How you can overcome the Gen Y stereotype
Fair or not, the ‘typical millennial’ label can be hard to shed. It takes work and time. So, put down the smartphone and get to it.
I’m a millennial. I’m also a recent graduate (two years out) and in the communications field.
I hear and read a lot about how terrible and frustrating millennials are as they enter and contribute to the working world. I hear: pretentious, entitled, annoying, lazy.
We have (rightfully or wrongfully) garnered the reputation as a generation of kids who don’t really deserve what we think we deserve.
It’s a stereotype I don’t think we deserve, but before you can overcome a stereotype, you first have to understand why it exists. Where did it come from? What caused it? What perpetuates it?
The environment
The workforce today is a hodgepodge of Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y (millennials). What happens when you juxtapose these generations? You get stereotypes.
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The loudest and most flamboyant of the sets tend to create the voice for the generation, even if there are serious variations within them.
The generations
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