say in 1 career for decades. You have to make yourself irreplaceable. You will earn the company's respect and be able to retire with a pension just like I did.
Without reading any of the other responses, with all due respect, D.B, you don't know what you are talking about.
First of all I am 45 and far removed from the millennial generation.
Why is there record low unemployment? Answer: The numbers are RIGGED. Obama and his gang have been removing a lot of people from the count, as soon as they "stop looking for work"
Second, regarding student debt. This is no joke -- the cost of college has gone up tremendously over the past 20 years. And student debt stays with you, forever.
Third, your generation never had to deal with jobs being sent overseas the way this generation does. These days if it can be done cheaper in India, it will be.
But that is exactly what the OP did. He bribed his way into an interview with no relevant experience and was given a Senior Manager position at IBM because they liked the cut of his jib. And he doesn't understand why today's graduates don't do the same.
Yeah, try doing that one now. It's not happening. You will be directed to the company website and a nice 60-90 application process on there.
Now, if you're talking small companies, and not corporate America....he has a point.
There is an abundance of low paying jobs that one cannot raise a family on. These jobs would require federal/state subsidies to raise a family on. What millennials see is no future. Thanks!
Too many educated millennials, not enough skilled millennials.
And finally, some industries are in need of workers. Ironically, these are the industries that school counselors never bothered to recommended to anyone... Except for the students who clearly had no future.
There is an abundance of low paying jobs that one cannot raise a family on. These jobs would require federal/state subsidies to raise a family on. What millennials see is no future. Thanks!
Too many educated millennials, not enough skilled millennials.
And finally, some industries are in need of workers. Ironically, these are the industries that school counselors never bothered to recommended to anyone... Except for the students who clearly had no future.
You have to prove yourself the best worker among them. If you show your talents and have the right attitude you will rise up the ladder.
Actual 1959 wasn't the 1959 that today's befuddled people imagine either.
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Hey, just asking. 
