Beat Up a Millennial Today

I saw a great meme the other day showing a doctor with a stethoscope on a young man's chest.  He said,

"You have what we call, an irrational sense of entitlement.  It won't kill you, but it will cause you to believe that you deserve shit for doing nothing."

I love it, but as a Baby Boomer with three Millennial daughters, I don't buy the stereotype.  I've been in tech for 25+ years and make a point of seeking out sharp young folks.  My focus is to see what I can learn from them.  They have new ways of looking at things that are often very different from mine.  Exploring their perspective lets me to see things I can't see myself.  I don't because "I'm old" and have to unlearn things they've never seen that keep me from seeing that they see clearly.

So let's hold off on the beatings.

My first big experience working with recent college hires was before most Millennials were even born.  I worked at IBM and was assigned four recent college grads.  The other leads laughed at me because I got "the leftovers." The others leads got the more experience team members.

Our job was to test the operating systems we were building as efficiently and effectively as possible.  I headed up the team as the elder 30 plus year old.  We developed a good relationship.  I had 10 years experience over them.  I understood our environment.  I coached and guided and led the way.  It eventually ended up with me running as fast as I could to keep up with them.

Our top achievement working together was filing US Patent 5701408 - Method for testing computer operating or application programming interfaces.  You'll see our five names on it.

As I've developed my Larry Jacob online marketing and my membership/course building team, I've used that same approach.  I have a bias toward hiring sharp younger people because it's worked so well for me.

As I search for talent for our Larry Jacob Virtual Assistant services offering, I continue with that.  I look for the sharp, daring types who don't mind trying new ideas.   I look for the ones that are hungry and self starters.  I also look for ones that are humble and can appreciate what an old grey hair, like me already in my 50's, can bring to the effort.  As sharp as you might be in your 20's, you can always benefit from what someone that's been around a little longer.

So my message today is to seek out a sharp youngster and hire them as an intern.  Give them that chance.  If you find yourself the right one, you may be surprised by the results you get.