Millions of millennials, those born since 1980, have different priorities in work than prior generations.
According to Gallup, nearly 60 percent of millennials find work-life balance to be crucial, and they believe it’s important to have a job that promotes their well being.
“As millennials, we want to make a difference in the world and we want to enjoy what we spend our time doing,” explains Jamie Wright, a renowned millennial lawyer and political pundit. “We are a generation that largely values experiences over things we can purchase, and our career is an experience that is important to us.”
Millennial career seekers find it more important to like what they do and to have a sense of purpose.
Wright, a partner at Los Angeles-based Millennial Government Affairs group, is a millennial himself and from his experience, shares these tips for his fellow Gen Yer choosing a professional career path:
- Determine your passions. Experiment with some jobs and hobbies to see what type of career gets you excited. While you may not always completely follow your passion when choosing a career, it’s a good idea to make sure you enjoy what you will spend your career doing.
- Look beyond demographics. Don’t worry about who has historically dominated the field. That shouldn’t stop anyone from going forward and seeking a career in a particular field. Just because men or women have always done a particular job doesn’t mean that you can’t change that.
- Get the skills you need. It takes training and experience to become an expert at something. Put the time in to get the education and training that you need to go forward.
- Seek out successful professionals to network with. Whether they are in the same field or not, you can learn a lot from them. If you can find a mentor in the field, be sure to take advantage of all you can learn from that person.
- Avoid being caught up by challenges. If a challenge arises, find a solution to find your way around it. For every problem, there is a solution that you can use to find your way around it. Then keep going. See challenges as a test of your commitment to reaching your goals.
- Be realistic. Realize that no matter what career path you decide on, you will start somewhere near the bottom. Don’t let that bring you down. See it as a stepping stone and start using what you learn there to move on up the ladder.
- Become a positive thinker. If you have been a pessimist in the past, now is the time to leave that behind and start using the laws of attraction to help bring you the things you want. Focus on being positive and striving to reach your goals.
“Choosing a career path and seeing it through is a challenging and exciting time of your life,” added Wright. “There are so many possibilities and options, you just need to decide what you want to do and start marching toward it. It’s well worth it and you will be happy once you get there.”
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
