Taking a Page From our Millennial Generation. Don’t Settle.

I have to admit something to you all.  I am TOTALLY jealous of the Millennial generation. Not only because I’d love to relive my youth… (Oh come on, you all know you want to relive your youth. You can’t lie to me! :)) And certainly not because when they do stupid things, it’s all online forever. I am extremely glad that the stupid things I did will never see the light of day again.

No, the reason I’m jealous is because of the opportunities they have, just starting out in their careers!  I graduated high school in 1991 and college in 1994. It was probably within that previous decade, when you got into a job, you were there. You couldn’t easily move into another position without hands on experience. Companies didn’t want to train you for new skill sets if you wanted to move on into the field you got your degree in. While I was in college, as all college students do, I wanted some spending money, so, I had to get a job.  I fell into a Customer Service job at a bank.  Not because it’s what I wanted to do.   When I got out of college with my shiny new degree, you know what?  I COULDN’T USE IT!  All because I had that Customer Service job on my resume.  My degree was in Office Administration. But, because I didn’t have the hands on experience, offices did not want to hire me and take the time to train me. They started requiring hands on experience to be hired for a position.

How I felt when I was stuck

Here’s a tip. Unless Customer Service is something you want to do for the rest of your life, or, you want to move up through the ranks within the financial industry, I recommend that you start off as an intern in your field and work your way up into a paid position.  IF you are financially able to do so of course.  If you’re going to college for something that you have a higher chance of getting into that field after you get your degree, you may be okay getting this type of job.

 

I tell my daughter all the time, having telephone Customer Service on your resume is a black hole you will never crawl out of. I am 43 years old and it took me 24 years to get out of the field. I had a couple of jobs in an office that weren’t phone jobs, but, those only lasted a few months. Primarily because the company decided they didn’t want to train me properly to be successful at the position. During my 20’s and 30’s, companies weren’t willing to take a chance.

This generation isn’t settling for what we may have had to. They are going after what they want and have the expectation that they will get it. I believe this is one of the reasons that the tide is turning and companies are more willing to train the next workforce. They have more opportunities for internships during high school and college to gain the necessary skills to do the job they want to do. There are so many opportunities for this group to explore not only their chosen profession, but, to if they decide they don’t want someone else to call the shots in their career, entrepreneurship is becoming a more desirable option. With the resources that are readily available to us now, they can be quite successful at it.

My daughter wants to work for herself and become a photographer. So has so many dreams that I know she will be successful and not settle. She is the reason I’ve finally stepped out of my comfort zone and took a chance on a job I’ve never had in the technical writing field. She is my inspiration in writing and publishing my first book and writing my second book.  I want her to see that I chose not to settle. I want her to see that I made the choice to be happy in my life and what I’m doing. You can read about my dream finally becoming a reality. Now I have to take my dream and make something of it.

We should always feel satisfied with our jobs.

We all need to take a page from their book and not settle.  We need to take back what our ancestors had and now what our decedents have and make our futures what we want them to be. Not what we have to settle for. Do the scariest thing we will ever do and step into that unknown.

What was the scariest thing you’ve ever done career wise?  Or, what did you wish you had done differently?