Generation Y – Not All Of Us Are Brats

I recently read an article on Australian Anthill’s online newsletter regarding Generation Y  which really made me ponder. 

Gen-Y bashing has been ripe in recent months and quite frankly I am tired of it.

It seems that the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers main complaints are our lack of work ethics and how we are difficult to get on with in the work place with some (quite frankly wanker) employees refusing to interview people in their twenties.

I am a member of Generation Y. Born in 1983 I am now 26 years old.  I worked hard in school.  At university I was either studying, or working.  Graduating at 23 I thought the world was my oyster.

And for the most part, it was. I have had the opportunity to travel and work for some fantastic companies. I relished my time working in London and whilst I did my fair share of partying I soaked up every ounce of knowledge that my co-workers had to give. How dare people say that Gen Y has no courtesy in the workplace? Sure, we may be opinionated but I for one have some manners.

Gen Y bratty and unwilling to work? Jo Nagle of Sydney firm Let’s Launch said that “They think it’s their right to have what they want, they’re brash and naive and they can really be like spoilt kids who say ‘I want a pony now, I’ve got four ponies at home but I want another one and I want it now’.

It now makes more sense to me that when I returned home from London in 2008 and was desperately seeking work, I managed to get 4 interviews out of the 373 positions I applied for.  It mattered not to employers that I had some fantastic experience, was hard working, loyal, honest and talented.  The fact that I was willing to work for less money in jobs that I were well below my experience level because I just wanted a job meant nothing. 

And it’s not just in the workplace that we are frowned on.  My parents have some friends who regularly come round for BBQ’s and the like. One of them actually had the nerve to say to me (or rather slur at me, glass of cabernet sauvignon in hand) – “Your in Generation Y, do you go write yourself off and sleep with people every weekend” (I’m paraphrasing").  Out of respect for my Father (and in fear of my Mother yelling at me) I refrained from asking him what he got up to during the Summer of Love and whether or not he dropped acid whilst listening to Jefferson Airplane.

Just remember Baby-Boomers, in the not so distant future you are going to need your Generation Y offspring to support you and pay for your nursing homes.