Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Help Wanted Blog: Hire a new grad
By Amanda Hoffstrom
UWIRE
May 22, 2009

I forced myself to take a mental break from the job search the past week to focus on finishing my undergraduate career strong. Now that my classes, finals and commencement have ended, however, I need to take some time to reflect before I return to life goal No. 1: Finding my first job.

Lately, I can't stop watching "Gilmore Girls," a seven-season WB/CW series. I think it's because In some ways I see myself living the life of Rory Gilmore, a wannabe journalist, and one of the show's main characters. With Christiane Amanpour as her inspiration, Rory talks of becoming an international reporter. Though she majors in English, Rory becomes editor of the Yale Daily News, gets an unpaid internship and watches as her dreams of working at a major daily newspaper crumble. Of course the show couldn't end without Rory getting an amazing job - she is hired by an online magazine to be a reporter on Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Rory Gilmore is a fictional character, but she experiences so much of what I've gone through as a wannabe reporter that I can't help but watch the show over and over again. I was an editor at my college newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, had an internship (though mine was a paid one at a magazine publishing company) and have watched the shift from print to online potentially ruin my dreams of working for a major daily newspaper. While I am not expecting to magically get a job as Rory did in the show, I am still reporting, writing and blogging in the hopes that I will stand out to one company as a creative, critical-thinking, eager Gen Y journalist.

Generation Y, the group of individuals born between 1980 and 2000 and also known as Millennials, often is seen as lazy, ungrateful and entitled among older co-workers. In my opinion, these stereotypes are completely wrong. In the changing field of journalism, employers would be at a loss if they didn't hire young workers. To illustrate my point, I present four reasons to hire a journalist from the next generation:

'Geyser of energy': According to an Experience, Inc. study, 18- to 30-year-olds “are characterized by the desire to receive training, take on new challenges [and] expand their capabilities.” Each week I'm learning multimedia skills that will complement my writing skills while some of the owners, hiring managers and editors at media companies around the country are trying to reconstruct their business models. What they need are Gen Y employees—lots of them and soon. Gen Y individuals are “a geyser of energy, creativity, and leadership potential,” according to Tamara Erickson, author of Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work.

Productivity: Personal laptops and other digital tools (cameras, flip cams, voice recorders, etc.) are changing the way traditional journalists live and work. We are no longer tied to a desk with a computer and phone. Gen Y workers know how to use their technology skills to create packages—reporting packages, sales packages, event packages. According to the Experience, Inc. study, “the office will no longer be the hub it once was. Working remotely will become standard, leveraging technology and virtual relationships. Gen Y is at the core of this trend because for them, meeting and interacting online is just as comfortable and 'real' as face-to-face meetings."

Long, healthy careers: Instead of complaining about the lack of knowledge of Gen Y employees, co-workers should pass on their expertise. Some of my best experiences as a student journalist have been listening to stories of my professors. If those in the Gen X or Boomer generations think younger workers need to improve, they should work to encourage that improvement. They should want to do it at the beginning of our careers because according to Erickson, most Gen Y workers will have "60 to 80 years of healthy, active adult life—time to build multiple careers, work in corporations, try something entrepreneurial, return to school, invest in [their] family, and give back to making the world a better place.”

Social media savvy: Gen Y is working to stand out with their social media skills. Jamie Varon is one such example. She launched twittershouldhireme.com to attract the attention of Twitter hiring managers. Varon’s story is amazing because she used the Internet to network herself in a unique way, and even though she was not hired by Twitter, she was hired elsewhere and even launched her own digital media company. Having employees with social media skills should be seen as an asset to companies. If you can hire someone with great writing skills, who can elicit a following online, you can attract a wider audience for a number of causes. These people are going to be from Gen Y.

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