The Millennial generation are making their mark on the professional workforce, gradually climbing the corporate ladder and bagging leadership roles, with many taking an entrepreneurial path and running their own successful business.
There are a lot of opinions out there about this (large) group of individuals, who make up a huge percentage of today’s workforce. Some say they’re entitled, narcissistic and lazy – but if you can harness their potential in the right ways, you might see the magic that makes this chosen generation a special one.
Speaking from first-hand experience as a Millennial myself, we can break away from the archaic and stiff stereotype office environment, and are fiercely creative. We thrive on collaborating and brainstorming, but can also be independent workers who enjoy the alternative, less beaten path and the thrill of a challenge.
We can help push the envelope for your brand, forcing and enabling your team to come up with better and more challenging ideas that stray away from cookie cutter corporations. We’re not perfect – and there are always going to be challenges for companies managing multi-generational employees – but we can give that edge and bite you might need.
If you’re on a bit of a hiring spree for your business or agency, keep in mind the following reasons Millennials can help with your overall workflow and success.
- We multitask like we were born juggling
I’ve got my headphones plugged into Mixcloud, both Whatsapp, Facebook and my email open on my browser, and I’m Skyping colleagues while writing this blog.
Millennials are natural multitaskers, having grown up in a distracting world full of screens, bright lights and loud noises. Yes, for some it can be distracting – I mean, it’s not like we’re all the same – but a rather natural ability to multitask forces us to practice discipline and time management to get top priority tasks done.
- Creativity and brainstorming is our bread and butter
We thrive on collaboration and forming ideas. We enjoy the social aspect of work, throwing ideas around and drawing on others’ expertise and knowledge to shape our own thoughts and opinions. We like strategy, and we like to feel part of something bigger. We want the big picture to feature our faces (perhaps this is where we get someone narcissistic…), meaning we’re willing to put in the creative work needed to execute big campaigns and manage dynamic clients.
- We’re outspoken
Millennials aren’t afraid to speak their minds. Because we want to be heard, we are confident in our abilities and won’t hesitate to share our ideas, thoughts and displeasure equally. However, this doesn’t always work in our favour – it’s easy to come across as unreasonable or defensive, but with the right management and support in place, we can very much harness our strong opinions in the right way for your business.
- We’re hyper-aware
We are in tuned with current affairs, trends and understand how social media works. We scroll through our feed in the morning like reading the papers. We’re present on multiple platforms, taking in bite-sized pieces of information about what is happening around the world around us, making sure we don’t miss anything. Sure, sometimes our knowledge isn’t in-depth, but you can’t argue that most of us don’t have an awareness of the latest news and trends. This can only help with building ideas for campaigns and story ideas for journalists that are timely and interesting.
- We are egalitarian – and we expect our employers to be, too
Our generation is a diverse one. We have progressed to become more understanding and accepting of cultures, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientation and much more, and we are therefore generally empathetic to differences. This is especially helpful when it comes to client management in a social setting; we’re more aware of different cultural practices such as bowing, saying “cheers” in different languages, and so on.
At the end of the day, Millennials aren’t really all that different from the generations before them in terms of what they want to get out of their lives. They simply come from a different, more modern, background – and depending on the individual and the company they work for, this could work for or against them.
Intuition, skill, capabilities, attitude and a smidgen of luck all play a part in achieving your ideal hire. All the best!
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