Millennials: Turns Out the 'Entitled Generation' Is Willing to Sacrifice
By most account, America's young consumers are stereotyped as a selfish, impulsive, highly indulged bunch. More so than other age groups, Gen Y has been shown to splurge on restaurant meals they probably can't afford, pamper themselves with impulse buys, and partake in "self-gifting" during the holidays. They've also been criticized in the workplace for focusing on their own needs rather than on-the-job performance.
Just How Underemployed Is Gen Y?
Gen Y is in a bind. This group of 18- to 29-year-olds has been told they must go to college in order to find a decent job. Yet upon graduating, few jobs are available to young people -- and those that are open often don't require a college degree.
How Does God View Work? Part Two
Part One Recap:
Growing up millennials were told:
- Go to college right after high school and get a degree, any degree—everyone needs to go to college, a 4-year degree is preferred, a post-graduate will solidify your way
- Work extra hard, get solid grades, and join as many extracurricular activities as possible
- Gain work experience through internships and externships
- Even if you take out student loans you’ll get a strong paying job that will cover the payments
- By the time you graduate a mass exodus of boomers will be retiring opening up a lot of jobs
What reality has taught us:
- Technology and streamlining/downsizing/rightsizing have eliminated many positions
- The economy crashed causing many boomers to lose life savings or find crushing investment losses
- Boomers just like to work and work and work and work
- There are many millennials with college degrees working in retail, foodservice or other traditionally low wage/low hour positions
As a result, many millennials feel duped, shortchanged, under appreciated and financially strapped from buying homes, getting married, raising families and paying off loan debt
So how does God view work?
As I said last week, God went first. Work was meant for something that we were supposed to do to worship and glorify Him through using our gifts and talents, regardless of our actual work position. We were meant to work to bring dignity and resources into our home. The following scriptures (NIV) give a snapshot of work and will be the defining scriptures for the rest of the blog. Continue reading →
How does God View Work? Part One
American Gothic by Grant Wood, 1930
Growing up in my parents and grandparents world, work to me was taught as something you did for 25-30 years at the same place of employment, maybe two…three if you’re unlucky or bored, and then retired. Previous to my grandparents, and even part of my grandparents, most people worked in an agricultural job, either farming or something related, and rarely made the big move to the city to take on different styles of work.
Heaven forbid an office job!
Fast forward to today and we have a staggering amount of young professionals entering the workforce, underemployed, misemployed or dissatisfied with their current career. In addition, many boomers and Generation Xers are still working hard 
to make ends meet. A lot of these people are also in the same boat as the millennial generation in work, and sadly, even more of these folks are unemployed!
Gone are the days of loyalty of the employer to the employee and vice versa. Earning opportunity, economic and financial pressure, greed, lust for the corner office, and easier transferability of skills and ideas, lead to most career minded individuals changing jobs at least 11-15 times in one career.
That’s a lot of moving personal items in copy paper boxes! Continue reading →
Junior Achievement Business Challenge—Teaching the Future how to Fish for Business Success!
The ancient Chinese proverb reveals, “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.” Certainly this proverb shows the power of education and mentorship designed for a young apprentice and the seasoned veteran.
The Junior Achievement (JA) Business Challenge extends this proverb into the culture of our 21st Century business environment. The purpose of JA is “to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.” To achieve this end, JA has created the Business Challenge capstone experience for high school students to really understand what it takes to create, compete and be successful in today’s business climate. JA gives students the education needed to navigate business, and through the power of mentorship, partnership and collaboration, the JA Business Challenge equips the students to engage in entrepreneurial endeavors that will teach them practical business fundamentals and grant them the confidence needed to live out their boundless potential, creativity and talents. Continue reading →
Prayers for Myers Briggs Types
In my leadership classes that I took in college and graduate school, a lot of the personality assessment focused on the Myers Briggs Test. For those who don’t know the Myers Briggs Test helps determine your personality and how you normally interact with other people and teams. By knowing what type you are, you can establish your leadership style and tactics and learn how to become a more effective leader.
A quick rundown of the dichotomy shows how the personality types match up:
| Dichotomies | |
|---|---|
| Extraversion (E) – | (I) Introversion |
| Sensing (S) – | (N) Intuition |
| Thinking (T) – | (F) Feeling |
| Judging (J) – | (P) Perception |
Or for those who prefer pictures:
So with all of this in mind, here is a comical look at the common prayers by a stereotype of the personality types highlighted in this beloved assessment:
ISTJ: Lord help me to relax about insignificant details beginning tomorrow at 11:41.23 am e.s.t.
ISTP: God help me to consider people’s feelings, even if most of them ARE hypersensitive. Continue reading →
Nice Guys Finish Last
I was born a “nice guy”. At least I had that stigma associated with being a nice and good kid. Looking back, I was pretty nice, maybe a little naive, but certainly did not like being called a nice guy. Even at a young age I realized that nice guys don’t the get the corner office, the girl, or fast car. They usually are a typecast geek, stifled to a joke. Yet, there I was, the nice guy.
Nice guys finish last…period.
No matter how much I tried to shake it, I was known as the nice guy, even in college when I was anything but nice. I hated who I was. I didn’t want to be the nice guy…I wanted prestige and a name for myself more than the heart God created for me. Continue reading →
Millennials Spur Capitalism with a Conscience
Author’s Note: This was an extremely interesting article I found from USA Today. There is a rising concern from our Millennial generation about social consciousness and corporations giving back. I believe it has a lot to do with Millennials have a chip on our shoulder from the recent recession and failed systematic promises about huge retirements and job openings coupled with watching huge corporate greed take over the economic landscape (think Enron, the Big 3 auto makers, private jets and cutting jobs, etc.). We have huge expectations of corporations stepping up and fixing their social image, and this is a strong step in the right direction!
Full link to original post: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/25/kindness-panera-bread-nordstrom-starbucks/1965183/
Millennials Spur Capitalism with a Conscience
At a handful of Panera locations, down-and-out folks pay only what they can afford. Nordstrom recently opened a test store where all profits go to charity. Starbucks has three coffee shops where a big chunk of the money made helps the needy.
This isn’t capitalism gone wacko. It’s capitalism with a conscience. Continue reading →
10 Phrases That Don’t Belong in Your Cover Letter
Here is an interesting article I found online about “cover letter don’ts”. I spent a lot of time in corporate recruiting and can assure you that cover letters were probably the tripping point to many people. Many of the letters were either poorly crafted, had improper grammar (not that mine is better), or had no relevance to their resume or posted job. The cover letter is supposed to be a persuasive profile of your resume.
Even now I have a lot of friends and family who come to me with the question, “How do I write a cover letter,” or “What do I put in the cover letter”. Cover letters have a lot of room for error, but also have a lot of room for innovation. There is no one right way to craft a cover letter. I will post more on this subject throughout the blog series; however, I think these 10 don’ts will be a great start for the discussion.
10 Phrases That Don’t Belong in Your Cover Letter
By Alison Green | U.S.News & World Report LP – Mon, Feb 4, 2013 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-phrases-dont-belong-cover-144251632.html
Think your cover letter is perfectly crafted? Check to make sure you’re not including any of these no-nos in it. Continue reading →
Boys & Girl’s Club Celebrates their Grand Opening in Chippewa Falls, WI!
On February 7, I had the distinct privilege of attending the grand opening for the Chippewa Falls Boys & Girls Club. The newest Club in the Chippewa Valley is located at the Museum of Industry and Technology downtown Chippewa Falls.
Club staff and members prepare for the ribbon cutting!
The grand opening was a very joyous celebration, not only for the staff, volunteers and members, but also for the entire community of Chippewa Falls. I have seen the community support first hand through my experience working at a nonprofit in Chippewa Falls. There is such a strong collaboration of support for the youth ranging from public and private schools efforts, nonprofit and government organizations and private businesses. All of this stems from the motivation to watch the future leaders of the community excel and succeed from children to adults. Continue reading →
