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Well, you missed the realities of everything I mentioned -- but you finally got the point ... As I said earlier in this thread: every generation is the basically the same, and just deals with what's on its plate at the time. And kvetches about it until it makes me want to puke.
You and your rotary dial phone. I'm sure some told you that in their day, they had a little something called a telegraph wire and it took a while to get a reply but that's the way it was and we liked it!
As I work my blue collar job four years after graduating *** laude, I look around and see a vast majority of adults in their early 20's working similar type jobs. For Instance, I know one fellow who loads and unloads trucks part time with an MBA, and yes been doing this for over a year. I met another girl working as I security guard after finishing her degree from UCLA. I can't figure out if this is just a Southern California problem with Millennial, or is this a nationwide norm?
I am asking any millennial to answer this simple question "What do you do for work?" Getting information from a forum might not be the best representation of what a generation does for a living, but its a good start. My hypothesis is our generation will have the most difficult time establishing careers and saving for the future. Since I have graduated, I have noticed many companies do not want to train their new hires. Consequently, they are predominantly hiring workers with experience and not necessarily the education.
Interest rates for new college loans also doubled from 3.4% to 6.8% overnight. How will we be able to pay these loans off with no entry level jobs coming out of college. Part time work as a customer service rep, waiter, bell boy, or truck driver don't pay enough for someone to pay off the loans and save for future investments.
Is this the first time in American history when an 18 year old adult might actually be worse off pursuing a college education( financially of course). Professions such as plumbers, HVAC techs, carpenters, and mechanics all make considerably more than telemarketers, customer service reps, and data entry clerks. Most of the millennial I know work in many professions such as the latter. What do you all think? Do the millennials have it the hardest? Is college a waste of time and money? What can be done to help get us back to work and in positions so that we aren't underemployed?
Part of this can be blamed on high school guidance counselors who promised everyone the stars if they just went to college. Not all college degrees are equal. Not all professions are equal and not all job markets are equal. We also have a glut of college graduates today. When there are far more people with degrees than jobs that require them, many will end up underemployed. Plus there are so many degrees out there that are virtually useless outside an academic environment.
I know a lot of underemployed millennials who would rather be using their degree yet I don't see them putting a lot of effort into their job search. They aren't thinking outside the box. They simply upload a cookie cutter resume to Monster and Careerbuilder and then wonder why nothing happens.
You might consider moving but that is something you need to consider the pros and cons of. There are places with much easier job markets than there but they may not be as glamorous or 'cool' as SoCal. A lot of people now are having to make that decision when determining where to live. Do they want to live someplace cool and be underemployed or live someplace less glamorous and have a better shot at a career? It seems like a lot of people who move to the young hotspots end up underemployed except the lucky few. It comes down to career vs lifestyle and that decision really isn't as easy as it sounds.
The most educated generation?
The education that many Millenials received may have a degree attached to it, but it's still inferior to that of the previous generations. It's so specialized that their employment options are limited to the specific areas in which they trained, as they have little of the general education previously required for other generations to earn a degree. Some general ed courses were required, but they included some very non-mainstream fill-in choices which did not serve them well in real life.
In looking at resumes of college grads, the grammar and spelling is often pathetic: things like "manegement" (repeated, not a typo) or "There system was in disarray." In interviews, one guy mentioned a trip to Paris, saying it was sad to see where Germany had "won the war" after France surrendered at Versailles (!) Another said she loved to go to the "liberry." Geez.
Part of this can be blamed on high school guidance counselors who promised everyone the stars if they just went to college. Not all college degrees are equal. Not all professions are equal and not all job markets are equal. We also have a glut of college graduates today. When there are far more people with degrees than jobs that require them, many will end up underemployed. Plus there are so many degrees out there that are virtually useless outside an academic environment.
I know a lot of underemployed millennials who would rather be using their degree yet I don't see them putting a lot of effort into their job search. They aren't thinking outside the box. They simply upload a cookie cutter resume to Monster and Careerbuilder and then wonder why nothing happens.
You might consider moving but that is something you need to consider the pros and cons of. There are places with much easier job markets than there but they may not be as glamorous or 'cool' as SoCal. A lot of people now are having to make that decision when determining where to live. Do they want to live someplace cool and be underemployed or live someplace less glamorous and have a better shot at a career? It seems like a lot of people who move to the young hotspots end up underemployed except the lucky few. It comes down to career vs lifestyle and that decision really isn't as easy as it sounds.
I think this post really points out the differences with the post Boomer generations. There is a tendency to want to have everything right in the place you want to live. I know many Gen X'ers who insisted on living in the best locations in San Diego, The Bay Area and Seattle despite the fact that they could have made it easier elsewhere (I'll admit, I have been guilty of that). There are many 40 year old's who have degrees but are underemployed and have been since their 20's. I have a friend, a Gen Y'er who has her MBA in English. She insist on living in San Diego even though she might have better luck elsewhere with what she wants to do. She is still in retail. I see the millennials beginning to follow the same pattern with the exception that they seem to be a bit less aware of what it will take for them. It quite likely will require stepping out and changing careers entirely which is something I am not sure many of them are willing to do.
In looking at resumes of college grads, the grammar and spelling is often pathetic: things like "manegement" (repeated, not a typo) or "There system was in disarray." In interviews, one guy mentioned a trip to Paris, saying it was sad to see where Germany had "won the war" after France surrendered at Versailles (!) Another said she loved to go to the "liberry." Geez.
This touches on another excellent point. The standards I know have been lowered in many places because of this. When I was at SeaWorld, in order for me to be considered for promotion, I had to submit a writing sample. At the end of summer, in order to make my position permanent and year round, I then had to submit a written interview with the questions answered in essay form. Over they years, they gradually did away with those requirements because they were not getting enough people who were qualified. Let me tell you, the emails, memos and employee files almost required a translator to decipher. One of my last bosses (he was promoted well after me but moved higher) would pluralize the word absent as "absents" rather than absences. At one point I was asked to "simplify" my memos and emails because the words I used "confused" a lot of people
Great video I found discussing only facts. This should help put some objectivity into Kore opinions.
Screwed huh ... only facts huh. Listen, study up on what the settlers of this nation lived through to create the America that you expect to hand you your McMansion with view lifestyle salary in your mid-20's Then get back to me about opinions and facts.
Quick story for y'all: I know a nice lady now into her middle years. Started working at age 14, full-time at 15, quit high school at 16, a junior. She did later get a GED. Anyway, she was flipping burgers and waiting tables and then working as a cleaner on a fish processing boat in Alaska, then supervising a fish-cleaning crew of S.E. Asians in Seattle for a while. Landed herself a file-clerk job at a major HMO for minimum wage in her early 20's. She's been with that company for 20+ years. She is now base salaried at $60K and earns annual performance based bonuses of $15K - $30K a year, even through the recession. So averages in the $80K+ per year ... no college ... no specialized training of any kind whatsoever. Oh yeah, when she was just out of high school her mother died and she helped her father raise her three younger brothers. What she brought to her career -- and life -- was a cheerful attitude with smiles and a complete willingness to roll up her sleeves everyday, no matter what was happening at home, and just "get 'er dun" whatever the work required.
$80k+ a year ... no college, no MBA, just a GED and a smile.
What confuses me about our generation is that we can't seem to marshal ourselves politically. Say what you will about the Boomers, but they did affect a ton of political change.
We already outnumber Boomers allegedly. And supposedly we helped get Obama elected twice because of our internet savvy.
Yet we don't seem to be able to throw our considerable heft around on issues that probably matter to a vast majority of millenials - like tuition/ student loans. Maybe we lack the wealth, maybe it's not our time yet. No idea.
Please allow me as a GEN-Xer to add my two cents.
Plainly speaking, what you are experiencing is not unique to your generation. You millenials are viewed as the new kids on the block, consequentially, no one (meaning everyone who has been on the job longer than you) gives a f*** about your degrees, your trophies, your ideas, etc. and you will get the s*** jobs until you prove yourselves to be trustworthy and not a dumb***.
It's nothing personal but if you take it as such, then you only show yourselves to be weak, immature, and not ready to join the adults. You have to put yourselves in the older generations' shoes. You are unknown and unproven entities and truthfully, no one wants to take the chance because the risk (of hiring you) is high and the return (your productivity) is unknown. So, if you are blessed enough to get hired, you will start off at the very bottom and over time (a long time), you will be given more responsibility (and of course, more money) as you prove your dependability and value.
All any degree (other than a professional one, ex. - medical, law, engineering, nursing) shows an employer is that you are trainable and you have the ability to follow through and finish a project and nothing more. In other words, it just gets your foot in the door, the rest is up to you.
Patience and perserverance must be your mantra. Remember, you must adapt to your employer.
As I work my blue collar job four years after graduating *** laude, I look around and see a vast majority of adults in their early 20's working similar type jobs. For Instance, I know one fellow who loads and unloads trucks part time with an MBA, and yes been doing this for over a year. I met another girl working as I security guard after finishing her degree from UCLA. I can't figure out if this is just a Southern California problem with Millennial, or is this a nationwide norm?
I am asking any millennial to answer this simple question "What do you do for work?" Getting information from a forum might not be the best representation of what a generation does for a living, but its a good start. My hypothesis is our generation will have the most difficult time establishing careers and saving for the future. Since I have graduated, I have noticed many companies do not want to train their new hires. Consequently, they are predominantly hiring workers with experience and not necessarily the education.
Interest rates for new college loans also doubled from 3.4% to 6.8% overnight. How will we be able to pay these loans off with no entry level jobs coming out of college. Part time work as a customer service rep, waiter, bell boy, or truck driver don't pay enough for someone to pay off the loans and save for future investments.
Is this the first time in American history when an 18 year old adult might actually be worse off pursuing a college education( financially of course). Professions such as plumbers, HVAC techs, carpenters, and mechanics all make considerably more than telemarketers, customer service reps, and data entry clerks. Most of the millennial I know work in many professions such as the latter. What do you all think? Do the millennials have it the hardest? Is college a waste of time and money? What can be done to help get us back to work and in positions so that we aren't underemployed?
This and the Great Depression are the only times things slid backward so badly. The Millies will be one tough old generation some day. You'll be telling lots of tales. Us hardscrabble Xers had it easy compared to you. To boot, the Millies are today's cannon fodder and when vets return they only get scraps. It's a sad state of affairs.
Can't win! One group of grousers complains that BBs don't retire while another group complains about BBs retiring too early (police/fire/public service). Damned if you do and damned if you don't!
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