YW Blogcast 58 - The Millennial Struggle House and Home

If you participate in social media, you’ve likely seen the memes that put millennials under the microscope. Statements like they’re uncommitted or they spend too much time indoors have a way of downplaying the types of jobs and job market they’re being presented with. Then again, social media has a way of taking everything to one extreme or another.

In actuality, millennials do change jobs a lot. But it isn’t because they’re perpetual job hoppers without the ability to see anything through. Instead, they’re career-minded individuals with an eye for the future. When they’re moving jobs, they’re doing it for about 25% more money—every time. And what to do with this extra money? Well, Jason Hartman recommends investing in real estate.

By moving from job to job, millennials are developing a diverse skill set that will serve them well in the future. The reality of the job market has been that it is difficult to immediately get a high paying job out of college—so millennials are taking lower paying jobs for shorter periods of time. An education simply isn’t enough. Employers are seeking employees with demonstrated on the job skills, even if that job doesn’t require a college degree.

Wages have stagnated across the board, increasing only in health care. There are pay cuts everywhere and annual pay is about $10,000 less than what we saw ten years ago. It’s causing mimllennials to stick with jobs (when they’re able) and to switch when they’ve developed the skills (and when an opportunity opens up). Because of this, growth requires them to switch jobs if they hope to advance.

Baby boomers had pensions that encouraged them to stay with one particular company for a long (or even life) time. Now, we aren’t seeing that and millennials risk becoming more financially at risk than their parents were years ago. And there are ways to combat that (becoming financially literate, exploring investment opportunities, saving), but the risk is real.

Overall, millennials are more educated than generations before them but they’re more likely to live in poverty and be unemployed. Some attribute this to their need to find a job that corresponds with what they are passionate about—but it has more to do with the massive student loan debt they’ve been saddled with. So, we’re seeing millennials who, despite popular opinion, are focusing less on passions and more on the money they’re struggling to make.

As the job market begins to turn around and hiring is on the rise, millennials are also increasing a drop in unemployment numbers. There are, and not just among millennials, more people changing jobs, which is a positive sign for the job market. For millennials who wish to develop their skillset by moving jobs, there are a few things to keep in mind.

 

First, changing companies too frequently can inhibit growth because it doesn’t allow employees to develop connections and meaningful relationships with colleagues. If you leave before you have time to complete a large project, you may not have as good of a reference, making it more difficult for you to move up in your career. As a sort of compromise, you can always ask to push back your start date a month or so—it give you time to wrap up any projects you might be working on while allowing you to develop a new set of skills.