As a recent graduate, I am among a group of educated individuals trying to find a career that meaningfully connects back to a degree I spent four years completing. Yet most of us college graduates are juggling multiple jobs to primarily pay back our student loans. For example, since graduating from college two years ago, waitressing has been my main source of income. To fulfill desire for my purpose and build professional skills I’ve had to seek out other, less lucrative avenues for relevant work experience, such as unpaid internships.
My peers and I entered the job market after an epic economic recession with millions out of work and carrying crippling student loans. We try to maintain hope about finding a career that will give us an opportunity to create meaningful impact. External factors such as economic pressures, education and societal structures have played an influential role. These factors often inhibit young individuals from embarking on their search for a job with purpose. For recent Millennial graduates two major influences on our career search is the economy and educational pressures in combination with my generation demanding a more secured and meaningful career structure. Specifically the educational pressures consist of monumental college loans and the misconception that a college degree will guarantee a career quickly after graduation.
Security, Meaning & Impact
Research shows that the career choices made by the Silent (1925-45) and Boomer generations were heavily influenced by a combination of societal pressures and expectations of their time. Women from these generations were expected to either become a nurse or a teacher. Often their parents encouraged them to go into one of the two fields.
In contrast, my generation is exposed to more career choices due to the variety educational programs offered coupled with advances in gender equality, cultural changes and more access to information. This has resulted in a much more complex job search for both the males and females in my generation as we ultimately are seeking out careers with room for creativity, growth and social entrepreneurship.
“We are in the midst of a knowledge economy and base our ways of doing business more on meaning and information than on machines and products.” (Sharma S, Joneson K, Hosler S & Saez T)
The Millennials are also challenging the approach and perception of the traditional career structure. Research supports that employed Millennials are seeking work with schedule flexibility, greater foreseeable impact and economic security. As a result of entering the job market after a recession, we have adapted to living among economic insecurity, which is why many of us are juggling two jobs or more just to survive and has lead to a fear of committing to one job over another.
“Another attribute Millennials are seeking is work with a greater purpose and connection. We have been pegged as a generation committed to change. 72% of students, as opposed to 53% of workers, consider having “a job where I can make an impact” to be very important or essential to their happiness. Social entrepreneurship has exploded in the last ten years, going from an undefined phrase to a program offered at more than 30 business schools . Outside of having a positive and long-term effect in their communities, Millennials are seeking meaningful connections at work – 71% want their co-workers to be their “second family.”
So, not only is my generation in a constant search for a meaningful job where we can create impact, we are hesitant of trusting a system that has failed in the past and no longer meets the needs of its employees and to an extent, their customers.
Career Structure Shift
The question now is — how do we change the way career paths are structured when we want to satisfy our new expectations and inner purpose? I believe understanding the impact our generation can have on the career culture is imperative to realizing generational priorities, concepts and manners to achieving our goals. This knowledge could benefit companies by allowing them to create a new set of skills and emerging leaders from the soon-to-be largest generation in the workplace. I think the future shift in career demands from the Millennial generation should be viewed as a creative way to find and maintain individual purpose while also supporting innovation and organizational growth.
