There’s a lot of debate about pros and cons of millenial workers, from being painful to manage to having higher expectations on employers, however as more of us start out in the creative/tech industries I thought I’d do my take on the sometimes controversial topic.
I met a woman on a recent trip, who had an awesome job, travelled and was so together, I instantly thought ‘wow’. It turned out that we had some common interests.
As I take dozens if not hundreds of photos as I go, and was geeking out on the hotel lighting – she mentioned she was trying to post more to social media to be more ‘millenial’, or a ‘millenimum’ as someone dubbed it.
I don’t really bother with instagram and only post some of my faves to Flickr, but it did get me thinking that perhaps we’ve finally got to a place where millenials are seen to have something to offer. That’s not to say there’s anything special or entitled about millenials – I believe that everyone has unique skills and talents.
However, I think millenials particulary excel at:
– Learning fast
– Responding to feedback
– Applying skills in different ways
– Creative problem solving
– Identifying opportunities instead of seeing problems
– Changing approaches as a situation demands it
– Understanding and using data to drive decisions
– Troubleshooting a challenge even if doing so is unpopular
The combination of growing up with computers/games/internet and devices/social media to me meant that I am constantly taking in and analysing new information. The same devices have also made being creative and learning faster, simpler and more accessible with broader access to knowledge then ever before in history.
These skills however aren’t limited to the next generation. Everyone can be ‘millenimum’ or anything else by dropping the label and percieved differences and just being themselves to do what they enjoy to contribute a unique skill set.
Ghostwritten 