Can We Stop Talking About Millennials Entering the Work World?

[ChetlovesMer]

I just got an invitation to an online class in order to "Learn How To Deal With Millennials Entering the Work World"... ? ??? 

I'm like Millennials are now 25 to 40 years old. Shouldn't we be thinking about Gen Z?

I have the feeling everyone over 50 thinks Millennials are still teenagers. 

[boogielicious]

30 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I just got an invitation to an online class in order to "Learn How To Deal With Millennials Entering the Work World"... ? ??? 

I'm like Millennials are now 25 to 40 years old. Shouldn't we be thinking about Gen Z?

I have the feeling everyone over 50 thinks Millennials are still teenagers. 

Everyone under 50 is just a kid!

[mchepp]

The class should be titled:

"How everyone younger than me has no grit"

At least it would be accurate then.

[mcanadiens]

I don't mind the whipper snappers.

None of the young punks seem to want to get into my business, so I ought to make money until I'm too senile to know the difference.

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by mcanadiens

[dennyjones]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I have the feeling everyone over 50 thinks Millennials are still teenagers. 

I stand corrected!  😅

[phillyk]

I'm not a fan of getting lumped with Gen Z'ers. 😁

[saevel25]

21 hours ago, mchepp said:

"How everyone younger than me has no grit"

Hmm, I wonder if the people I know who worked their butts off would appreciate this. 

Doesn't every generation repeat the same BS. Older people don't want the world to change. Younger people think older people are stuck in their ways. 

This is just the same old song and dance to me. 

 

[mchepp]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

Hmm, I wonder if the people I know who worked their butts off would appreciate this. 

Doesn't every generation repeat the same BS. Older people don't want the world to change. Younger people think older people are stuck in their ways. 

This is just the same old song and dance to me. 

 

I am not sure that "working their butts off" has anything to do with grit, but I take your point. My comment was made in jest, at how the boomers always said our generation was so "soft".

My personal feeling is that the younger generation I have interacted with are much more cognizant of the challenges we face as a society, especially with respect to race relations and climate change. I am extremely hopeful for the new generation.

[billchao]

On 1/26/2021 at 3:15 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

I just got an invitation to an online class in order to "Learn How To Deal With Millennials Entering the Work World"... ? ??? 

I'm like Millennials are now 25 to 40 years old. Shouldn't we be thinking about Gen Z?

I have the feeling everyone over 50 thinks Millennials are still teenagers. 

All younger people are Millennials and all older people are Boomers; it is known.

[Missouri Swede]

18 minutes ago, billchao said:

All younger people are Millennials and all older people are Boomers; it is known.

I've been informed (by a Millennial) that "Boomer" now refers to attitudes and behaviors, and so can be used to refer to some individuals in gen x or y (or whatever), so that using that term to refer to an age-group is wrong now.

Fine. Whatever. I would have told them to get off my lawn, but they weren't on my lawn. (I had a comment on "them" all typed here, but I deleted it. Probably off topic.)

[DeadMan]

On 1/26/2021 at 1:15 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

I just got an invitation to an online class in order to "Learn How To Deal With Millennials Entering the Work World"... ? ??? 

I'm like Millennials are now 25 to 40 years old. Shouldn't we be thinking about Gen Z?

I have the feeling everyone over 50 thinks Millennials are still teenagers. 

Yeah, I'm a millennial, and I turn 35 this year. I've been in the work force for over a decade. There's nothing to deal with; millennials are here to stay.

A few years ago my boss had a special seminar on how to work with and manage millennials. It's really not that hard. Treat us with respect, pay us what we're worth, and give us opportunities to advance. Like every generation before us. Come on, people.

I could rant for a while about this...

[ChetlovesMer]

39 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

Yeah, I'm a millennial, and I turn 35 this year. I've been in the work force for over a decade. There's nothing to deal with; millennials are here to stay.

A few years ago my boss had a special seminar on how to work with and manage millennials. It's really not that hard. Treat us with respect, pay us what we're worth, and give us opportunities to advance. Like every generation before us. Come on, people.

I could rant for a while about this...

The point of my contention was why would I want to take a seminar or class that's so out of date they don't realize that millennials have already been in the work world for 5 to 15 years or more? I'm sure the seminar will spend all its time talking about how to attract and retain new recruits coming out of college. But, HELLO, that's Gen Z, NOT MILLENNIALS!  How can I take anything in a class or seminar seriously if they don't even know which group they are targeting? 

To me it feels like my generation just calls anyone younger than themselves a millennial. 

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, mchepp said:

My comment was made in jest, at how the boomers always said our generation was so "soft".

I’m a boomer and have never said that! If anything, I find boomers tend to overestimate the amount they work and how tough they are.😀

[mchepp]

12 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I find boomers tend to overestimate the amount they work and how tough they are.😀

That and also how far they hit their persimmon drivers.

[Aguirre]

On 1/27/2021 at 12:55 PM, saevel25 said:

Hmm, I wonder if the people I know who worked their butts off would appreciate this. 

Doesn't every generation repeat the same BS. Older people don't want the world to change. Younger people think older people are stuck in their ways. 

This is just the same old song and dance to me. 

 

Yes. I've been saying this for a long time. Somewhere in 600AD in Romania, maybe under control of the Avar Khaganate, some turnip vendor who beats his wife was lamenting about "these young kids." 

That's not to say that every new generation improves upon the last. But this constant lamenting about the next generation needs to stop. The world moves on. And, generally, continues to get better. What I wish is that more generations of parents (including my own), took more responsibility for raising their kids, than simply shaking their fist at social media aps.

On 1/27/2021 at 6:22 PM, DeadMan said:

Yeah, I'm a millennial, and I turn 35 this year. I've been in the work force for over a decade. There's nothing to deal with; millennials are here to stay.

A few years ago my boss had a special seminar on how to work with and manage millennials. It's really not that hard. Treat us with respect, pay us what we're worth, and give us opportunities to advance. Like every generation before us. Come on, people.

I could rant for a while about this...

Lol. Wait a minute. You think your generation is being singled out and denied appropriate pay and promotion? By most definitions millennials are 21-40. Like, you're managers and the boss now. The idea that you're being glass ceilinged? Are you f***ed in the head?

[iacas]

That’s not what he said.

[ChetlovesMer]

5 hours ago, Aguirre said:

Wait a minute. You think your generation is being singled out and denied appropriate pay and promotion? By most definitions millennials are 21-40. Like, you're managers and the boss now. The idea that you're being glass ceilinged? Are you f***ed in the head?

The industry I am in, "Fluid Power" values millennials and GEN Z very heavily. Almost every company in my industry would hire a millennial or a GEN Z in a heartbeat. That's why we have seminars on "How to attract millennials." A quick stat from the seminar. In 1980 The Milwaukee School of Engineer graduated 121 Fluid Power Engineers. Last year they graduated one. We get it. We are not a flashy industry. 

The big problem in my industry is that millennials and GEN Z just aren't interested in fluid power. The industry is seen as "old technology". It's true it's not exactly cutting edge by any stretch of the imagination. Having said that I've been in the industry for 28 years and I've never been out of work. If I lost my job today I could find at least a half dozen companies to interview with tomorrow. Fluid Power isn't going away any time soon. 

I know Plumbing, Welding, and Die Cutting are having the exact same problems. How to attract new young talent into the industry? None of us are blind to the fact that we aren't Apple, Tesla, Microsoft, or Slack. But again, these industries aren't going away. On that note, if we could attract a female fluid power engineer that is like a Unicorn. Seriously, a female in my industry is guaranteed employment for as long as she wants it. A female GEN Z who's interested in fluid power will NEVER want for a job. 

[boogielicious]

4 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

A quick stat from the seminar. In 1980 The Milwaukee School of Engineer graduated 121 Fluid Power Engineers. Last year they graduated one. We get it. We are not a flashy industry. 

I’m curious as in how this differs from Chemical Engineering or Mechanical Thermo-Fluids. We all use the same equations. Maybe just looking for Chem Es or ME Thermo-Fluids would result in more recruiting hits.

A workmate of mine has a son who is going to my alma mater, WPI. He’s majoring in Aeronautical Engineering. Another workmate of mine is a Chem E like me. We got into a discussion about the curriculum. He seemed to think that the AE had different math, courses, etc. We kind of giggled and said, “they don’t have a different Bernoulli’s equation.” It’s all the same math, physics etc. Chem Es just take a couple more chemistry courses.