Penelope Trunk has just posted an article entitled, “The Real Deal About Generation Y: They’re Inherently Conservative” to which I’d like to offer a response.
In the article, Penelope expresses her surprise at the results of a set of surveys done by Business Week that reveal that the top 3 “best places to launch a career” are all “Big 4″ accounting firms:
My first thought was, are you kidding me?!?!?!
Because if you ask Gen Y what is most important about work, this is what they’ll say: Flexiblitiy, personal growth, liking the people they work with, and money.
But here’s what a consulting job offers: Long hours in cities where you don’t live. On-demand work for demanding clients. Days and days of working on a client site where you do not even benefit from the supposedly forward-thinking corporate culture that a company like Deloitte has created. And, finally, isolation from all but a few co-workers who are at the same client as you.
She concludes that what motivates the trend toward these heavy-hitting companies is the conservative nature of Generation Y: “Here’s what else is going on: Gen Y does not admit it, but their top priority is stability.”
She goes on to discuss that our generation is “fundamentally conservative in [our] goals and decision making,” but it’s on the point about stability that I want to disagree.
Most everything in Penelope’s article rings true, but it’s the overall interpretation that I’d like to offer an alternative to. Rather than security, what many in Generation Y are after is a culturally impressive and prestigious job.
Impressive Companies and Careers
Generation Y assumes security. To us, it is a given that if you do everything right and work hard, you’ll wind up a winner. The only people I know that worry about security are those of us who are trying to make it as musicians, writers, missionaries, or entrepreneurs, and even then, those concerns aren’t dissuading us from pursuing those interests.
Those people being hired by Deloitte are least of all concerned by security. These are the most confident, most intelligent among us, for the most part, and the idea that they might fall down probably never enters their minds seriously.
If it’s not stability, what is it? From my observation, the drive towards these companies comes from the fear of opportunity cost, driving ambition, and simple brand appeal.
Fear of Opportunity Cost
Generation Y is a group where the top students have insanely optimized their time and efforts, and their academic resumes are often impressive… by the time they graduate high school. Papers published, original research done, groups founded, and scholarships and awards aplenty. We have been taught that being great isn’t always good enough to win the scholarship, the grant, or the job–you have to have been optimal in how you progressed academically.
Andrea Hershatter, quoted in Penelope’s article, states:
There is a strong, strong millennial dislike of ambiguity and risk, leading them to seek a lot more direction and clarity from their employers, in terms of what the task is, what the expectations are, and job progression. Sometimes it’s difficult for employers to characterize or quantify things the way millennials like.
The desire for more clarity and direction doesn’t result from a fear of being fired, it’s a fear of missing out on hitting a home run and getting an A++++.
Hooking up with a small company doesn’t promise an optimized path. There’s a chance you’ll wear many hats, and by the time you leave, your resume might not represent the sort of brilliant accomplishments a place like Deloitte would afford. It’s about fearing the opportunity cost: If I don’t hit the ground running and accomplish a ton, I’ll be behind by the time I’m 25. In a way, Penelope’s point about security comes through here. What’s desired is a proven path to become a star–the risk to which we are averse is the risk of failing to get those notches in our belts.
Ambition
The competitive drive is fierce in these top achievers. While my high school grades weren’t impressive, most of my best friends could all tell you their class rank and the class rank of each other. When asked where you were going to college, you’d answer impressively if possible, “Well, I’ve got scholarships to the state school for music and economics, but I’m still flirting with the idea of Harvard.” In college, the race was more subtle, but again, you had an idea as to what everyone’s resumes (figuratively speaking) looked like.
Brand Awareness
In my elementary school, if you didn’t have a No Fear t-shirt, you weren’t cool. In middle school, it was Nike shoes. In high school, it was a letter of acceptance to a prestigious university or a scholarship that impressed on its own.
Today, it’s Deloitte, Google, or Accenture. These are jobs that give you a leg to stand on when comparing (however subtly) starting salary, company prestige, career path, and perks, and you have an advancement plan where you can be assured of impressive continued progress for years to come.
The Resolution
“Flexibility, personal growth, liking the people they work with, and money.” How do we reconcile Generation Y’s claim to hold these values with their willingness to take jobs that are far from them? It’s no different from past generations. There’s a conflict between what we value and the desire to win. Many of my friends that have taken these impressive jobs have found themselves having second thoughts, and some have quit. If there’s a way in which this generation is unique, it’s the willingness to actually bail out and make a change once the allure wears off.
In the main article from Business Week, Lindsey Gerdes captures a telling exchange between a Deloitte executive and two younger workers:
…[The executive] expressed concern about the video’s references to long hours and difficult work assignments: “Wouldn’t that dissuade students?” A few interns didn’t hesitate to set him straight. “You want to be busy,” said Cindy Quintanilla, an intern in Dallas. Steve Mai, an intern in New York, added: “If all they did was talk about the good stuff, then I’d be skeptical.”
Translation:
Executive: “This is all-consuming work. Young people don’t like that, right?”
Youngsters: “You’ve got to be insanely busy if you want to win. We know that. We want that.”
The drive and ambition we have cultivated through high school and college drives us into these jobs through inertia. And for some people, they’re great jobs. Some people are wired to thrive off of being pushed to the edge. For others, however, once the allure wears off, they’ll find themselves looking for a way out, and the Big 4 might have to do something about those long hours if they want to prevent an exodus down the road.
Agree? Disagree? Let’s talk.
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15 responses so far ↓
1 Laura // Oct 17, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I am leaving this comment without a web link because I’m going to leave an extremely negative comment about my company. I’m going to out myself here and admit that I work for one of the Big 4 firms. I absolutely HATE my job and my company as a whole. Just for some context, I’m 27 years old and female, and I work in advisory services.
I read Penelope’s post this morning and also disagreed with her comments. I consider my mindset fairly typical of Gen Y and working at a Big 4 firm is not at all in sync with my values. I took this job against my better judgment in a moment of weakness because it was a $9000 pay increase for me and everyone was telling me how prestigious it would be to work there. I regretted my decision as soon as I sent in my signed offer of employment.
I have learned in time that what I really want is work/life balance, the opportunity to be of value, and to do something creative. All my dreams revolve around creative work in one way or another: photography, floral design, graphic design, decorating, writing. The closest thing to creative work that I get to do at my job is report writing, and believe me when I say that technical reports suck all the fun out of writing. And I do not matter here. I am treated like a cog in a wheel. Probably 10 people out of the 750 employees here know my name. I am forced to work ridiculous overtime hours. My values are totally out of alignment with my job. As a result, this may sound nuts but I do not think that announcing what company I work for sounds prestigious. On the contrary, I find it highly embarrassing. It’s an admission of how far off the mark I am.
On paper, the Big 4 firms have a lot of great policies that Penelope mentioned. For example, some staff categories here (including me, in fact) qualify for overtime pay for every hour over 40 hours per week that they work. They also have a great maternity leave and a very cool volunteering provision. But it’s sort of an unwritten rule that you are not supposed to take advantage of these perks. Doing so is basically career suicide. Ask for overtime pay and kiss your next promotion goodbye. Take maternity leave before you’ve reached Senior Manager and you can kiss ANY promotion goodbye for the rest of your tenure at the company.
As a result, they don’t need to worry about an exodus down the road… they need to worry about the mass exodus currently taking place. They send out an email every week listing joiners and leavers. Every week here, there are usually at least 5 people serving their last day. I’ve seen up to 15 leavers in a single week! People don’t feel appreciated or valued here. They don’t enjoy themselves. They take the job for the prestige and learn that when you take a job for money, you earn every penny.
I’m outta here the second the right job comes along, and I’m looking hard.
2 yevonne // Oct 17, 2007 at 8:28 pm
as someone who recently joined a Big Four, i couldn’t agree with you more. a big part of my motivation for taking my current job was the prestige of the name and the fact that Big Four experience seems to be the gateway to bigger and “better” jobs down the road.
3 HR Wench // Oct 17, 2007 at 10:14 pm
As a 1/2 Gen X 1/2 Gen Y (born in 1977) all I have to say is: I was so happy when the articles about Gen X largely went away. I can’t wait until the same thing happens with Gen Y articles.
I don’t mean to sound like a Crabby Patty but I get so tired of people telling ME what I want. I have literally walked out of seminars put on by (well meaning) SHRM chapters because they won’t shut their yaps about “those Gen X and Yers” assuming everyone in the audience is a Boomer. It makes me crazy.
I understand there is value in understanding generational differences, especially in the workplace where there is not only a need to get along but attract and retain all different kinds of workers. I just don’t like being part of a group that people feel so free to pigeonhole and pinpoint.
Maybe I’m too sensitive…
4 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 18, 2007 at 12:30 am
@Laura– Thank you for sharing. I can tell that you’re in a difficult situation, and I feel your pain. Hopefully, others will heed your warning and be wary of joining such a job with false expectations or the wrong motivations.
@Yevonne– No shame in doing that if you’re being honest with yourself. I sincerely hope you find it to be a good place for you that gets you where you want to go. I imagine most people wouldn’t really acknowledge that as a motivation except in purely practical terms.
@HR Wench– I can certainly see where you’re coming from. Not every member of Generation X or Y is alike, but sometimes that’s how it’s discussed. I’m smack in the middle of generation Y, and yet I often don’t see myself as fitting the descriptions of my generation that I read.
5 TheCPARecruiter // Oct 18, 2007 at 11:15 am
Kudos to you Laura for standing up and saying what others have been dying to. I recruit for a large national firm that values its employees and encourages them to participate in those “perk” type programs you mention - epsecially flex work arrangements - for both men and women. How do we do this? We truly balance staffing initiatives with new business initiatives AND we have programs in place to RETAIN our people.
I think it’s unfortunate that many universities across the US have been “bought” by the Big 4 in promoting their values from day one of a University Accounting program. It IS possible to be a public accountant AND have a life and contribute while being creative - you just have to be open-minded and look outside of the Big 4.
Laura, I hope you find the perfect opportunity and stay in public accounting.
The CPA Recruiter
6 Mer // Oct 18, 2007 at 11:25 am
I always get nervous when Patricia starts talking about Gen Y. Gen Y reports, in fact all the reports on “serious young adult culture” I’ve seen published over at least the last decade concentrate entirely on the compulsory college-educated middle class. All of this Gen Y stuff so many people are concerned with has everything to do with the next generation of senior office workers and upper managers, and that’s about it. It seems crucial to me that we remember that we’re very specifically not talking about the leaders of tomorrow, we’re talking about office monkeys. The future tradesmen and future CEOs don’t share the same traits, and while I don’t know entirely how, this will be significant in 20 years.
Now, having said that, all these articles and documentaries sound to me like instruction manuals on how to outflank my peers in the business world. Everyone is geared for teamwork and consensus building? Take opportunities to make independent decisions. People are conflict-averse? Learn how to be a little bit of a bully during negotiations. Everyone wants security? Be a maverick. If all the predictions are true, independent and fleet footed consultants who fix crises on the fly and get things done for big companies are set to make a killing.
7 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 18, 2007 at 12:01 pm
@TheCPARecruiter– Thanks for stopping by, and it’s nice to get the perspective of someone so close to the industry yet still outside of it.
@Mer– I think you make some great points here. Specifically, we would do well to remember that many of the innovators come from outside the ranks of the hyper-achieving college graduates.
8 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 18, 2007 at 1:26 pm
@Laura again– You know what? I didn’t do justice to your comment with my first reply. I want to encourage you to pursue a creative career full force. Stories like yours are what this site is about.
Please keep in touch, even if anonymously, and let me know if and when you’re able to move onto something that lets you thrive.
9 Austin // Oct 18, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Thanks for the great post, and interesting comments. I remember reading the original article and thinking something was off, but not being able to put my finger on it, I think you did. But I’d also add the unavoidabilty of the Big 4 as a reason why they are so popular. Nobody really knows what they want to do when they’re 22 and nobody knows how to get there either, but these guys are everywhere on campus.
Another thing to remember is that this article was published in Business Week, not GOOD Magazine or something
10 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 18, 2007 at 3:21 pm
@Austin– No, thank you for taking the time to read and appreciate it. I mean that.
“Nobody really knows what they want to do when they’re 22 and nobody knows how to get there either, but these guys are everywhere on campus.” Yes. That’s part of the reason so many people go on to grad school or law school right after college, too. A well-worn option is often a comfortable choice compared to the chasm of the unknown–regardless of how unappealing that well-worn option will eventually become.
11 Penelope Trunk // Oct 19, 2007 at 12:47 am
Chuck, what a great post. I think you are right on target and I loved reading your perspective about ambition.
Also, I am not surprised by how many people feel crushed working at a Big 4 company. There is no way to hear these peoples’ voices except anonymously, so they don’t get heard very often. The comment here makes me love the blgosphere for it’s ability to amplify a usually-muted perspective.
Penelope
12 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 19, 2007 at 9:46 am
@Penelope– I really appreciate that, thank you for taking the time to read through it and leave a comment. The comments I’ve gotten help remind me why I’m doing this–to help give people in bad situations some respite or help when possible.
13 Alan // Oct 24, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I loved the post.
It has caused me to think a little more about Generation Y and it makes me wonder if the real reason for the allure of the Big 4 is linked to the idea of maximum glory for minimum risk.
I think about the idea of entreprenure ship and that seems like maximum work for minimum glory.
Just undevloped thoughts
thanks for the post
14 Chuck Westbrook // Oct 25, 2007 at 12:26 pm
@alan– Very interesting idea. Thanks for sharing it. I think many entrepreneurs are still seeking glory, but in a differed form. They want to be the next Gates. Most probably just want to earn a living and enjoy what they do, though.
15 Johnny B. Goode // Jun 27, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I work at a big 4, and the manager calls me Mark, but my name is Mike…
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