June
17, 2021
5 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In recent meetings with clients, I have experienced the despair that many CEOs or Human Resources directors experience because they feel that they cannot understand millennials , they express that it is impossible for them to work with us, that “neither we know what we want, how do they are they going to know? “
First, I want to clarify, I feel that it is condescending to speak of millennials in a general way. According to classic definitions “a millennial is someone born between 1980 and 2000″, and trying to put all the people who were born in the last two decades of the 20th century in a single definition I think is not very correct and functional for companies. But popular culture has been in charge of creating this label and as such, many of us are systematically described and dismissed as: “it’s that it’s millennial.”
For practical purposes, what do we of this generation want from a job? Apparently it is a real enigma for human resources departments , thousands of complaints: “they are not satisfied with anything”, “they want to be paid as bosses, when they have no experience”, “they are not willing to start from the bottom”, “they change working all the time ”,“ they are the crystal generation, they can’t take anything ”.
Is all that so different from what a Boomer, someone from Generation X wants? What are we looking for? Why don’t we adapt to the work system of companies? The reality is that like the rest of the generations we want to have jobs with purpose, that give us a reason to get up every morning and learn something every day, that give us the way to change, in addition to the fact that we cannot stand dictatorial bosses.
Some companies, for example Google or Facebook, have decided to make their offices more fun places, including snack bars , and ping pong tables in the meeting rooms. Sometimes when I enter those places I feel that I am in a kindergarten more than in an office. But is it what I want? Treat me like a child, with padded floors and bold colors? Having nice offices helps, but we know that a job is much more than that.
What we want are stable jobs (more after the pandemic ). In a study presented by Hays on the workers of Mexico 2020, it is said that 46% of workers want job security, that is, a company that shows that it wants them there working, that is willing to pay talent well, but also that Invest in training your people for better teams. That is, let us know that they want us there.
Like the rest of the generations we want to have jobs with purpose / Image: Depositphotos.com
It is true, in my current work team, in a tech startup dedicated to Artificial Intelligence I lead a team of 15 people, of which only 3 people are over 30, the rest are in our 20. What common denominator exists in all of them?
Millennials, like any other employee, want to feel like a useful person on our teams and receive clear and defined direction. As leaders, we must learn to ask for things, be orderly by delegating, and constantly communicate goals.
I have had to learn this, be consistent, sure of myself and our direction. Although at the same time showing my vulnerability and authenticity, I do not know everything, because we are opening a new horizon, I do not know because nobody else knows it, but I trust my people and our capacities.
We want to feel part of something more important than ourselves. Yes, gentlemen, we are the generation that was born knowing that we are a tiny grain of sand in the infinity of space, we know that our existence is the blink of an eye in cosmic temporality, that is why we want to make that opening of an eye count, and We know that to do so we must join with others, expand our networks, form collaborative teams, be open to external contributions and criticism.
That is why the need to belong to companies that are making a change in society as we know it, in our case: using artificial intelligence to optimize recruitment processes, promoting the use of talent, encouraging active people to be in place where they will be able to develop more and better and in less time to enjoy the world.
