Comments on: Defending GenY: Why Millennial-Bashers are Wrong

By: BradWatersMSW

BradWatersMSW — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 17:23:00 +0000

Generation-bashing isn’t new to Millennials, we’ve all gone through it when coming of age. Today’s youth will be tomorrow’s leaders, cleaning up the messes we’ve made and, naturally, creating some of their own. I wrote a similar piece about Millennials for Psychology Today and included a collection of Millenial-bashing articles from the past 2 years. Here’s the link in case you’re interested in seeing how this controversy has evolved in recent media: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/design-your-path/201309/whats-the-benefit-criticizing-millennials

By: Pyrrho Nist

Pyrrho Nist — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 20:10:00 +0000

Spreading rhetoric about a generation you think you understand … just because you’re part of that generation … is about as useful and savvy as selling used toilet paper

By: Lauren Milligan

Lauren Milligan — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 18:18:00 +0000

And with that, I must now get back to work. No more time to rant; these resumes will not write themselves! I wish you, RichardsDaddy, the best success in your career.

By: Lauren Milligan

Lauren Milligan — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 18:16:00 +0000

Intellectually, I know that she doesn’t represent an entire generation, but was the sum of a perfect analogy. She texted a high-profile client and of course, used abbreviations (looking forward 2 working w/ u), spoke all of her sentences as a question (I’ll send the file right away?) and couldn’t spell worth a damn. Yet somehow, she had an excellent GPA and great recommendations, which leads me to believe that the standards for the younger generation are no longer as stringent as they were for us. Yours is the first generation whose parents plastered their cars with honor roll bumper stickers (who gives a shit?!) and got trophies for just showing up. (Yes, it’s an old person’s argument but it’s true!) However, I have to acknowledge that as aggravating as that all is, it’s the older tier of my generation that parented your generation this way, so shame on all the coddling breeders. Oh – and this girl was the only applicant her age who didn’t have embarrassing photos on FB. I can’t even believe that still has to be a conversation! I would love to bring in some young blood to my company, but they end up firing themselves before they can prove their worth.

By: RichardsDaddy

RichardsDaddy — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:44:00 +0000

I’m sorry you had that experience, and canning her was definitely the right move. However, she’s not representative of everyone my age (I was born in ’81, so I assume that makes me part of GenY). Most of my peers are younger than I or the same age, and they bust their tails right alongside the Boomers and GenX folks. We even have a VP over a massive business unit who *might* be 35 or 36.

By: George Haines

George Haines — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:35:00 +0000

When 50-year-olds look at 20-year-olds they always seem the same things. It doesn’t matter what year it is, young people are different and have different values. Check back in with Gen Y when they are in their 50′s and I bet you’ll see that those values are different. I bet you’ll also hear them complain about the attitudes of the kids 30 years younger than them. Consequences don’t matter as much to younger people (for a thousand reasons) and that’s not all bad.

By: www.ltanswers.com

www.ltanswers.com — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:18:00 +0000

But I don’t feel this generation gap is new or exciting.

Their has always been animosity between the coming and going of each new generation.

Just look at the history of each transference from one to the next.

By: Danny Rubin

Danny Rubin — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:18:00 +0000

People like to bash Millennials, but anyone — at any age — can wipe all the stereotypes away with a strong work ethic and the ability to follow through on commitments. That’s how you move from being a generational statistic to an invaluable team member, even at 22.

By: Lauren Milligan

Lauren Milligan — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:17:00 +0000

Wow – you’ve really turned things around for me. Not really, but I’m happy to see fewer typos than I expected. I recently fired a millennial because (here comes a direct quote), “I don’t check work email on my birthday”. That about sums up this generation for me. This little brat (I no longer remember her name but it probably contained an unnecessary ‘y’ in there somewhere) was quickly replaced by a Gen-Xer; both her presence and absence barely made a ripple.

By: Karen Espenant

Karen Espenant — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:15:00 +0000

When reading GenY statistics , I wonder about the sampling pool, especially when they say that ” GenY will represent 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025″. Are these characteristics global in nature, or is the sample pool decidedly US, or Western? What’s the data detail?