Can someone please tell me what makes people think that the solution to their problems is to pick up a gun and go shoot people? I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would feel like this is a reasonable course of action. While I disagree enthusiastically with concepts of revenge, I can at least remedially understand the concepts of revenge and shooting or stabbing someone who has independently wronged you. It's absolutely heinous in either case, but at least the motivation of revenge against that person relates because we all have wanted to "get back" at someone and those who kill had a switch blow and no longer had the ability to filter the thought that they should get revenge. I get it. I disagree on an exponential level with it, but I get it.
Now why someone would decide that they need to go into a public area with the intent of causing as much harm as possible is beyond me. Was it for some sort of political statement? You just invalidated ANY kind of thought process you have had when you lost the ability to control your temper and gave up inhibitions. Not a single person with rational thought will side with your cause now. Was it revenge? Oh, so you're saying that ALL of the random people in that particular area were somehow doing something against you at that time? Would you say that maybe they were all conspiring against you then? What kind of purpose could you possibly have that would be propelled by doing something like that other than simply causing destruction? If all you want to do is destroy something go hunting and kill an animal. Then you can kill and you can sell the meat or whatever. It's not a good alternative, but ultimately I guess I'm happier with an ill-motivated hunt than killing people. Sorry animal rights activists. It's nothing personal.
Long ago in our country people actually believed that the pen stroke was stronger than the cannon but now we brandish fast-action cannons to write our statements in blood. What are we coming to? If you are making a statement to a larger government you are simply ignorant. We The People are still much stronger than the government because WE ARE the government. If you dislike what is happening so badly and you have the gumption to take a gun into a public place, why don't you start an actual protest? It works. Just ask Iceland. They did it in 2011 and ousted their whole government. Don't tell me stuff like that doesn't work. You can kill as many people as you like but you will only come to one of two points. Either you don't kill enough to have the majority and people lock you up or you kill way too many and people think you are a maniacal dictator.
For the love of humanity can we please start educating people more so we don't have unintelligent ego-maniacs running around with weapons believing they are doing something that anyone cares about? If you're that guy, just know this. There have been too many before you for you to even be noticed. Even if you're successful you will be forgotten about in less than 5 years. Nobody will care about what your name was. You will be nicknamed for the event you created and de-humanized for your complete lack of self-control. Nobody is going to give credence to whatever your issue is even if you paint it on the walls because the thoughts you have are polluted with the vile reek of hatred. Just stop. Rally some people to your side or actually take time to understand the obstacle in your way so you can overcome it, like EVERYONE ELSE HAS TO DO.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
I'm Entitled and You're A Liar
Do you want to know what is really irritating? People who claim that Gen Y is "entitled" are irritating. I am a "ripe" 27 years old and I can tell you for sure that I am not "entitled" in the workplace or anywhere else. I have been provided some wrong information my whole life and as a result I was under the presumption that those lies would come to fruition and when they didn't my generation was fed up with it. Let's talk about a few of those lies.
The Lie: Get yourself a college degree because it will make you more money.
The Truth: A college degree is about as good as anything else when you are out of college and you are looking for a general job. Most of these degrees are used in fields that don't even come close to corresponding with their concentration and most of those jobs are NOT starting at the "median" wage you were expecting. Instead you are now in heaps of debt and you are likely starting at the same wage as some kid who just graduated high school and is sitting in the cube next to you. Congrats! You've made it.
A degree does offer you an easier time GETTING a job, but if it's not a specialized degree it's probably going to sit on the back shelf and collect you more debt and dust. If you do go to college, try not to spend a ton of money on a college unless that college can boast connections to a field you want to be in and can back that up. I personally attended a college that doted a program for being one of the best in the nation, and it was, but they offer no connections to that industry and it became more apparent to me in my sophomore year there and I dropped. College can be a good thing and it IS worth the money if the college can connect you with people who can get you places.
All of that said, if you want a job in a specialized field (Doctor, Lawyer, Pilot, etc.) you had BETTER get a degree because you won't be one without the degree.
The Lie: Hard work will take you to the top
The Truth: The concept of ladder motivation in the workplace is nearly non-existent in our day and age. Just because you work hard does NOT mean you will be promoted. It doesn't mean you will get a raise. It means you will keep your job. Connections and likability are what get you further. Knowing your value empowers you to make those moves.
I have worked several jobs where I had the "top" numbers and I have worked at places where I was in the middle and on the bottom of the leaderboard. Not one of those places where I excelled promoted me. Not one. Every "promotion" I have had was because I either got fired and demanded more from my next job and got more money or because I realized my company wasn't going to promote so I demanded more from the next place and quit. I worked at a grocery store and they had a program where you get these buttons for your apron when a customer says you were great to a manager. I had several times where I did this. One time I was wearing Crocs in the middle of January and a customer had their car stuck in the foot of snow that was coming down. I went out and pushed them out and they called in to tell the manager how great I was. The manager laughed and looked at her friend and said, "they must have been drunk." I had another occasion where a hispanic man who actually WAS drunk fell back and smacked his head on the floor. He was conscious but there was some blood on the floor. When the paramedics arrived I was roughly translating the paramedics questions to this customer and the paramedic told the manager that I did them an invaluable service. Neither of these occasions earned me one of these pins.
Your hard work and extra motivation will only get for you what you demand of it. If I had demanded my pin for doing those things I would have gotten them. I was soft and weak and in the end those pins weren't worth the fight but it still proves the point. I didn't move anywhere or do anything because I wasn't very good socially with the managers above me and I didn't have that connection. Parents and teachers should be teaching how to create those connections because THAT is what takes you places. That and KNOWING YOUR VALUE. (more on that later)
The Lie: When you graduate you will be able to support yourself.
The Truth: Up until 2008 this was relatively true, but then people realized that the upper class (wealthy) are poaching on the middle and lower classes. Here's how it works. The rich people in our country run businesses. There are many dynamics that dictate our economy, but one of the most basic concepts is the idea of money flow versus rate of inflation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). What this essentially means is something to the effect of, "How much money are we paying for things versus how much money we are making." When the cost of living increases, wages should increase by the same margin or more to compensate. If wages increase more then money flow increases (because people now have expendable money). If they do not then it remains the same. If wages increase less then the money flow slows down and the economy suffers.
What does all of this mean? It's simple. It started long before 2008, but October 2008 the problem reached it's metaphorical "event horizon" and there was no escape. Gas prices started inflating in the early 2000's exponentially. They nearly tripled actually. The cost of gas (crude oil to be more specific) being so much more puts strains on businesses who need product moved and as such all of these other products hike their costs to offset the expenditure. This is 100% okay when the wages increase for everyone. To the businesses this seems like a one-two punch, but really it's a sacrifice in the short game to make more in the long game. If minimum wage increases in-sync with the gas cost then what happens is the company compensates by inflating their cost and if they can do so in a way that the inflation doesn't exceed the consumer burden (meaning if they can raise prices and pay their employees more) they lose "margin" but make more money. They won't make as much a % profit on any one given item, but because the workforce has more expendable money they sell more product at a slightly smaller profit. Still too confusing? Here:
ABC Company makes Product X for $20 but it costs them $2 to make. That's a margin of about 90% increase. Hooray.
Sally works for ABC Company and makes $7/hr. So she is now reducing their margin to about 55%. They have other expenditures to keep the place open and such, so in reality ABC Company at $20/Product X is probably netting themselves somewhere in the margin of 20-25%. That's actually not bad for a net margin but because it would take people like Sally 4 hours of work (after taxes) just to purchase 1 Product X they only sell say, 1000/ year.
Now let's say that the cost of gas increases and minimum wage is raised to say $10/hr. Well that now drops their margin to a mere 40% and after other costs they are probably closer to 5-10% margin at $20, but they need to mitigate cost so they raise their price to $25.
At $25 they are now back to 52% margin (yes less) but now Sally can buy 1 Product X for only 3 hours of work (after taxes) and have money to spare, so she is happier at work and ABC Company sells more of their product. They sacrifice the 3% to get more business.
Companies don't do this. The rich people say, "oh, you increased my cost? Better fire the people making too much money, hire cheaper labor, send some jobs over seas, and hike the prices. We might be able to even GAIN some margin here!"
All of this means it is increasingly difficult to support yourself out of high school . The average wage in the USA is between $8-$9/hr. and most jobs are now part-time (30-35 hours/week). Assuming the high end of that scale you make $315/week pre-tax. That's a grand old $16,380 a year. So you are working two jobs (assuming you can hold both and keep those hours) and you make $32,760. Well, you're going to spend about $3k of that on gasoline alone. (http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/05/report-u-s-households-spend-record-amount-on-gas-in-2012/). You are going to drop about $11,180 on average for rent (http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/home-front/2012/04/27/rents-rise-while-home-prices-fall). On average you will probably drop close to $6,443/year on food. (http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/average-american-grocery-bill.htm). Assuming you were conservative and bought a used car, on average you will spend about $4,212/year on that (http://www.cnbc.com/id/48844052). At this point you ALREADY need to have that second job or you are under water by about $4k, but we haven't included utilities.... Utilities on average will set you back $1200/year if you live like a pauper. (http://ohmyapt.apartmentratings.com/breaking-down-the-average-utility-costs-per-month-whats-normal.html#b). Average hygeine is likely to set you back about $1k a year and clothing another $1k. You're probably dropping about $500 a year on that cell phone plan, about $1k a year for your TV, about $500 a year on internet, and we haven't even considered that you might have some loans to pay back for your education. Let's assume that you are incredibly fortunate and only pay $150/mo. for your loans. You are now dropping about $1500 a year on that. Car insurance will set you back close to another $1k (probably more if you are actually this young - but I'm being conservative). Your health insurance is likely to cost you close to $4,565 a year (http://kff.org/private-insurance/report/2013-employer-health-benefits/) so now even with the two jobs and working 60-70 hours a week with no other members in your home you are at a negative of $1,643. So you will proably have to cut out that TV, Internet, and probably skimp on clothes because that phone bill is already a minimum plan and you need a phone for safety reasons. Did I mention that all of this was based on your $32,760 being PRE-TAX?
So if you work two jobs making $9/hr and each give you 35 hours a week on average you can break even if you live in a small apartment, don't eat out, don't have TV or Internet, don't spend much on clothes and keep the lights off most of the time.
No. You cannot support yourself straight out of high school or college. Stop saying, "You should be able to." It should be possible to. THAT is an accurate way of saying it because they are saying that it's not the way it should be, and it isn't. Stop thinking that this is the 90's, 80's, or even one of the golden ages before then.
CONCLUSION (I know it's been a long time coming)
To the Gen X'ers and Boomers: Stop telling Millenials (Gen Y'ers) that we are entitled. We aren't entitled. We want the very best like we were promised and it was all torn out from under our feet while most of us were in college. Gen Y'ers now make up the majority of the management workforce in the workplace and we are very concerned with what will do better for us. There is a value for technology and a value for an ability to work smart instead of working harder. If one of us is your manager or you know one of us it's really simple, don't assume we are entitled. Assume we want the very best and if you aren't it then we will find what it is. We aren't a generation that is one to help you become the best. We were bred on the concept that we were all competing to be the best. My high school classes highest GPA was a weighted 5.2. We strive to be the best and expect to be rewarded for doing so. We don't believe in the "everyone gets a participation medal" but we do believe in the "everyone can be #1 and all cultures are important" mentality.
We are not lazy. We appreciate the value of working smart instead of hard when possible because of maximum output. You should value this.
We are not entitled. We understand that you may not understand the technology as it is coming out but we DO think that we can use it in ways that will help improve business while also working smarter and faster. It's not entitled to want an iPad to do my job with if that means I can now do the work of 3 people for you. That's a desire to be more effective. You should value this.
We are not needy. We are constantly on a mission to be better than the other person next to us. We were raised under the notion that we should be the best and we should work the hardest. Since we all want to do better and continuously improve, we want your feedback. I want to know if I am not doing something as effectively as you want BECAUSE I WANT TO BEAT YOUR EXPECTATION! If I have come to you multiple times to get feedback it's because you were so nonchalant the first time around. Give me legitimate feedback even if it's hard to hear. I would much rather hear about how terrible a job I am doing so I can do better than to find out one day I don't have a job.
We aren't narcissistic (clever word you guys but we know what it means). We were promised to have tons of job opportunities with the education we got and they weren't there. We were promised to be paid well and the average income is $8-9/hr in the USA. We want to do the best for ourselves because it is what we were promised. When a millenial is trying to get more for themselves it is because we have ambition to succeed. Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) is the 2nd youngest self-made billionaire in the world. We know how to succeed and we have lofty goals but we also are inclusive of most cultures and generally want to help and teach others.
We aren't disloyal. We simply have ideas on where we want to be. I have worked a ton of jobs and while I don't necessarily know where every move was taking me, I DO know that every change was an opportunity and between 2008 and 2013 I have aggressively seized that opportunity and dramatically improved my results. If you aren't providing a way for a millenial to get what they need/want they will find another way to get it. Plain and simple. We aren't the type to settle. We adapt and improvise. It's not disloyal. If you explain to me rationally how I can patiently wait and what steps to take to move forward I am happy to be loyal to you in that chain. If you simply do not afford any improvement I will look elsewhere under the notion you don't have anything further to offer, which might I add has proven true several times in my life.
To my fellow Millenials (Gen Y'ers): Here are a few tips on things that you can do to make transitions easier for other people and tips that I have had to learn first hand:
1) Know Your Value - If you only think you are worth $30k/year you have NO RIGHT to ask for a penny more than that because you will not offer them a penny more in value for their money. People who are making more money do so because the services they provide the company warrant it. If the services didn't the company wouldn't pay them for it. If you are worth $200k/year then know you are and own it. Don't accept less than that unless you are in a position where you NEED to (currently unemployed, etc). In those cases you always accept a step up from where you are at.
2) You Are Never Better Than What You Are Doing - If you are working at McDonalds as someone who takes orders, you are never above it. You are never below it. It is what you do to get from A to B. I have done a lot of things in my life (Hospital sanitation, grocery store cashier, gas station attendant, jewelry salesman, collections, staffing, telemarketing, business development, unemployment, bus boy, cook, manager, clinical research test participant, plasma donor, Card Shop Operator, janitor, etc.). I was never above any of those positions even though I thought several times that I was.
3) You Never Deserve To Be Above Your Superior - When you are hired by someone, you have a couple of responsibilities. One of them is to do what they are asking you to in exchange for your pay. The other is to make your manager look as good as possible to the person above them. It doesn't matter if you are SMARTER, MORE TALENTED, FASTER, WISER, or any other "ER" because you haven't put in the time to be in the position that they have. If they don't deserve to be there, the person above them will decide that. If they are the top and they own the place, you have no right to say so anyway because they are doing YOU the favor of employing you. If you do well at your job and you make the person above you look better, eventually when that person is rewarded you stand a better chance of receiving some of those benefits also. They are not obligated to share them with you - so don't EXPECT it. Just realize that they will favor you anyway because you do better for them. At best it means you move up in the company or get more money. At worst you have an excellent reference for your next position.
4) People Who Are Older Are Wiser Than You - Maybe they don't know how to sync everything up on iTunes and maybe they don't know how to access the public WIFI. Those can be taught. They know more about discipline and how to position yourself within the company than you do. Respect them for that. They were where you are at one point and likely have a lot of insight to help you get where you want anyway. Often times I have spoken with people older than me and realized that, while they don't realize the error of their ways while speaking to me, I am able to see the flaw simply because they are telling me the "horror" story of when they were in my position. We may be more tech-savvy but they have more life experience. Credit them for that and learn from them. Value them for it.
5) Sometimes You Need To Sacrifice - I have held several positions and there are several times I have moved up because of a play I made to get what I needed. That said, I do well now because I sacrifice time with my family (I work 60-70 hours a week). I do what I can to enjoy my time with them as much as possible, but EVERYTHING comes with a sacrifice. If you want more money you will give up family and friends to get it unless you are VERY lucky. If you want more freedom you will give up money. If you want a family you will give up some of your own personal ambitions. Sacrifice isn't a bad thing. It's simply a way of measuring what is more important to you. I could aggressively put more time into work and make MUCH more money, but I value my family and I am happy where I am at. There is a balance there as there should be with everything.
Matt 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Thanks for reading and God Bless.
The Lie: Get yourself a college degree because it will make you more money.
The Truth: A college degree is about as good as anything else when you are out of college and you are looking for a general job. Most of these degrees are used in fields that don't even come close to corresponding with their concentration and most of those jobs are NOT starting at the "median" wage you were expecting. Instead you are now in heaps of debt and you are likely starting at the same wage as some kid who just graduated high school and is sitting in the cube next to you. Congrats! You've made it.
A degree does offer you an easier time GETTING a job, but if it's not a specialized degree it's probably going to sit on the back shelf and collect you more debt and dust. If you do go to college, try not to spend a ton of money on a college unless that college can boast connections to a field you want to be in and can back that up. I personally attended a college that doted a program for being one of the best in the nation, and it was, but they offer no connections to that industry and it became more apparent to me in my sophomore year there and I dropped. College can be a good thing and it IS worth the money if the college can connect you with people who can get you places.
All of that said, if you want a job in a specialized field (Doctor, Lawyer, Pilot, etc.) you had BETTER get a degree because you won't be one without the degree.
The Lie: Hard work will take you to the top
The Truth: The concept of ladder motivation in the workplace is nearly non-existent in our day and age. Just because you work hard does NOT mean you will be promoted. It doesn't mean you will get a raise. It means you will keep your job. Connections and likability are what get you further. Knowing your value empowers you to make those moves.
I have worked several jobs where I had the "top" numbers and I have worked at places where I was in the middle and on the bottom of the leaderboard. Not one of those places where I excelled promoted me. Not one. Every "promotion" I have had was because I either got fired and demanded more from my next job and got more money or because I realized my company wasn't going to promote so I demanded more from the next place and quit. I worked at a grocery store and they had a program where you get these buttons for your apron when a customer says you were great to a manager. I had several times where I did this. One time I was wearing Crocs in the middle of January and a customer had their car stuck in the foot of snow that was coming down. I went out and pushed them out and they called in to tell the manager how great I was. The manager laughed and looked at her friend and said, "they must have been drunk." I had another occasion where a hispanic man who actually WAS drunk fell back and smacked his head on the floor. He was conscious but there was some blood on the floor. When the paramedics arrived I was roughly translating the paramedics questions to this customer and the paramedic told the manager that I did them an invaluable service. Neither of these occasions earned me one of these pins.
Your hard work and extra motivation will only get for you what you demand of it. If I had demanded my pin for doing those things I would have gotten them. I was soft and weak and in the end those pins weren't worth the fight but it still proves the point. I didn't move anywhere or do anything because I wasn't very good socially with the managers above me and I didn't have that connection. Parents and teachers should be teaching how to create those connections because THAT is what takes you places. That and KNOWING YOUR VALUE. (more on that later)
The Lie: When you graduate you will be able to support yourself.
The Truth: Up until 2008 this was relatively true, but then people realized that the upper class (wealthy) are poaching on the middle and lower classes. Here's how it works. The rich people in our country run businesses. There are many dynamics that dictate our economy, but one of the most basic concepts is the idea of money flow versus rate of inflation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). What this essentially means is something to the effect of, "How much money are we paying for things versus how much money we are making." When the cost of living increases, wages should increase by the same margin or more to compensate. If wages increase more then money flow increases (because people now have expendable money). If they do not then it remains the same. If wages increase less then the money flow slows down and the economy suffers.
What does all of this mean? It's simple. It started long before 2008, but October 2008 the problem reached it's metaphorical "event horizon" and there was no escape. Gas prices started inflating in the early 2000's exponentially. They nearly tripled actually. The cost of gas (crude oil to be more specific) being so much more puts strains on businesses who need product moved and as such all of these other products hike their costs to offset the expenditure. This is 100% okay when the wages increase for everyone. To the businesses this seems like a one-two punch, but really it's a sacrifice in the short game to make more in the long game. If minimum wage increases in-sync with the gas cost then what happens is the company compensates by inflating their cost and if they can do so in a way that the inflation doesn't exceed the consumer burden (meaning if they can raise prices and pay their employees more) they lose "margin" but make more money. They won't make as much a % profit on any one given item, but because the workforce has more expendable money they sell more product at a slightly smaller profit. Still too confusing? Here:
ABC Company makes Product X for $20 but it costs them $2 to make. That's a margin of about 90% increase. Hooray.
Sally works for ABC Company and makes $7/hr. So she is now reducing their margin to about 55%. They have other expenditures to keep the place open and such, so in reality ABC Company at $20/Product X is probably netting themselves somewhere in the margin of 20-25%. That's actually not bad for a net margin but because it would take people like Sally 4 hours of work (after taxes) just to purchase 1 Product X they only sell say, 1000/ year.
Now let's say that the cost of gas increases and minimum wage is raised to say $10/hr. Well that now drops their margin to a mere 40% and after other costs they are probably closer to 5-10% margin at $20, but they need to mitigate cost so they raise their price to $25.
At $25 they are now back to 52% margin (yes less) but now Sally can buy 1 Product X for only 3 hours of work (after taxes) and have money to spare, so she is happier at work and ABC Company sells more of their product. They sacrifice the 3% to get more business.
Companies don't do this. The rich people say, "oh, you increased my cost? Better fire the people making too much money, hire cheaper labor, send some jobs over seas, and hike the prices. We might be able to even GAIN some margin here!"
All of this means it is increasingly difficult to support yourself out of high school . The average wage in the USA is between $8-$9/hr. and most jobs are now part-time (30-35 hours/week). Assuming the high end of that scale you make $315/week pre-tax. That's a grand old $16,380 a year. So you are working two jobs (assuming you can hold both and keep those hours) and you make $32,760. Well, you're going to spend about $3k of that on gasoline alone. (http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/05/report-u-s-households-spend-record-amount-on-gas-in-2012/). You are going to drop about $11,180 on average for rent (http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/home-front/2012/04/27/rents-rise-while-home-prices-fall). On average you will probably drop close to $6,443/year on food. (http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/average-american-grocery-bill.htm). Assuming you were conservative and bought a used car, on average you will spend about $4,212/year on that (http://www.cnbc.com/id/48844052). At this point you ALREADY need to have that second job or you are under water by about $4k, but we haven't included utilities.... Utilities on average will set you back $1200/year if you live like a pauper. (http://ohmyapt.apartmentratings.com/breaking-down-the-average-utility-costs-per-month-whats-normal.html#b). Average hygeine is likely to set you back about $1k a year and clothing another $1k. You're probably dropping about $500 a year on that cell phone plan, about $1k a year for your TV, about $500 a year on internet, and we haven't even considered that you might have some loans to pay back for your education. Let's assume that you are incredibly fortunate and only pay $150/mo. for your loans. You are now dropping about $1500 a year on that. Car insurance will set you back close to another $1k (probably more if you are actually this young - but I'm being conservative). Your health insurance is likely to cost you close to $4,565 a year (http://kff.org/private-insurance/report/2013-employer-health-benefits/) so now even with the two jobs and working 60-70 hours a week with no other members in your home you are at a negative of $1,643. So you will proably have to cut out that TV, Internet, and probably skimp on clothes because that phone bill is already a minimum plan and you need a phone for safety reasons. Did I mention that all of this was based on your $32,760 being PRE-TAX?
So if you work two jobs making $9/hr and each give you 35 hours a week on average you can break even if you live in a small apartment, don't eat out, don't have TV or Internet, don't spend much on clothes and keep the lights off most of the time.
No. You cannot support yourself straight out of high school or college. Stop saying, "You should be able to." It should be possible to. THAT is an accurate way of saying it because they are saying that it's not the way it should be, and it isn't. Stop thinking that this is the 90's, 80's, or even one of the golden ages before then.
CONCLUSION (I know it's been a long time coming)
To the Gen X'ers and Boomers: Stop telling Millenials (Gen Y'ers) that we are entitled. We aren't entitled. We want the very best like we were promised and it was all torn out from under our feet while most of us were in college. Gen Y'ers now make up the majority of the management workforce in the workplace and we are very concerned with what will do better for us. There is a value for technology and a value for an ability to work smart instead of working harder. If one of us is your manager or you know one of us it's really simple, don't assume we are entitled. Assume we want the very best and if you aren't it then we will find what it is. We aren't a generation that is one to help you become the best. We were bred on the concept that we were all competing to be the best. My high school classes highest GPA was a weighted 5.2. We strive to be the best and expect to be rewarded for doing so. We don't believe in the "everyone gets a participation medal" but we do believe in the "everyone can be #1 and all cultures are important" mentality.
We are not lazy. We appreciate the value of working smart instead of hard when possible because of maximum output. You should value this.
We are not entitled. We understand that you may not understand the technology as it is coming out but we DO think that we can use it in ways that will help improve business while also working smarter and faster. It's not entitled to want an iPad to do my job with if that means I can now do the work of 3 people for you. That's a desire to be more effective. You should value this.
We are not needy. We are constantly on a mission to be better than the other person next to us. We were raised under the notion that we should be the best and we should work the hardest. Since we all want to do better and continuously improve, we want your feedback. I want to know if I am not doing something as effectively as you want BECAUSE I WANT TO BEAT YOUR EXPECTATION! If I have come to you multiple times to get feedback it's because you were so nonchalant the first time around. Give me legitimate feedback even if it's hard to hear. I would much rather hear about how terrible a job I am doing so I can do better than to find out one day I don't have a job.
We aren't narcissistic (clever word you guys but we know what it means). We were promised to have tons of job opportunities with the education we got and they weren't there. We were promised to be paid well and the average income is $8-9/hr in the USA. We want to do the best for ourselves because it is what we were promised. When a millenial is trying to get more for themselves it is because we have ambition to succeed. Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) is the 2nd youngest self-made billionaire in the world. We know how to succeed and we have lofty goals but we also are inclusive of most cultures and generally want to help and teach others.
We aren't disloyal. We simply have ideas on where we want to be. I have worked a ton of jobs and while I don't necessarily know where every move was taking me, I DO know that every change was an opportunity and between 2008 and 2013 I have aggressively seized that opportunity and dramatically improved my results. If you aren't providing a way for a millenial to get what they need/want they will find another way to get it. Plain and simple. We aren't the type to settle. We adapt and improvise. It's not disloyal. If you explain to me rationally how I can patiently wait and what steps to take to move forward I am happy to be loyal to you in that chain. If you simply do not afford any improvement I will look elsewhere under the notion you don't have anything further to offer, which might I add has proven true several times in my life.
To my fellow Millenials (Gen Y'ers): Here are a few tips on things that you can do to make transitions easier for other people and tips that I have had to learn first hand:
1) Know Your Value - If you only think you are worth $30k/year you have NO RIGHT to ask for a penny more than that because you will not offer them a penny more in value for their money. People who are making more money do so because the services they provide the company warrant it. If the services didn't the company wouldn't pay them for it. If you are worth $200k/year then know you are and own it. Don't accept less than that unless you are in a position where you NEED to (currently unemployed, etc). In those cases you always accept a step up from where you are at.
2) You Are Never Better Than What You Are Doing - If you are working at McDonalds as someone who takes orders, you are never above it. You are never below it. It is what you do to get from A to B. I have done a lot of things in my life (Hospital sanitation, grocery store cashier, gas station attendant, jewelry salesman, collections, staffing, telemarketing, business development, unemployment, bus boy, cook, manager, clinical research test participant, plasma donor, Card Shop Operator, janitor, etc.). I was never above any of those positions even though I thought several times that I was.
3) You Never Deserve To Be Above Your Superior - When you are hired by someone, you have a couple of responsibilities. One of them is to do what they are asking you to in exchange for your pay. The other is to make your manager look as good as possible to the person above them. It doesn't matter if you are SMARTER, MORE TALENTED, FASTER, WISER, or any other "ER" because you haven't put in the time to be in the position that they have. If they don't deserve to be there, the person above them will decide that. If they are the top and they own the place, you have no right to say so anyway because they are doing YOU the favor of employing you. If you do well at your job and you make the person above you look better, eventually when that person is rewarded you stand a better chance of receiving some of those benefits also. They are not obligated to share them with you - so don't EXPECT it. Just realize that they will favor you anyway because you do better for them. At best it means you move up in the company or get more money. At worst you have an excellent reference for your next position.
4) People Who Are Older Are Wiser Than You - Maybe they don't know how to sync everything up on iTunes and maybe they don't know how to access the public WIFI. Those can be taught. They know more about discipline and how to position yourself within the company than you do. Respect them for that. They were where you are at one point and likely have a lot of insight to help you get where you want anyway. Often times I have spoken with people older than me and realized that, while they don't realize the error of their ways while speaking to me, I am able to see the flaw simply because they are telling me the "horror" story of when they were in my position. We may be more tech-savvy but they have more life experience. Credit them for that and learn from them. Value them for it.
5) Sometimes You Need To Sacrifice - I have held several positions and there are several times I have moved up because of a play I made to get what I needed. That said, I do well now because I sacrifice time with my family (I work 60-70 hours a week). I do what I can to enjoy my time with them as much as possible, but EVERYTHING comes with a sacrifice. If you want more money you will give up family and friends to get it unless you are VERY lucky. If you want more freedom you will give up money. If you want a family you will give up some of your own personal ambitions. Sacrifice isn't a bad thing. It's simply a way of measuring what is more important to you. I could aggressively put more time into work and make MUCH more money, but I value my family and I am happy where I am at. There is a balance there as there should be with everything.
Matt 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Thanks for reading and God Bless.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)