If you haven’t heard this enough, here are the facts: Millennials currently make up 36% of the workforce, and by 2020, Millennials will make up nearly half.
This is Caroline, Curtis’ marketing manager. As a Millennial myself, I can tell you that we’re not going anywhere, and if you’re hiring right now, you’re probably getting Tweets, LinkedIn invites, Facebook posts, and even some resumes from a few thousand of us.
I know it’s frustrating. I mean, who are all of these unqualified, overeager, entitled kids filling your inbox with applications, thinking they deserve a spot at your company?
They’re the class of 2014. And I hate to break it to you, but they are your future marketing team, accountants, business managers, and IT department.
But before you crawl into your bunker, batten down the hatches, and wait for the Gen Y to pass like pack of ravenous, job-hungry wolves, consider what could happen if you made peace with a few Millennials, welcomed them onto your team, and fed them what they’re all craving: The Dream Job.
The Dream Job for a Millennial looks something like this:
- It offers flexibility and mobility, allowing us to work where we want, when we want. (And according to the Harvard Business Review, this is only going to make us more productive.)
- It allows us to give back and do good in the world. With more companies like Warby Parker and FashionAble cropping up, it’s clear that we love our jobs more if they make it possible for us to love the world we live in more.
- It pays enough to cover rent, food, and maybe even to chip away at those college loans. We watched our parents through the recession, have been told thousands of times that “the economy is bad,” and we’d rather rent than go through the “maintenance nightmare” of home ownership. The way we see it, if we can feed, clothe, and dig ourselves out of debt without having to move in with our parents, we’re living large.
- It lets us follow our passions and use our talents. We care far more about loving our work than how much it pays or what our title is. We’re less concerned about having our own office or being the C-anything of a company as we are about just wanting to do what we do every day. Fuel our passions, and we will work harder for personal fulfillment than anyone you can hire who just wants to climb the corporate ladder.
(By the way, if we’re Tweeting, sending you emails and LinkedIn invites, and calling your assistant, it’s not because we’re trying to be creepy. We’re passionate, and we want to make sure it’s 100% clear to you that we will go above and beyond to get the job.)
So what will happen to your business if you feed the Millennials and give them the kinds of jobs they want?
You may just end up with passionate, more engaged, hard working and work-loving, cheap laborers.
Now, that doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
As a speaker and author, Curtis Zimmerman has impacted over one million people with his life-changing messages and award-winning programs. Curtis is an expert at transforming organizations by inspiring individuals to live their lives at performance level.
Want to be inspired? Check out his podcast The Next 24 Hours.
