Do Twenty-Somethings Want TOO Much?

[Queen Mother]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/worklife/12/26/cb.generation/index.html


As a 50 year old woman who has worked for a major university; a large university medical center; the federal government (US Senate) and been a part of our family-owned operations for more than 12 years - I found this article VERY interesting. I know first-hand, that it has become harder and harder to find younger employees with the same work-ethic as older ones. (Yeah, I know there are always exceptions!)

My experience shows that the younger employees (particularly right out of college) want the same salaries as their parents who have worked for years to reach a certain income level. They also want benefits that equal or surpass their colleagues who've been there for years. Additionally, they don't really want to put in the same effort or time that older employees are putting in. It's a "I want" mentality without having the accompanying "I will do" attitude.

Just my experience thus far - very frustrating for business owners. :(

[TheCapitalist]

Same experience here. This expectation of compensation is evident even when the experience and/or education is absent.

[Fish-Bait]

You ain't telliin' me nothin'! Good grief!.....They come in here and are about 21 years old and they ask the rate of pay. I tell em' well based on what you have written down on your experience 12.50 and hour to start. Then they are like "WHAT?????" That's all??????
That's pathetic.....blah blah blah blah blah......Then I say when I started here (technically 18 years ago) I made 3.50 an hour loading up scap iron by hand. They are then like "WHAT??????" NOWAY!!!! that's it????? Then I say yes, that is why I am behind this desk and you want a job.....get's em' everytime.

[Fish-Bait]

On another note I watched a twenty year old little hottie get totally pissed at a gas pump in front of dandy dan's today....it was freakin' hilarious. She got so mad that her stupid self flung her car door back open (brand new camry) and dented the hell out of it on the big iron post that gaurd the pumps. I almost spit out my hashbrowns. It took her 15 minutes to just get her gas to start pumping. She literally cursed the gas pump...Just standing there yelling at it like it really was listening to her. I was so amused. I mean, c'mon.....just go inside if you have a problem, but nooooooooo she has to curse the dam thing out like 47 times like it was her boyfriend or something....jeeeez...

[Nana]

It is amazing how they want the salary but not the job.:p

[pooker]

I will be the first one to say I want a good salary, I did not go to college to make only 11 or 10 or 12 bucks an hour. I made more than that before I went into college. Patooie

[Nana]

Pooker, there are exceptions to every rule.;)

[Fish-Bait]

I did both...worked for it and schooled for it so patooie back in your eyeball!

[Queen Mother]

Pook, herein lies the problem I see for a lot of twenty-somethings - they believe they are "entitled" to that good salary ONLY because they went to college - regardless of their experience or ability to apply that college knowledge in a practical situation. I've heard Hawk say many times that "on the job experience" is invaluable.

A college education should help you get your foot in the door and make you more attractive to a potential employer. It should also make you more competitive with other college graduates who are going after the same job. It should not, though, "entitle" you to a "good" salary - IMO, there's more to the overall picture than that.

Now, I know we're talking in general terms - because Pook I've seen your hard work and your work ethic - you've got that "can do" attitude that I like!!!

[pooker]

Not arguing just saying what I feel :) I can not support my family on 12 bucks an hour. I understand there are exceptions :)

[Fish-Bait]

yes you can, you just have to live by the means.

[Fish-Bait]

cut back.

beenie weenies
vieena's

ford festiva...etc.

[Queen Mother]

Most twenty-somethings I know want the same lifestyle as their folks - they want to drive the same cars and have the same material things that 40+-somethings have.

[BassCatter]

Get an engineering degree Pook.....Oil companies are snapping up engineers like crazy. They generally start them about at about 70K a year right out of college......It's called the Challenge Program. For three years they rotate you through 3 different areas of the company based on your degree and your Personal Development Plan. Then they land you where you stick for about 100K a year.

[Fish-Bait]

you can also raise hogs on the side.

[BassCatter]

If they can forrage for two weeks at a time, I guess you could < grinz >

[Fish-Bait]

dude, a pig will eat anything....

[Fish-Bait]

If you get a sow though make sure she has 16 teats....a pig with 15 teats is no good.

[pooker]

yes you can, you just have to live by the means.
I meant comfortably and everyone has a different standard of that ;). I want to provide for my family I want to know that I can be stable throughout my life. The cost of living rises while wages seem to want to stay the same. Maybe I am just naive but my entire reason I thought college existed was for excellment in a field that could in most cases not be attained by someone who had not gone to college. But then again that is not to say that I am not against competition, I believe fields should be paid what there worth. If your smarter than a college student, if you know more than a college student they you are more entitled to that job than the college student and therefore should be paid more.

[pooker]

Get an engineering degree Pook.....Oil companies are snapping up engineers like crazy. They generally start them about at about 70K a year right out of college......It's called the Challenge Program. For three years they rotate you through 3 different areas of the company based on your degree and your Personal Development Plan. Then they land you where you stick for about 100K a year.
I do not want that, I am in a field that I loved if I was in it for the money there is different things I would be in. I am doing this because I love it and it is something I actually enjoy and love talking to my teachers about. :) My biggest problem is I am inpatient , I want life to move along faster I hate stuff that takes two, four, or eight years to complete I want it sooner, I hate the thought of aging and life goals, I want it know. :p

[pooker]

If you get a sow though make sure she has 16 teats....a pig with 15 teats is no good.
Why is a pig with 15 hoo hoos no good and I have a feeling you are pulling my string. :eek:

[BassCatter]

Wise old grin - I hear ya little brother, I was there too......But the older you get the more you realize, nothing is worth getting that much in a hurry for. What you want, need, or deserve, all catches up with you in it's own time.

[Flowergirl]

I see it all the time, too. It amazes me. I am equally amazed at the lack of work ethic evident in today's young work force. Raining hard here, signal going down, will resume post later.

[pooker]

Oh crap :(

[eyescene]

I made $2.10 in 1975 working @ happy Acres Nursing homes on the night sift...no sift differential back then. Less than !200.00 every bi-weekly pay check.

But we made it!

[carsalesguy]

cut back.

beenie weenies
vieena's

ford festiva...etc.

NISSAN VERSA

geez- i gotta make a living here -----

[pooker]

Nissan versa? Oh do I even want to know... is it worse than a geo metro?

[Guru]

My companies enrollment program fell flat on its behind.
My running ear to ear buzz gave it around 20% success ratio.

This is what happened:
They only wanted college degreed inductees. 2 year plans were ok but they wanted people with paper and didn't ask for any work served.
PacMan kids first of all could not stand to be away from home and missed hanging out in the parking lots with their bros, could not disconnect from what they always knew as their day to day existences and had no desire to learn the industry or applications.
I don't know how many I saw that didn't finish the first day and some I even had to sit with while they cried and waiting on transportation.
The pay and benefits were not good, they were not great, they are exceptional.
The only salvage to this has been a return to hiring talented craftsmen or promising early years trainees.

Around home see if you can get a neighborhood kid to do anything. Everything is below them. You can't treat them good enough, you can't do most of their work for them and continue the process, buying their lunch is not enough, sitting on their a$$ drinking Dr Pepper with me when I get hot for 30 minutes at a stretch while still getting paid has no good effect.
I asked one of them if maybe it would work better for him if I just didn't have his folks wake him up, I would do all the work, bring his lunch for whenever he woke up, hold his cell phone while he texted (working one handed which no work being done), and then at the end of the day just bringing him the money that he wanted to spend that weeked instead of what the pay rate was and if necessary eat, chew his food and go to the bathroom for him so it wouldn't burden him too much. This way he could "say" he had a job and I could "say" I had a worker and it would take less toll on both of us keeping this little charade going.

I've had new engineers waste $150,000 / hour in stop work just so we could all be diverse and hear what they said they read in a book during one semester that would solve our current problem since they just got here with all the answers and we had been building this world we lived in for the last 30 years or so, consequently writing the text books that he had given his/her brief pre-work learning experience from.

Sometimes I do well and sometimes I tell them to hit the door before my boot hits their intestines.

Arms too short and brains to match.
Kinda like that funny dinosaur in the cartoon movie that answers the question of why he can't reach his goal (getting into a crack to the food) :::cause:::I:::got:::short:::arms :::and:::a:::big:::head:::.

[Fish-Bait]

Give me a job.......hehe...I like screwin' with their heads...I like em' to leave out of here goin'....."dang, I have a degree and he hired that old geezer....wth???" Sooner or later they are bound to get it. I guess.

[Goobersmooch]

as a generation Y person myself, I am afraid to interject here

[SoMissTV]

As a generation Y, I'll be happy to jump in. I work in a creative position. I look at the gross income of projects that I manage and coordinate, and make my compensation requests accordingly. I figure that as this income is directly attributable to my creative ideas, I should receive a fair compensation for those ideas. I will ask for employer-compensation for any tool or resource that I find to have a direct positive benefit on the bottom line. If my cell phone allows clients to contact me in a more efficient manner, thus spending more money with me; then I find it to be a justifiable (and logical) request.

[Fish-Bait]

As a generation Y, I'll be happy to jump in. I work in a creative position. I look at the gross income of projects that I manage and coordinate, and make my compensation requests accordingly. I figure that as this income is directly attributable to my creative ideas, I should receive a fair compensation for those ideas. I will ask for employer-compensation for any tool or resource that I find to have a direct positive benefit on the bottom line. If my cell phone allows clients to contact me in a more efficient manner, thus spending more money with me; then I find it to be a justifiable (and logical) request.


Logical is the key word...and you actually work, or want to work.

[Guru]

No Goob, this place is a real forum, opinions are worth more than gold and platinum.
Like the young workers entering the work force, fresh brains and different perspectives; opinions here are what fuel this place.
I hope none of you younger than me take umbrage at any of us longer in the tooth when we give our perspectives.

Working toward a goal to me was made concrete AGAIN by my Mother who was a totally different work force and representation of America and humanity.
She told me this:
You boys have done really well and I'm glad for that. I'm glad for everyone that has progressed in growing up which makes shopping for you so hard, your finances are different and you now don't always know what waiting and building are.
The kicker:
"If everybody had everything right now, what incentive would there be for you to get up tomorrow if you didn't have something to look forward to?"

I myself want everyone to have everything, and I don't see anyone that I want to do without. I just want everyone to build to their goals, that makes them appreciate what they have and this to me allows them to prepare for when you go through those slumps in life. When that time comes, if you have built a good foundation, stashed back some resources, have developed a contingency plan that will allow you to switch to another income or employer and have the money to live on until things get back on an even keel and not have to see your kids suffer - or your spouse (who should also be helping you pull the wagon instead of sitting on the couch watching) - and never loose your home because the false economy you have perpetuated falls flat; then and only then if you have truly applied that sharp mind of yours to being prepared and not blown everything you could get your hands on can you grimace just a little and go on slumped some but for sure not destitute.

Most critics of modern humans are the result of maternal and nurturing insticts when we see our frustration and worry for the new adults projected as criticism. We see outcomes and want them to be different, we want them to remain happy.

[Guru]

As a generation Y, I'll be happy to jump in. I work in a creative position. I look at the gross income of projects that I manage and coordinate, and make my compensation requests accordingly. I figure that as this income is directly attributable to my creative ideas, I should receive a fair compensation for those ideas. I will ask for employer-compensation for any tool or resource that I find to have a direct positive benefit on the bottom line. If my cell phone allows clients to contact me in a more efficient manner, thus spending more money with me; then I find it to be a justifiable (and logical) request.

* This is a clear representation of what is referred to as a "result driven" work attitude, very much everything being "financially feasible" which has it's own definition in Economics which is also positive.

[BassCatter]

SoMiss, my opinion of you, and respect for you grows daily.

[Flowergirl]

This makes me think of my daughter. Now, she is a hard working girl. She is not a college graduate, never will be. She did graduate from PRCC from a technical office technology program, but struggled with that. She is the kind of employee that NEVER misses a day of work and would NEVER be late, always arriving early just because she has an excellent work ethic.

She is having difficulty finding a job since she was let go from Dillard's. Part of it is probably a confidence thing from the firing incident, I hope she find something soon so she can get herself back out there.

Now, as far as the salary thing. I well remember making 12-13 bucks an hour, being a single parent, paying rent and a car note ( 15 or so years ago) and making it fine. I was a good money manager and the Good Lord saw over us well. I know from experience that we live off of what we earn at this house and the more we have earned, it seems th more it takes of that income to keep things going. That said, I have a liitle story to tell from one of my seven younger sisters.

Burt and Angie ( not their real names) went to college, got great jobs, had babies, purchased 200K house and 2 35K vehichles on an 80k income because older sisters had homes and cars so why shouldn't they? They were also "better educated" than older sisters, so older sisters were told when older sisters tried to warn of the mistake of going into such debt at such an early point in their lives, Burt and Angie could handle it, "Butt out."

Long story short, Burt and Angie, now see that older sisters and husbands worked many years to build what they have. They didn't buy it prebuilt. Most of what each of the older set of siblings have, they built themselves with money they saved. They paid cash when they could. Borrowed sparingly, of course, borrowing is necessary, but can be overdone.

Burt and Angie are studying this lesson hard now, while recovering from having to sell the house and car that bankrupted them. They are young and they will have nice things because they are hard workers and smart kids. They just wanted it all at one time and it just rarely happens that way.

On a side note, my dream home turned out to be not a big mansion in some big city, but a cute little farm house on a hill out in South Forrest County.

[bpitt]

Since the age of 15, I've never been unemployed. I've done just about every kind of job. From cutting grass to loading packages in semi trailers to hustlin' real estate to installing VOIP equipment.

I don't want to hear from anyone that there aren't any jobs out there. There are jobs everywhere. They may not be paying what you want, but they're jobs, and it beats sitting on your ass with idle hands. People can live on less than $20,000/year, they do it everyday. No, you can't drive an Escalade and live in a two story house in Canebrake on it, but, you get what you EARN.

Wanna make more money? Get educated/specialized in a field. Start low, and work your way up. You can't start out at the top. Trust me.

Don't wanna work for somebody? Start your own damn business. People do it everyday.

There's nothing wrong with making $20,000/year, especially if you're trying to better yourself while doing it.

There's a million ways to get 'rich', to make it 'big', in this country. There always has been, and still is today. I don't care what the economy is like. Remember, people always need food, clothing, and shelter.

People who complain about how hard it is to live, on how hard it is to make it, or that they can't get 'rich' financially speaking, well, they just chap my ass. You wanna be the best? Surround yourself with the best. Get off your ass and go for it. Don't quit.

I always try to think about the 'greatest' generation when I feel down about stuff. They had to survive during the great depression only to be thrown into war. Now that's tough living. We've got it made, and most don't even realise it. And that pisses me off.

[Remington]

There are many that get right out of college and want the same size house and furnishings that their parents have, but want it right now. It's as if they don't realize that it took years for their parents to accumulate that stuff. And there is so much more "keeping up with the Jones" now. The newer generations are much more materialistic and money matters so much more to them. And that is causing so many to go into debt. And then the money problems that follow seem to end up causing a divorce much too often.

Then there are those who don't go into debt, but work hard, live in a small house or trailer that they can afford and sit on fold out lawn chairs until they can reasonably afford the better furnishings. Those will be more financially secure in the long run.

[ran]

I agree - there are many people in my age range who are lazy and don't want to work. I was working two jobs at once, about 70 hrs a week making right at 25000 a year. That just didn't seem worth it anymore! lol

However, I wasn't even able to find a job when I finished school, had to go back to retail. I saw something on the news about college grads working in low paying jobs and fast food restaurants (etc), whereas others right out of high school were picking up the nice ones.

I agree that just because I hold a college grad, it doesn't make me the top employee, but I'd like to be given a chance. I'm finding that I'm either being told I'm too qualified or I don't have any experience...how do I get experience when no one will hire me? lol

I don't want to be a greedy money loving person, but to be able to afford my own things (rent, bills, car, etc) would be nice...on top of this HUGE student loan that I am supposed to be paying back as of Dec 2007...I better call them btw! :) lol

[carsalesguy]

geez- work

i know how it means to say when people don't want to work- they want everything handed to them.

in my family we were taught to work our a$$es off or else- weather it be in a job or in school. it just depended on what paths are lives took. it was one of the best lessons that i've ever learned----

[ran]

My mom had 3 jobs at one time - I had 2 plus slumber parties, but I don't know if it counts as much as the other two...maybe 2.5?

[carsalesguy]

oh and something else we were talking about today was this disablity and ssi crapo stuff----

have you ever asked a 20-30 yr old how they got disabled and can't work a regular job, but keep trying to buy a nice car?

i'm asking the next one i meet

[ran]

oh and something else we were talking about today was this disablity and ssi crapo stuff----

have you ever asked a 20-30 yr old how they got disabled and can't work a regular job, but keep trying to buy a nice car?

i'm asking the next one i meet

i haven't done any of that...i swear! i'd love a new camaro, but I'll only be able to drive it when I go to sleep! :bouncy:

Please record yourself when you ask someone!! :) I'd love to hear the response!

[Demetri]

Then you have the people who are older, working who aren't doing 1/2 the work that the new employees are and think the job 'owes' them something because they've been there so long.

[SoMissTV]

Then you have the people who are older, working who aren't doing 1/2 the work that the new employees are and think the job 'owes' them something because they've been there so long.

It does cut both ways.

Do you have any specific examples? The stereotype seems to be those who work in civil service protected jobs. I'm not sure how true that is, though.

[BassCatter]

In the private market the older you get the harder you have to prove yourself to get those raises....