Do we live to work or work to live?
October 9th 2007 01:30
Where exactly does 'work' fit in on our lives To Do list? Towards the bottom somewhere apparently, squished in just before we run out of room. See, your average kid probably went out and got a part-time job while at school because it was something to do. Okay, certainly a little extra money wouldn’t have hurt when putting together a stand out look, (this is Generation Look At Me, after all) but in general your average young person doing a spot of work was not looking to invest in the stock exchange.
Well that's all well and good Wynona, but what about careers? Surely these children will want to pursue their after school position or use the skills they learn to get into a similar field of work. Not necessarily my dear reader. The seniors among us may remember (providing the dementia isn't too far advanced) that you started working for a company and you retired from that same company. This is a thing of the past, with few Gen Yers still working their McJob 6 years later and even fewer following in the career footsteps of their family. Things are fast now; consume, dispose, again. You might get a casual job over Xmas, lose it in February, write down the skills gained on your resume, use that to get a better paid job closer to home and chuck it in when you and some friends use the money you've saved to go backpacking in Europe for a year. Work is now about enjoying life more than it is getting money to pay the bills and save for a mortgage. Remember, 4 in 10 of us think we will never own our home. Quit a few of us are up for the shared living experience and we tend to be leaving home later than ever. There are even boomerang kids among us, meaning they move out then move back in. Charming.
I note that you're frowning, could you possibly be thinking that all this bouncing around won't look good when we finally decide we'd like a more permanent position and a chance to move up to corporate ladder? Well, we may never encounter those circumstances. You see, 'settling down' and 'general manager by the time I'm 25' don't pop up in our thoughts or vocabulary too often, if at all. So I won't be the CEO of the Reserve Bank of Australia? Okay, can't say I ever really wanted to. And as for all that bouncing around, well it can all be wrapped up nicely with the word 'experience'. It would mean you know how to use a variety of instruments, deal with a variety of dress codes, mannerisms etc and that you can bring an enlightened perspective to a problem. And besides, we’re not moving at a pace that’s faster than the job market.
Say what?
We’re bouncing around form job to job, but that’s because there are more jobs to bounce around from. Take me for example, I’m a blogger; I get paid to write about my contemporaries. And I’m not talking proper academic essays published in expert journals, my work is pretty much unmoderated, definitely not scholarly reviewed and needs to be updated at least 3 times per week. How many of you the opportunity to do this 20 years ago?
Work is very much about funding our lifestyle. It’s necessary but it certainly can be chopped and changed to fit around our lives because we’re certainly not going to chop and change our lives to fit around it. So, um, thank you Gen X and all the ones that came before us for fighting the good fight and setting the labour market up in a way that gives us so much choice. Here’s to you *raises imaginary glass*
Well that's all well and good Wynona, but what about careers? Surely these children will want to pursue their after school position or use the skills they learn to get into a similar field of work. Not necessarily my dear reader. The seniors among us may remember (providing the dementia isn't too far advanced) that you started working for a company and you retired from that same company. This is a thing of the past, with few Gen Yers still working their McJob 6 years later and even fewer following in the career footsteps of their family. Things are fast now; consume, dispose, again. You might get a casual job over Xmas, lose it in February, write down the skills gained on your resume, use that to get a better paid job closer to home and chuck it in when you and some friends use the money you've saved to go backpacking in Europe for a year. Work is now about enjoying life more than it is getting money to pay the bills and save for a mortgage. Remember, 4 in 10 of us think we will never own our home. Quit a few of us are up for the shared living experience and we tend to be leaving home later than ever. There are even boomerang kids among us, meaning they move out then move back in. Charming.
I note that you're frowning, could you possibly be thinking that all this bouncing around won't look good when we finally decide we'd like a more permanent position and a chance to move up to corporate ladder? Well, we may never encounter those circumstances. You see, 'settling down' and 'general manager by the time I'm 25' don't pop up in our thoughts or vocabulary too often, if at all. So I won't be the CEO of the Reserve Bank of Australia? Okay, can't say I ever really wanted to. And as for all that bouncing around, well it can all be wrapped up nicely with the word 'experience'. It would mean you know how to use a variety of instruments, deal with a variety of dress codes, mannerisms etc and that you can bring an enlightened perspective to a problem. And besides, we’re not moving at a pace that’s faster than the job market.
Say what?
We’re bouncing around form job to job, but that’s because there are more jobs to bounce around from. Take me for example, I’m a blogger; I get paid to write about my contemporaries. And I’m not talking proper academic essays published in expert journals, my work is pretty much unmoderated, definitely not scholarly reviewed and needs to be updated at least 3 times per week. How many of you the opportunity to do this 20 years ago?
Work is very much about funding our lifestyle. It’s necessary but it certainly can be chopped and changed to fit around our lives because we’re certainly not going to chop and change our lives to fit around it. So, um, thank you Gen X and all the ones that came before us for fighting the good fight and setting the labour market up in a way that gives us so much choice. Here’s to you *raises imaginary glass*
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Comment by Lara M
Love Speaks
p/s...good post Gen Y-er...
Comment by Wynona Lavota
Generation Y Life