Gen Y and Employers Have Conflicting Views on Careers

Work for a year or two and save up some money. Travel the world. Get another job. Decide that job isn’t right for you either. Quit. Find your true calling at 25 after a few more stints as a financial accountant. Ah – you finally discovered cake decorating. You never really wanted that accounting degree anyway…

Generation Yers have been engrained with the idea that you can be who you want to be, you should follow your passions, and you have all the opportunities in the world. With this mentality why would any new college graduate want to stay locked up at one company for the next five, ten, twenty years? Now more than ever, the value of having numerous experiences and discovering true passions precedes what little job security and benefits staying at one firm can offer -- and this does not sit well with many employers. The new problem for employers is not finding qualified applicants, it’s keeping them around. Since the cost of recruiting a new Gen Y grad to fill the shoes of a lost employee is one and a half times that employee’s salary, employee retention is a major issue.

Employers believe that Generation Yers expect to jet up the corporate ladder, and quit because this does not happen. After spending four (or more) years pumping yourself with coursework, extracurricular activities, and having more optimism and motivation than half of the company combined, wouldn’t you expect to be a little more than Mr. Hey-You-Get-Me-Some-Coffee?

Gen Y grads are looking for responsibility and challenge, and employers are starting to implement initiatives to raise employee retention. These initiatives include job rotation before committing to a particular position, building communication lines and relationships with new employees, and pairing seasoned veterans with new hires during the learning process. Employers hope that these practices will help the so-called “entitlement generation” slow down a bit and act more like – them?

Read more from Michelle Keller at the Los Angeles Times.