To Race or Not to Race?

This summer I got myself hyped to do my first triathlon. To my surprise, I ended up doing two sprint distances. In August, I did the Tri the Worx sprint and then in September I did my first open water swim at the White Lake - Dash for Divas triathlon. August was challenging for it's distance and September was challenging because of the open water swim.

Here we are in October, and now I am wondering where to go with my training next? I worked hard at each other the three sports and I enjoyed the workouts because each day was different. Now triathlon season is coming to an end and I am looking for my next challenge.

I loathe running on the treadmill for long periods of time so my running workouts have not been great as of lately. There are two running races on my horizon that I am currently "working" towards, Old Reliable 10k and the Turkey Trot 8k. I know for sure that I will be doing the Trukey Trot (I have challenged everyone I know to join me), but will I be ready in time to do the 10k at the beginning of November?

Pushing through boring workouts is the hardest thing for me, and not having anyone to motivate me makes it even worse. So here are the epiphanies I have had recently: Running without music (for whatever reason) makes the time go by faster for me, I used to think I could never run without it. If you have to be on a treadmill speed intervals and hills are your best friend. And finally, there is no way I will work out from home, so if I am running I run from work or at the gym, this way I don't even have the option to sit down (even for just one second!) and relax.

My current goal is to get my butt ready for some running races, at least one before it is super cold outside! What is goals are you shooting for this fall/winter?

Steve Jobs: Millennial Motivator

Steve Jobs has passed away, far too early if you ask me. The innovations that he has produced over the years have changed the way we listen to music, communicate and learn. We also have some of our favorite childhood movies to thank him for: Toy Story (1,2 & 3), Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and Cars.

But he didn’t just leave millennials with great childhood movies, iPods and iPhones, he left us with a piece of mind about our future:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And, the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” - Steve Jobs

This quote is what makes our generation unique. This is what we have been told our whole lives. We should strive to do something that we love and make a difference doing what we love. As each of us enters the workforce and gains more and more experience, I think we will see dreamers quickly become doers. We will no longer be saying “I’d love to do this” but we will be saying, “I do this because I love it”. Steve Jobs believed we could find that career that would make us exceptional, now we have to believe it.

Insist on Taking That Position

There is something to be said for finding your place in the workplace. After spending the better part of two years trying to figure where I fit and how I was going to make it to a position I actually wanted, an opportunity finally came around. Over two years with the same company finally paid off, after hounding different players (including the VP) of our marketing department, I think I had finally made it clear what I could bring to their team.

Let me remind you, I have applied for 3 marketing positions with our company and was passed up for each one. After the third, I vowed I was done and would make something happen in my current department or look outside the company. Miraculously, I was not forgotten by those who I had interviewed with (or even just chatted with) on the team. The major players of the marketing team worked out some positions, and a Marketing – Editor position was suddenly available. I had no intentions of applying for this after so many fails, but after some discussion with others decided to go for. And who knew I was who they had in mind for it the whole time?

I can genuinely say I have found a happy niche to get a career started and I am FINALLY utilizing my college degree in Journalism. I have already learned so much about marketing and communications, and I’m sure that won’t stop anytime soon.

But perseverance is key when trying to get into that position of your dreams. You may feel like you are being annoying (I know I did), but look at it as being unforgettable. Show your future boss what you can bring to the table and the experience you have already had (if you are staying with the same company show what you know about the product and operations). If you are really ballsy, pitch a promotion idea to the marketing team or talk about how you think you can better the processes in an operations department. In this day and age, it is so much better to stand out than to go with the flow.

Officially a Triathlete

This weekend was the culmination of all of the training I have been putting in over the last few summer months. I completed my first Triathlon! This was a sprint distance triathlon, 350 yard swim – 11.5 mile bike – 3.1 mile run. Over the course of training I had decided my goal was just to finish. As the day came closer I decided to set my time goal for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Then the day came and it was time to race. I completed the race in 1 hour and 28 minutes, putting me in 3^rd place of my age group of 20-24 year old females.

To shatter an hour and a half was the most amazing feeling. I honestly thought when my goggles snapped right before my swim that that was it, this was not going to go well. The swim went well, but I quickly realized I was too cocky with my swimming and did not get enough practice in. The bike felt good, there were plenty of challenging hills but I took each one in stride and even passed two women going uphill. Then came the run, I’ve always had issues with tight calves and they were on fire, finally the halfway turn around approached and I was able to shake them out and get some speed going.

Crossing the finish line with my family and friends support including my dad (an Ironman) and my boyfriend (a half Ironman), was a huge feeling of accomplishment. If you would have told me last year I would be finishing a triathlon and beating my goal time, I would’ve said no way I’d be lucky not to die in the process. Now I can say I am addicted to the sport. My next attempt at a triathlon will be at White Lake in September, a shorter course but with an open water swim.

Stereotypes hurting Millennials

Majority of my blog has been taking articles and critiquing them when it comes to the Millennial generation. It is disheartening to see that lately there are so many articles coming out that are making it even harder for the 14% of unemployed Gen Y’ers to get jobs.

I am oh so frustrated with the article, “Are millennials cut out for this job market?” from CNN. This guy who obviously has zero experience with Millennials, other than what he has “heard” decided to write and Op-Ed with the message that, “They feel entitled to the best of everything,” so therefore employers should knock us off our high horses. I am finding the longer I have been out of college the more appreciative my friend and colleagues around the same age as me are of the positions they currently hold. I think it was a rude awakening for many of us to have graduated during a recession and to not have gotten the dream job. But more and more I am seeing that we are all thankful for the paycheck we have and the fact that we don’t have to live at home like some of our friends.

Another point made in this article is that Millennials are not interested in the more physically demanding jobs -- construction, landscaping, farm work and that is because those usually don’t pay the bills. Most millennials graduated with huge sums of student loans, that even with a corporate job I will be paying off for what seems like forever. So why should it be expected that college educated students with bills to pay go out and get a construction job? It’s not the fact that they are too good for it, it’s the fact that it really doesn’t cover the cost of living.

My favorite part of the whole article is, “With millennials, you didn't do them any favors by offering them a job; they think they did you a favor by taking it.” I would just like to end this with a REALLY?!? I don’t think any of us look at job acceptance as someone doing a favor for someone else. This is a business decision and let’s keep it that way. I wouldn’t ever say a company did me a favor by giving me a job… it’s two parties coming together to benefit each other.

My challenge today to all the millennials that may or may not read this, is to go to work today and prove this guy wrong. Show him that we work just as hard as our older counterparts for less money than when they started in the field. Show him that we accept criticism and can come back better and stronger. Show him that we aren’t the “entitled” generation, we want to work to gain experience and move up just like the Baby Boomers once did.

Dismal headlines for Millennials today

It’s a dismal picture in the news today and it’s not because of terrorism. We should be happy, or at least relieved, that the government has reached an agreement regarding the deficit but by the looks of CNN headlines, we have a lot more to worry about that the country’s credit rating.

Some of the top headlines today are, “Job cuts by the thousands,” “Stocks drop as worries persist,” “Job growth stalls, layoffs surge,” and “9 job killing companies.” If there is ever a time to be thankful you have a job now is the time to start. But if you are like me and a part of a company that had major layoffs during the last recession you might start to worry.

At this point I am early in my career and wondering which direction the future holds for me. Today is my two year anniversary with the company I joined straight out of school. This has to be a good sign that I have lasted this long and have moved up in this company. But in the back of my head I’m like “who knows what the job title ‘coordinator’” truly means in the grand scheme of upper level decision making. Does my long title that ends with coordinator mean I am safe or does it mean I’d be one of the first to go?

A person could drive themselves nuts trying to guess the next move of the corporate executives at their company. I do know that some of the 9 companies that are “killing” jobs work with us in some way or another. But as people get hired here I am hopeful that though we may be facing an imminent downturn, it won’t hurt us all the way 2008 did. There is still room for me to grow here and I have a certain optimism that the opportunities will keep coming. And like many Millennials out there today, I am hoping that we don’t have to start over or extend the wait for that dream career.

Millennials take a trip back to the good ole’ days

Flashbacks to childhood weekends have begun. After much demand Nickelodeon came out this week with a rerun schedule (The 90's Are All That) of some of their best shows from the 90’s - All That, Clarrisa Explains it All, Doug and Keenan and Kel are on weeknights at midnight as of this past Tuesday. Are they directing this toward their current teen demographic? Nope! They are directing it straight to us, the Millennials that once upon a time thought that Pierre Escargot was really teaching us French in a bathtub while eating Chinese food.

Now that I am and old working girl, I of course don’t last past 11:00pm on weeknights, but I DVR’d the episodes and went back to watch All That last night. There is a certain nostalgia going back and watching the kids you idolized when you were just a kid. I remember having a huge crush on Josh Server and never really understanding what was so funny about Vital Information with Lori Beth Denberg.

I started comparing current TV shows that are now on Disney and Nickelodeon compared to what we watched back then. And I was almost sad to think that kids now won’t get to experience the creativity that came from our 90’s favorites. These new shows like iCarly, Zoe 101, SpongeBob Squarepants lack the creativity that we were able to ingest growing up. The teen queens now are short on the comedic spontaneity that was present on All That or The Amanda Show. Most of the shows that pre-teens and teens watch now are based in a high school with some kind of drama/romance and are no where near what high school actually turns out to be.

The shows back in the 90’s were created outside the typical high school drama box, we had Salute Your Shorts, Hey Dude, Are you Afraid of the Dark and Guts. Instead of sitting inside hoping to bee the next Selena Gomez, we really wanted to practice going through obstacles so that we could prove how easy it was to put together that damn monkey on Legends of the Hidden Temple.

I, like many other millennials, started today with a smile, just remembering how funny these simple, low budget shows were back in the 90’s and how exciting it was to come home from school and turn on Nickelodeon. Now, if only they would start reruns from TGIF (Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Step by Step, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clueless), that would definitely call of a 90’s party.

Running program the US should embrace

I had a DUH! moment when I read the Runner’s world post to their twitter this morning. A new program in London, Home Run London, encourages people that work in the city to run home. Through this program up to 50 can meet at a station then run up to 5 miles home with a group. The coolest part of this? There are cyclist that carry your bags home or to your next destination for you.

As the US is quickly becoming the most overweight nation, this is something our cities should have. In Raleigh we don’t have a subway/train system, but I think it could work in all different types of communities not just cities. In London they are doing it based on tube stations (so you start at one station and end at another), so I’m not sure how it would work if you drive to work, but that’s something to ponder…..

There are plenty of running groups available throughout local areas but usually you go home get ready then head back out. This concept in London doesn’t give you the time to talk yourself out of your nightly run; it’s your way home. This also has a lead runner that will pace the group and work with you to grow your distance. They are starting this as a build up to the summer Olympics. There is some kind of fee associated with it but I imagine it would be less than a gym membership.

Maybe we will start to see it around the US soon? Personally, this idea ranks up there with the scooter designated drivers :-)

Photo credit: http://www.homerunlondon.com/index.php/routes

This Millennial is becoming a triathlete

Typically I spend my time on this blog talking about work and overcoming the challenges Millennials face in the workplace. But I have constantly said you have to find something outside of work to be passionate about whether it is a hobby or a charity you work with, it can give you that passion that may be lacking in your current workplace position.

It is safe to say that Triathlons have taken over my life outside of work. After watching my dad compete in the Louisville Ironman in September of 2010, the inspiration stuck with me but I wasn’t sure that was something I could get into a be successful in. Then my boyfriend joined the ranks of being a Triathlete, competing in Olympic and Half-Ironman distances. Now, I have always exercised and/or run but there was something about these races that inspired me to go further.

Last year I started doing running races, I did a 5k, 8k and 10k in 2010. I started 2011 with a 10k in April then I did the Race for the Cure 5k in June (which if you are looking for inspiration look no further than this race….it’s amazing!). Then between my dad and my boyfriend I was starting to get the Triathlon bug, so this summer I started training for a Sprint Distance triathlon in August. Even though it is a short distance (350 yard swim, 12-mile bike, 5k run) it has taken more dedication to train for than I have ever put forth in regards to athleticism (and I am just about 4 weeks from the competition). I was on the swim team in high school so the swim portion feels like second nature to me, but the biggest challenge I am overcoming is that I have not been on a bike since the middle school days of riding to the pool. And then there is finding a bike that is actually comfortable to ride (the answer is none).

As I start to tackle the last few weeks of my training, I was wondering how I could incorporate some training lessons into my work life and then I found this article, What Millennials can learn from Ironman Triathletes. Author Lauren Moye had the following lessons to share:
Lesson 1: Sometimes you have to swim over people to get ahead.
We have to find a way to separate ourselves from the herd without getting kicked too much in the process.
Lession 2: Transitions are important; Balance is key.
Balancing the speed with which you would like to move on or up, with efficiency to know it is the right move for you.
Lesson 3: The right support system is critical.
I blogged about this right after my dad did the Ironman, inner strength is only supplemented by outside support.
Lesson 4: Believe in a dream that no one else sees but you.
Most peoples have hobbies that others would deem crazy, but as long as you don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal (the finish line), who cares what the critics think?

As my training distances get longer this week, I’m sure there will be more training/millennial epiphanies to come!

Photo credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPZIr1mWCqrCLO2elzHkek9UvhBVDj4euadFHk9BvI_eEBHG9SWxPIorbI33nzRdZUPtGNLEFO18qq7cDuWwsPJAIv6VGYSHy48yNub-47-WMc69bOW8s97AFneCUeuPxVzHnHkTBocZGs/s240/finish+line.jpg

What Gen-Y Sometimes Forgets at Work

We finally land a job. It might not be our dream job but it is a job and it has benefits with a steady paycheck. So now what? As Millennials it is often said we come into a company expecting to be a VP tomorrow. We are typically the youngest in a company full of established baby boomers, it’s easy to either try to make a million changes or some just sit down in a cubicle and go with the flow, work hard and hope management is going to notice. If the latter is your method, you may be sitting pretty in that same position for a very long time.

It’s a common belief that your work will speak for itself and yes, it will if it is above and beyond the call of duty. But many Millennials are not put into an action situation like that. So what do you do to stand out above the rest of the entry level employees around you? You speak up, ask questions, and work hard.

Whether you are seeking more recognition, more responsibility or more compensation, you have to ask. Why on earth would a manager just offer these up to you? If you take the time to make the request for more responsibility in your role, it shows initiative, and with initiative comes recognition and eventually compensation. To get started, set up a one-on-one meeting with your manager and discuss what you have been working on, then go into why you feel you could handle more tasks and how you would go about keeping it all organized and efficient.

This one little meeting may help you start the journey to finding your place in a larger company. Millennials have the stereotype of bouncing around from job to job trying to find the “coolest” company they can. But there is something to be said to finding a position and being successful in it for a few years before you head out to find your dream job.

Millennials need fun, flexibility at work? HUH?

I was starting to think that the Millennial generation was losing momentum in the work force, the reports of people 16-26 having an unemployment rate of 13% is pretty scary. But leave it to CNN to bring us back into the spotlight with their series this week “CNN is taking a closer look at people between age 18 and 30 or the Millennial generation -- who they are, how they work and what they want from life.”

The headline is “Millennials need fun, flexibility at work,” well doesn’t everyone want fun and flexibility at work? DUH! My interest was sparked, not necessarily just because I’m a Millennial but because I wanted to hear about this illusive workplace environment that supposedly exist.

This article showcases a Millennial that is working at Texas-based company, HotSchedules. It is safe to say that this company is not anywhere near reality. The Millennial being interviewed decided he wanted to travel and take a year off of work they gave it to him…. I’m sorry WHAT?! Their company has massage chairs and a game room, okay awesome, but what kind of work expectations do these employees have? Do they have numbers to meet? Required hours they need to put in? That was something CNN did not share.

I truly believe anyone, at any age would be more willing to come to work if that is what they got to walk into everyday, with little required expectations. But the truth is times are tough, expectations are high and many of us are working for less pay than we should be, in cubicles that are a little tight and hoping that the next raise will be more than 2% or for some just a raise at all.

A Gen-Y consultant gave this quote, "The reality is, we've had parents who have told us how great we are since we were kids, you know. We listen to Baby Einstein to get smarter. We go to school and suffer from grade inflation, and if we didn't get an A, we went and negotiated. We've built up our self-esteem, and the result is, we can't deal with adversity.” I really can’t even dignify this with a comment other than what school did this kid go to?! Yes, I have high self-esteem but I worked my butt off in school to achieve it. Sidenote: I personally never watched or understood the Baby Einstein craze (it’s really trippy), but I did watch 90210 a little too early in life probably.

The one part of this article I completely agree with is, "We want to make a difference from day one, which is totally huge. We show up, and that's why we think we should be vice president.” Someday we will make a difference at work. Until then, like I’ve said before, find a way to make a difference OUTSIDE of work. I've been helping out with a Labrador rescue (Save a Lab NC), I can feel accomplished knowing I have a job and I am making a difference in some way.

And, if you read the end of the article... no I don't just blog or do my job so i can post to Facebook!

Millennials: Overly Sensitive or Rightfully Annoyed?

In the latest Real Simple magazine there was an article, 5 Things You Shouldn’t Say to a Recent College Graduate. The five things were:

“What Can You Do With That Degree?”
“You Should Go to Law School.”
“Do You Have a Job Lined Up?”
“The Economy Has Been Bad Before. You’ll get through it.”
“My Fill-in-the-Blank Relative Just Got Out of College, and She’s Doing Great!”

Now I am hesitant to agree that these are comments people should avoid but most of this is dead on with what our generation is hearing straight out of school (or even before we graduate). I have a journalism degree and as I was getting ready to graduate I heard more than once, “ouch, that is a hard profession to get into now.” Most of the time I wanted to yell, “YES I KNOW. But I am working on it.” Like I have said before, Millennials chose to major in professions they were/are passionate about, to avoid working a dead end job just to make money. Some day we will laugh at those who asked, “What Can You Do With That Degree?” because as they said in Real Simple, “Today’s economy is rapidly evolving, and many new grads will end up as freelancers or entrepreneurs and perform jobs that don’t exist right now.”

No one has ever suggested for me to go to law school but more than once it was suggested that I should think about graduate school. My response was always, what would I go for? The longer I am in the working world the more I realize at this time experience is much more preferred than the degree you have received. If anyone suggests law school or just graduate school to you post graduation Real Simple suggests, “People should first spend a few years exploring to figure out what engages their passions.” If you explore and find out more schooling is what you need, than you have obviously found something you are passionate enough about to further your education.

I think before graduation we all heard, “Do You Have a Job Lined Up?” This is definitely one I say to ignore and hope people are not asking on a regular basis. In my experience it was harder to find a job before graduating than it was after graduating. The only people I know who had a job set up before leaving school were those of us doing another internship (me!) or those who were accounting majors (and they had technically already worked for these companies during their “internships”).

It is true that the economy has been bad before but according to recent reports graduates in this upcoming class are graduating into the worst economy thus far. According to the Huffington Post, “The youth unemployment rate is double the national average. The average college student borrower graduates nearly $25,000 in debt; Americans now owe more in student loan debt than credit card debt.” I think it is safe to say we don’t need to hear, “Buck up! It will get better.” We know it will get better but we are concerned with what we can do right now to make it better. Real Simple suggests, “Spend time making profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook appear as professional as possible. That’s where employers are looking for new hires these days.”

As for the last one, “My Fill-in-the-Blank Relative Just Got Out of College, and She’s Doing Great!” I’d be annoyed if anyone said this to me, especially when I know many people have to work more than one job to survive on their own. Take it with a grain of salt and know that you are doing the best you can. A lot of hiring today is through current employee referrals, so if you are feeling snarky, suggest this successful relative pass your resume on to their manager. It couldn’t hurt, right?

Girl Power? Not at the office.

As female Millennials we grew up idolizing the Spice Girls, where everything was all about the empowerment of females through music. This wave of “feminism” created a self-reliant attitude among young women of the 1990’s that manifested ambition and individualism.

As millennials entering the corporate world we may find the girl power and peace signs no longer apply when dealing with our same gender bosses. As Meredith Vieira said this morning on the Today Show, “If you have lofty career goals you may not want a woman as your boss.” Recent studies have shown that twice as many men and women prefer male bosses to those that prefer female bosses. This insight even has its own term: The Queen Bee Syndrome.

“The Queen Bee boss is the alpha female who tries to preserve her power at all costs,” says Today Show contributor, Dr. Robi Ludwig. “Instead of promoting her younger counterparts, she feels threatened by them, judges them, talks about them and, in many cases, ends up obstructing their attempts to climb the corporate ladder.”

Many women involved in these studies have found that their female employers have a lack of trust and because these women have fought to get to their top ranking positions are hyper-competitive with their younger counter parts. If this situation becomes your reality it is important to consider if you can continue working for this female and to look inside yourself and confirm whether you could be doing more to help your situation. If you still come up with the Queen Bee Syndrome, it may be time for you to move on.

But since we are the newbies entering the workforce, is there anything we can do to overcome the Queen Bee? Strive for success. As more women enter the corporate world, more will expand to take on management roles. This will help to reverse the competitive spirit allowing female bosses to find their own confidence in the man’s world they have worked so hard to overcome. “They'll even become the nurturing, supportive bosses that social theorists always believed they could be,” says Dr. Robi Ludwig.

Don’t Fear the Millennial

It’s a scary time in the world for Baby Boomers. The number of Millennials is said to be almost 77 million, born between 1981 and 1999, which is almost equivalent to the baby boom between 1946 and 1964. But do not fear the Millennials entering the workforce, we are not out to change the entire corporate mindset that you have thrived in for decades. After reading the article, Closing The New Generation Gap: Gen Y written by a baby boomer, it is easy to see why some of our elders are hesitant to hire us.

I constantly hear that Millennials have a sense of entitlement, that we expect large salaries and corner offices right out of school. When in reality I think if a corporate company invested in these young workers what they invested in our parents, there is a very good chance that we would be just as committed to the corporations as they once were. We don’t want to jump from job to job but we do know that we have to find somewhere that fits us because as Millennials we will be working longer in life than our parents will.

Gen Y’ers are just like any other generation, we long for a job that offers flexibility and the ability to balance work/life. But we know we can’t be that picky. Hate to say it but in an economy like the current one, we can’t wait for the position that will allow us to come and go as we please. As someone who works 40 hours a week at a desk, I know I’m glad to see a paycheck and benefits even without all the flexibility that I think anyone wishes for, not just Millennials.

Where this article really lost me is this, “Gen Y’ers like to work with their friends and they are more inclined to develop romantic relationships on the job. It is important for employers to tighten up or create policies that address fraternization in the workplace.” Millennials are not stupid and most of us are quite business savvy. Just because a relationship may develop through work does not mean that any of us will be in the storage closet or having a lover’s dispute in the middle of cubicle country. I know plenty of work relationships where you would never even knew these people knew each other let alone dated.

A request to future employers take the time to meet with Millennials, look past the experience you are asking for and see that these educated young adults are quick to learn and aren’t out to take your jobs - at least not for a while :-) To end it this baby boomer did sing our praises:

“They are entrepreneurial; they are open to change and amazingly optimistic — traits that are much needed in the workplace, now and in the future." - Cheryl Pignotti

Stop Giving Millennials a Bad Name

Okay, Matthew Klein with the New York Times, I’m not sure I understand what you have to complain about in your recent Op-Ed article from March 20th, “Educated, Unemployed and Frustrated”. You (obviously) have a freelance situation with one of the biggest news organizations in the world. Not only that, but at the bottom of your editorial it says you are a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations. I think it is safe to say you may hear your friends plights regarding the current state of jobs for Millennials but you personally can't gripe too much. And before you start comparing the United States' under employed Millennials to those leading the revolutions in the Middle East, I have a few corrections to some of your thoughts:

“My generation was taught that all we needed to succeed was an education and hard work. Tell that to my friend from high school who studied Chinese and international relations at a top-tier college. He had the misfortune to graduate in the class of 2009, and could find paid work only as a lifeguard and a personal trainer. Unpaid internships at research institutes led to nothing. After more than a year he moved back in with his parents.”

You cannot even compare the unrest in the Middle East to the Millennials unemployment rate in the US. Most of those young students in the Middle East would cherish the opportunity to be a personal trainer and a lifeguard. At least their bills are being paid and those jobs, while they are not glamorous, are respectable.

“The cost of youth unemployment is not only financial, but also emotional. Having a job is supposed to be the reward for hours of SAT prep, evenings spent on homework instead of with friends and countless all-nighters writing papers. The millions of young people who cannot get jobs or who take work that does not require a college education are in danger of losing their faith in the future. They are indefinitely postponing the life they wanted and prepared for; all that matters is finding rent money.”

Yes, having a job is a reward for the work you did from Kindergarten through your senior year of college, but just because we all aren’t working in a corner office with a view right out of school does not mean we have lost faith in our future. If anything it has personally driven me to seek out what it is I want to do with my life. Maybe journalism was my dream but dreams can change with circumstances, and I’m not saying I’m giving up completely but I can alter my dream of a newsroom position to more of a content strategist for a growing business or even marketing and PR.

Millennials may have a less than desirable jobs, and we may not be able to purchase a quaint little ranch with a white picket fence but we can afford to pay rent at a pretty snazzy residence and enjoy life with continuing aspiration and drive to find that ultimate career. So please (Matthew Klein's of the world) stop making us seem ungrateful and whiney to future employers, if potential bosses believe we all think like you we will inevitably get passed on for our biggest competitor, the recently laid off baby boomer.

Iconic Lessons for Millennial women

“If it is not to make the world better, what is money for?” – Elizabeth Taylor Although many Millennials already have the instinct to make the world a better place, Elizabeth Taylor made it clear through her lifelong AIDS work that with fame and money should come a legacy. If you expect to have a legacy, whether it is just in a community or on a bigger scale, you have to look past yourself and work towards a greater good. “My look is attainable. Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by buying the large sunglasses and the little sleeveless dress” – Audrey Hepburn Her classic beauty was un-doubtable but even Audrey Hepburn knew that any woman could step into her “shoes”. Her humble take on her splendor brought her out her classiness, encouraging others to believe in what she was saying. Millennials tend to follow trends but these cannot define the person in them. To be successful, believe in what is trying to be accomplished and present yourself accordingly for the desired position. “You believe lies so that you will eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes, good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” – Marilyn Monroe It’s hard to believe that bad things happen for a reason but Monroe knew throughout her scandalous fame that sometimes shit happens but it may be for a greater good. It’s important to believe first in yourself instead of others, and only then can you truly know what you are looking for (relationship, great career, or just a good time). “I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person.” – Audrey Hepburn Hepburn may not be known for the drugs or scandals she was involved in but she did know that life is too hard to be taken too seriously. Laughing allows for people to connect and develop relationships based on sheer joy. Looking past what career aspirations Millennials have it is important to remember that life is no fun without people to laugh at it with.

Future teachers of the corporate world

Not all of us were education majors in college but that does not mean we cannot go out and teach. Gen Y has grown up constantly interconnected with one another. In Elementary School it was AOL, then in Middle School it was AIM and cell phones (Nextels if you are from the South), then in High School we all had cell phones and e-mail. Once we hit college text messaging and Facebook took over. We have never had a time in our lives were we couldn’t reach out to one in another through media.

Older generations are just now discovering how all of these can be used to benefit not only their personal lives but also their business strategies. This is where we can come in as educators because we grew up as experts in the realm of media. The hardest part of this is finding a manager or director who will listen and believe in what we have to say. We have always found ourselves on equal grounds with our peers thanks to the different media venues we grew up with but in the business world we crave empowerment and accountability.

A great tip was released in Bloomberg Business Week by Vineet Nayar (Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman at HCL Technologies), “We need to inspire today’s young employees as we do our own children—by giving them responsibility, rather than enforcing orders. To encourage them to create value for the business, we must give them control, rather than control them. Empowerment is crucial.”

As we continuously try to present our ideas and assist with development, these company leaders will inevitably have to take notice as 50 percent of the world’s population is younger than 25, so we can’t be ignored for long.

Oh you hate your job?

"Oh you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar." – Drew Carey

I sincerely hope that everybody does not hate their job. I spend hours a day looking and looking and doing even MORE looking to find the job of my dreams or at least the entry level step to a future career, not just a job.

It is hard to imagine going through life hating what you do 40 + hours a week. That is 2080 hours a year that you despise what you are doing. Older generations wanted to be doctors, lawyers, teachers and business executives. But Millennials are one of the first generations to major in what we were passionate about, with the hopes of being the next great journalist, a distinct fashion designer or creating the next non-profit to truly make a difference. What stinks is many Millennials out there are working jobs that don’t fit their major because when the economy changed those dreamy jobs were the first to go.

But what I can provide you today is a bit of bright news…. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that, “Rates of entrepreneurship among people ages 55 and 64 have generally been trending up since 2007, whereas rates for that younger group have stayed relatively flat.” As our parents and maybe even our grandparents are finally getting to the point where they are truly passionate about (and own) what they are doing, they may be able to someday produce a position where we can put our enthusiasm to work.