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Generation Y paradox in today's workforce
Passion and impact
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assion and impact. If I can summarize the two things that have become so popular among the young generation in deciding career options, it has got to be those two.
The Y generation, of which I am part, has started to dominate the population and does not feel satisfied only by financial incentives or glamorous positions.
From limited observations of my peers, other burning drivers have been passion and ambition to make an impact. They want a job that is in line with what they feel strongly about, and they want to contribute visibly to society, be it their family or community.
These trends are unique for they suggest a totally different landscape of today's workforce. Surprisingly, it is now filled with a group of youngsters who have barely worked for more than two years in one organization, a bunch of tenacious entrepreneurs kicking off start-ups, and another group of confused people. Why so?
Well, despite the fact that we want to create an impact, this generation is known for its impatience. Sophisticated technology offering ease of life wherever you go, combined with more comfortable lives and places to live in (compared to the war and Great Depression eras, or the transition era from traditional to industrial economy), and life has become quite easy (if not too easy) and instant for this generation.
We are used to the accelerated path in education or work, 'instant' this and that, shortcuts through gadgets ' direct gratifications are at the tip of our fingers, in almost all aspects of life.
That somehow erodes some perspiration and perseverance in achieving great things. The process has become the second, or perhaps last priority.
All these facts have suggested to members of this generation to leave jobs that cannot cater to their need for accelerated development. A year at one big company is rather too long to understand one's strengths and weaknesses, challenges and opportunities, or the company's future contribution to one's personal development.
The workforce, without doubt, has been one affected area of this 'impatience disease'. The good thing, though, is that these people have been bolder and braver to take risks. Start-ups have become the new 'operating mode'.
The youngsters now dare to start their own ventures and fail, rather than wait for opportunities to come, which is exactly what the country needs ' action, as opposed to mere dreams.
The problem is that we took the advice to 'follow your calling' literally. We just don't want to settle for less. In other words, we do what we want to do, and often ignore the rest.
We would prefer a job we feel comfortable with, we tend to dislike gray areas that offer some uncertainty if they are not in line with our passions.
Often, we close our eyes to real growth opportunities, only because we don't feel strongly about a particular area of work or interest. We get blinded to the saying 'do what you love', thinking that doing so means focusing entirely on what you enjoy doing. What we have yet to notice is the fact that the only constant is change.
What we think we like now, might not be something we pursue in the long run.
This generation's limited exposure to what the world can offer might hinder it from finding the 'real gem' (an intersection of opportunity and passion).
Worse, we totally ignore the fact that in everything you do, there's always something that you hate to do, but you must do it no matter what.
The Y generation has been known as 'the worst generation of all time' (New York Post), or 'pampered' and 'high maintenance' (USA Today), because according to Cal Newport in the Harvard Business Review, we were misinformed.
Passion for some people has been developed over a certain period of time, after they became very good at what they were doing after years of frustration, instead of greeting you right in front of your door after graduation.
Or, to quote Immanuel Kant, 'Suppose a man finds himself a talent which might make him a useful man in many respects. But he finds himself in comfortable circumstances and prefers to indulge in pleasure rather than take pains in enlarging his happy natural capacities.'
We have been blinded by the obsession to explore, we are impatient to reach a level of decision-making powers (to make a significant contribution) in such short amount of time.
We have been carried away by our imagination that life was supposed to only get better in the way we want it to be, because we are doing what we aspire to do.
In many cases, young people, as mentioned, leave their first grinding work under that impatience and high-level dream, not knowing to respect the process that helped them grow tremendously.
Patience is a virtue. Changing the world does not happen overnight. It comes through perspiration, perseverance and process. Having high ambition is one (great) thing, but getting the 'extra work' done is a must. There is no shortcut to sustainable success.
Getting frustrated, getting lost and confused in the process, being emotionally and physically drained are part of growing ' not the reasons to quit a job. Do not let 'passion' sweep away good development opportunities. Give time its space to work some magic.
As Walt Disney said, 'People often ask me if I could tell others how to make their dreams come true. My answer is, you do it by working.'
The writer works for The Young Leaders for Indonesia and is passionate about social innovation and humanities.
