To gain an understanding of the career goals of “Generation Y”, that tech-savvy cadre of young adults that are just making their way into the corporate race, you need only to remember your first job. Now, hold that vision in your mind and add these ingredients: a mindset stoked by growing up with the Internet and its lightning-fast access to any and all global data, a penchant for gadgets and technology, a desire for immediate gratification and an ingrained sense of entitlement. In short, Generation Y wants it all, and they want it now.

And you know what? They should. Show me a generation that doesn’t collectively think it is “the” generation and I’ll show you a bunch of slackers. You can trust me on this, because I grew up amongst the second greatest generation of slackers of all time…that’s right, I’m a Gen X’er. So that no generation feels left out of my bashing, I’ll point to the acid-dropping, Woodstock-attending, “Make love not war” baby boomers as the most “slackified” generation of them all. Don’t get me started on the sociological implications of generational differences, but suffice it to say that I am of the opinion that “those damn hippies”, with few exceptions, were more concerned with getting stoned and “making love” than they were about peace or nuclear non-proliferation. And yet, many of these people are now holding executive and middle management positions throughout corporate America. But, as always, I digress.

These crazy kids, a.k.a. “Generation Y”, are young - having graduated from college between 2004 and 2007 according to most definitions - and they don’t want to step into a meaningless job any more than their predecessors did. The difference, as far as I can see, is that the corporate landscape into which they’re stepping is no longer the only show in town, as it most certainly was for their parents. What do I mean by that, exactly?

In short, opportunity abounds. In 1970, if you didn’t want to work for a corporation or the government, i.e. - “The Man” - you were in pretty deep trouble. You could start your own business, but the opportunities were not as plentiful as they are now. A college student with some gumption can start his own business in his dorm room these days. A computer, a high speed Internet connection and a little online marketing talent is often enough to convince an enterprising young person that corporate employment is an unnecessary step on the path to earning a living.

What this means for employers trying to hold on to the best young employees is that they better understand this generation of talented newcomers or they’ll be without them…quickly. Now, I’m not suggesting that everyone who has graduated from college in the past several years is a wunderkind that is going to eschew corporate America and start a business from their sorority house.

As with every generation, there will be many (most, in fact) out there who are perfectly willing to trudge through an unrewarding 9 to 5 existence because they know that at 5:01 P.M. and on every weekend they can leave it all behind. These, of course, are the employees that current managers won’t really want to keep so much as “have” to keep, if they don’t get their acts together, that is.

What do the best and the brightest from the youngest generation want? In essence, they want the same thing that any employee wants – responsibility commensurate with their abilities, respect from their peers and bosses and to be paid what they’re worth. It sounds simple enough, but in corporate America, there is a sense that you “pay your dues” as a young employee by taking on grunt work and generally languishing in an unrewarding position for a few years before you can be considered “trustworthy”. The problem, as it turns out, is that the best and brightest will quickly become bored with tasks that are below their abilities and will, more often than not, become “problem employees” well before their “dues paying period” is over.

Having myself languished for a year and a half in a financial services firm, and subsequently having turned into “that guy no manager really wants to deal with”, I know about this quite well. The young guns of today’s generation, faced with no real responsibility, a low rate of pay and a lack of respect will be quick to realize one important fact, i.e. – they have nowhere to go but up. More importantly, they quickly realize that if they don’t start going “up” fast, their superior abilities can be put to use elsewhere, and often for a greater rate of pay. Those that don’t buck the system altogether and start their own business will continuously look for the proper atmosphere for their mindsets and abilities…perhaps a small company or startup rather than a Fortune 500 behemoth.

The lesson for managers of larger firms, where cubicles abound and TPS reports have to be filed every Friday afternoon, is to keep your young employees happy by giving them real work to do….hire the monkeys from the Career Builder commercials to do the other work that you’d typically give them and let them do the real work. In the long run, your boss will thank you for it and your employees will respect you….even if you did go to Woodstock.

Tags: baby boomers, Generation Y, workplace

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