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 comunications 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.
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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