Younger workers will survive? No kidding.

In my office, a lot of those "younger" people look about the age of my children. They're full of ideas and creativity and that's great. Employers, however, should be careful about dumping us "old" people. We have the work ethic; the communication skills; the institutional knowledge--and I'll bet we're not going to move on to a new company in two to five years. We all bring something valuable to the table--and employers should be glad to have all of us!

I love the optimism of the Gen Y quoted - it will carry her far. However, the WSJ had a very different outlook last week - http://www.careerealism.com/2008/10/22/can-you-handle-the-truth-10-tips-about-career-that-no-one-ever-tells-you/

Yes, young professionals will survive (they've got a lifetime of employment and career growth ahead of them), but it is not going to be very fun for most of them for the next few years. Why? They've scored a bad rap in Corporate America and a lot of managers just don't want to take them on (i.e. too much training involved, don't want to deal with their big egos and short attention span, etc.).

Do I think this is right? Not at all. Gen Y has a lot of potential, just as was outlined by the contributor to CIO. However, only the ones who focus on how to work well with the older generations (a.k.a. managing up) will do well in these tough economic times.

J.T. O'Donnell

Yes, yes, I'm generalizing baldly When did you go bald?? (Sorry, couldn't resist this bold attempt.)

I'm one of those young people you're talking about, and a full 1/4 of my department has under 2 years of experience right now.
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This is somewhere between an annoyance and a disaster.
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Yes, we Millenials learn quickly, type quickly, give suggestions quickly, and take on responsibility quickly, but that doesn't make up for experience. Considering that most of the age bracket between 30 and 40 are more likely to change jobs than baby boomers, there's a signifigant dearth of mid-level ("Journeyman") experience at any given moment. By the time someone gains 5-6 years of experience, they're ready to leave or change jobs, resulting in a staffing hole to be filled by someone with no experience at all.
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At the moment, it's just hindering productivity, because those who remain have to train new blood every few months. However, when baby boomers who have been putting off their retirement suddenly go, there will be almost no one to backfill from. There are very few experienced people qualified to take over the role that's just been vacated, due to a lack of time spent with the company.
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In summary, it may make sense right now to fire everyone and hire a bunch of Gen Ys (many of my friends would be excited), but the loss of corporate knowledge that results could be catastrophic.

At the ripe old age of 27 I am considered an elder in my office. The 22-23 years olds my company hires have a wonderful energy, but often lack focus and professionalism. It is sometimes like working in a frat house.

As a Gen-y'er I think that I am willing to adapt to a works environment; having several jobs in my field, I know that an environment also has a tendency to adapt around the Gen-y'ers.

We're moving into a whole new way of working and as it is our generation that is going to spend the most time here... I suppose we want to shape it to our needs/desires.

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