1 of 2
Photographs by Kevin A. Roberts
2 of 2
No one can quite agree on a name—Generation Y, Millennials, Echo Boomers, the Net Generation, Generation Me, Generation Next... Likewise, there’s no precise timeline for when this demographic begins or ends; some place its inception as early as the mid-’70s. Some say members are still being born. (The most concrete timeline is 1982 to 1995, when there was an uptick in the birthrate.) Two points that are generally agreed upon, though: Gen Y is the first to take technology for granted, and its hovering parents have given its constituents a healthy sense of self-esteem…maybe too healthy.
The plot twist is the Great Recession of 2008, which has hit younger workers the hardest. Last November, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that unemployment for the 20-to-24 age bracket was as high as 17 percent overall—9.3 percent for those with college degrees. In response, some younger workers have gone to grad school, some have moved in with their parents, and some have actually found full-time work. Yet their signature optimism hasn’t been dashed entirely, even if it’s been softened: An Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll conducted in 2009 revealed that 64 percent of Gen Y responders believed the economy would “totally recover,” while only 23 percent said it would “totally worsen.”
“People who are my age tend to be a little more optimistic,” agrees 25-year-old Dustin Crites, who just started a full-time job at Lee Enterprises, designing Web ads for stltoday.com. Crites left art school at Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Mo., at age 19 to get a real-estate license because he wanted to make money immediately (he says he didn’t make a dime). He then moved to St. Louis and sold car insurance—but he quit on the spot after returning from a vacation in Puerto Rico. “I do pointillism pen-and-ink stuff,” he says, “and people would come by my desk to see me doing that, and say, ‘Why are you here?’” Within a week of quitting, Crites enrolled in DeVry University’s online associate program in Web design. He graduated in December 2009.
“I had the résumé of a 20- or 21-year-old,” Crites sighs. He kept a job at State Farm while applying for Web-design jobs, despite discouraging experiences—like seeing that 1,500 other people had applied for the same position. He feels grateful that Lee hired him last summer, but doesn’t believe there’s any need to apologize for having a sense of self-esteem: “As long as people are doing what they truly are talented at, I don’t see that it was a problem that our parents were encouraging to us,” he says.
Mindy Berkowitz, director of portfolio development and internships at Webster University’s School of Communications, works with 18 different majors, from Web design to film production, PR to photography. She acknowledges that Gen Y does “come in with some level of healthy self-esteem, because that’s what they were raised with.” As for the recession, she says, “a lot of them have friends who have graduated in the past few years, and you can’t pick up a newspaper without knowing how difficult it is.”
Rachel Schallom was set to graduate from the University of Missouri–Columbia in December with a degree in journalism. Last summer, she applied to 18 internships across the country, did not land one, and instead took summer classes and worked at the Columbia Missourian. She just learned she will not be accepted to Mizzou’s graduate school, but has applied to several other programs (she will hear back this spring) and is currently spending a lot of time on her job search. She says she’s resigned to going wherever a job may be. “I spend dozens of hours a week filling out applications,” she says. Schallom has applied for jobs in places she doesn’t want to go, like Cleveland—though she drew the line at Alaska. What would she do if everything falls through? “I would take an unpaid internship,” she says. “I’ve heard those are kind of a backup plan that sometimes turns into a job.”
Derek Robertson, a 26-year-old trainee with Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s Management Training Program, spent two years doing event management for a nonprofit, a job he took straight out of college before starting with Enterprise eight months ago. He says the program appealed to him because Enterprise’s culture dovetails with his generation’s values.
“I believe my generation likes goals,” Robertson says. “I think we like to meet those, we really enjoy quick promotion, and we like to think if you do your job you’re going to get rewarded for doing that. And I like the community involvement that Enterprise has been doing forever.”
Ashley Reed, who graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology in 2009, interned with the Saint Louis Zoo the summer after graduation. She always knew she’d be at a nonprofit—she’d imagined working for the Girl Scouts—so when a position opened later that summer, she happily transitioned to a full-time job with the zoo’s HR department. This gives her an even broader perspective on what her generation faces in the workplace. “It definitely seems like an internship is almost critical to getting a job nowadays,” she says. “The hands-on experience, you just can’t get that in a classroom.”
She adds that people her age are very mindful of the recession and its effects. “We all entered college at the age when it was easy to get a job, and there were headhunters clamoring for your attention. But over the course of four years, we’re graduating into one of the worst economies of our time. We have that go-get-’em, we-can-do-anything attitude, but then so many people I know have spent months and months after graduation looking for jobs. To get a full-time job these days…a lot of it almost feels like luck.”
As for one final Gen Y cliché, the moving-back-home-with-Mom phenomenon? It’s somewhat true, Robertson says. “I know a lot of people, after they graduate, stay with their parents and family a little longer than in the past,” he says. “Kids are becoming more like a friend with their parents.”
“I had a mom that was extremely encouraging,” Crites agrees. “I could call her tomorrow and tell her that I’m quitting design and I want to be a pilot. She would probably be a little freaked out at first, but she would support me in whatever I want to do. She’s always been very positive with us, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think it lends itself to creativity…and a more positive outlook on things.”
