Old & Experienced vs Young & . . .?

It's fantastic being a guest writer. By "guest" writer I mean one who writes on someone else's website. I'm a friend on jlamore.com and I have access to all sorts of 'benies' like the friends blog. As a guest I get to (almost) say whatever I want whenever I want and then run like hell.

Jennifer LaMore has some rules about writing on the 'friends blog' and they are: "No opinions on religion or politics. Everything else is fair game. Have fun." That was the note I received more then three years ago and the user name and password is still stuck on the side of my monitor at home.

In the early days, the friends blog was completely different then it is now. Today its become a much bigger site and the readership is in the thousands per month and growing . The topics frequently change and have matured, the writing has greatly improved and it's just a lot more fun.

I have changed since the early days as well. I have changed jobs, changed where I live and got a new boyfriend. (I'm hoping, in the near future, I'll change where I live again.)

All of this is an introduction to my latest thought. Old & Experienced vs Young & I'm not sure what to call them! When I changed jobs I entered a work place where a lot more young people are in positions I feel they don't deserve. They seem to be placed in these positions because they have tech skills and have grown up in an era where tech is so much more important then people skills or worse - actual job related skills. These 'kids' are barely out of diapers (21-25) and having a conversation with some them is painful. I mean a serious work related conversations. The know it all self centered attitude is amazing as I feel I'm just getting good at this demanding job at age 35. My contact list has grown considerably and my past accomplishments are what got me this new job in the first place. (I was hired to land a big contract with a client I worked with in the past.) I don't see any of that in the new generation of workers. They seem to demand the respect they haven't even come close to earning. Receiving a thank you note just for showing up on time is not an accomplishment and if I were to actually take these young co-workers to a job site location I swear the client would fire us. I don't want their ignorance to be a reflection on me.

All of our clients are business men and women in their 40's and 50's and 60's and I show them the respect they deserve. Not these high maintenance Generation Y types. That just doesn't happen in their "it's all about me" attitude. All day long I hear little electronic R2D2 text message sounds of beeps, chirps, and tweeks constantly coming from their pockets and purses. Friends want to get together later, a party here, a party there. We had to impliment a new policy about cell phones in the work place.

A new book, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, concludes that employers should be in no doubt that, for those born after 1979, unlike previous generations, “their personal life comes first” and they have a “short-term and transactional” mindset. Managers, says the author, Bruce Tulgan, should effectively practise “in loco parentis management”, holding the young to high standards and “helping them every step of the way to reach those high standards”. What? Now I have to be a mommy and daddy to these people who've been handed everything, never been scolded or held to a higher standard. Wow! It's painful but so true.

But in all fairness, there are a couple of young workers at the office who are very smart and show huge promise. The problem is, . . . all my "older wiser" co-workers know who they are and these young kids are pulled in all directions. They seemed to have given up on the self centered undeserving ones pretty early. It seems to me the pool of young, smart and driven talent has grown smaller and smaller and the pool of "I have to check my Facebook page" has become the norm.

Jennifer, you're so lucky you have a young worker like Julie MacGuidwin. I can tell she's one of the types that is pulled in all directions. I can also hardly wait to read who else you have that keep the J. LaMore machine running smooth.

Clare London, England