Millennials: the 21st century worker

Last night I attended a session at the State Library of Victoria as part of their "Outside the Box" series. It focused on how young people (gen Y) like to work, what motivates them and how managers can attract and retain them. There were three presenters:


Andrew Finegan, from the Darwin City Council Libraries - check out his blog at: http://librarianidol.blogspot.com/


Lil Wilkinson, from the SLV's Centre for Youth Literature - check out her blog at: http://thinkingsofalili.blogspot.com/


Ben Tan, a 20 year old Arts/Law student who works for the Oaktree Foundation, which is a youth run aid organisation. He isn't into blogs!!

So just some thoughts/comments:

• provide opportunities or millennials will go into another industry
• remember that we see the world differently
• lifelong learning - is our job
• we want to learn from you, but you have to learn from us too
• I am who I am and want to do what I do most of the time
• we love to solve problems - we like a good challenge
• we are ready for advice and constructive criticism
• we want to feel like we have a say and that we are valid
• we want career pathways and want to know what that next step is
• we will change career paths
• we want empowerment
• we want recognition for a job well done
• we want stepping stones to bigger and better careers
• we don't want to stay in the same position for a lifetime
• give us the opportunities that we seek, and the organisation will be rewarded

It was really interesting and though I didn't gain a lot (as I am a gen Y), it helped me to reinforce ideas and validate who I am.