A generation ready for change

Yesterday, a friend from college tweeted a link to this article: Working with Gen Y: It’s Not All About The Money. It piqued my interest so I quickly read through and was in complete agreement with it. Although having enough money to live comfortably is definitely important, we are a generation that requires constant learning and brain stimulation.

This week I’ve experienced A LOT of downtime at work, which can be good or bad. (It has given me lots of time to blog.) Either way, it has made the days go by much slower. My current job, in general, does not allow for a great deal of growth. I’ve been here almost three months, and sometimes I feel like I’m already in a rut.

Usually I stay very busy, but lately jobs haven’t been coming through so I don’t have enough to build press sheets, thus the down time. I’m sure if I stay here long enough, I will eventually take on other responsibilities, but from what I can see, they won’t be much more stimulating. Ideally, I’d like to cross-train as a graphic designer, but I don’t really see that being very likely. And I’ll openly admit I have less than zero interest in moving into sales.

I am not content to sit back and carry out a job for a long period of time that leaves me feeling unfulfilled. Sure I can do a job, but that doesn’t mean I want to for years to come. That’s not my personality, and I don’t think it is for many people from my generation.

We are a generation that multitasks without even trying. Our schedules have always been packed and we’ve grown accustomed to it. We grew up going straight from school to sports practices to home for dinner and homework. Rushing around without giving it a second thought. We kept Xanga blogs and chatted on AIM throughout high school while “studying.” We started Facebook and “social media” as we know it. We were even a major driving force in the current president being elected on a platform of CHANGE.

But what we can’t seem to handle are mundane entry-level jobs being offered (or not) to us under poor economic conditions. We notice that the same old systems used by these companies we’ve just joined are outdated and not the most efficient way of getting things done. But who are we to try to change the way things have been done for decades by our parents’ generation, which is highly comprised of individuals who don’t even know how to use the “tab” feature on Internet browsers (or what a “browser” is, for that matter).

I’m not saying, by any means, that I would want to be working non-stop for eight hours a day. Down time can be nice, and everyone needs a little goof off time once in awhile. And I don’t want anyone to confuse “constant learning and brain stimulation” with stressful overwork. These are completely different. All I’m saying is that I need the opportunity for growth in my career and daily life. After all, I did just spend 17 years in school where I was taught to expand my brain’s capacity on a daily basis. While I’m all for “paying my dues,” I just don’t want my brain to corrode in the meantime.