What generation are my kids?

Via GenXpert, I found another Gen X blogger, The Gen X Files, which led me to an interesting thought. Dave who writes this blog is a Gen Xer, and has a couple of kids, the younger of whom is 8, about the same age as my older son. And Dave says his kids are Millenials, or Gen Y. But are they?

I know we like to put labels on everything, to put people into convenient boxes so we can classify them, clarify them, and of course market to them. And that works to some degree, but sometimes we draw the box too broadly.

Take the boomers. They've been defined as the children of the post-war generation who came of age in the 60s and 70s. Who are now entering the last decade or so of work, starting to be grandparents, etc. I loved the label Generation X when Douglas Copeland first defined it. We were the gap generation, not the boomers, not the children of boomers. Our parents were born during World War Two. We came of age in the 80s, and entered the work world right when all the boomers swelled the ranks and left no openings, when bad times hit the economy and our hopes of life-long employers like our parents had had was a wasted dream.

The generation right after us, the echo boom, Gen Y, Millenials, or whatever name they go by, had it better. Their parents hovered, sheltered, and made life easier for them (which is in no way to be interpreted as a swipe at our parents, who did a fine job!). Because they were numerous where Gen X was few, they were a desired audience, so media paid attention to them in spades, as did marketers. They grew up in a more digital world, with video games, home computers, and ubiquitous cell phones and internet. They wouldn't know how to dial a rotary phone, load the paper in a typewriter, or maybe even crank the film forward in a camera.

Right. That's us, that's them. But what about my kids? They are the children of Gen Xers through and through, born at the beginning of the 2000s (does that decade have a name yet?). They are growing up in the shadow of Gen Y, although that shadow is nowhere near as suffocating as the boomers' shadow under which I grew up. Are they a generation of their own, or will they be lumped in with the group 15-20 years older than them? What do we know about my children's generation?

Wikipedia defines Gen Y as born right up to 2000. My son was born in 2001. Some have called this group Generation Z (we're going to run out of letters soon!). Another Wikipedia article says Generation Z starts with those born after 1997 (although the same article as says those born after 1991).

While my googling is hardly extensive research, I think it helps prove my point that whatever generation and whatever their defining characteristics come to define my children, they are not Gen Y. I hope their generation gets what ours lacked -- enough numbers to have advantages but small enough to not lose out in the workplace.

Why Gen Xers like me won't have retirement parties

Last night, I went to a retirement party for my favourite client. I'm very dissapointed to be losing this man as my client (I don't know if his replacement will keep working with me or not), but I am also sad to lose regular contact with him as he enters the retiree world.

So I stayed for hte whole party, including all the speeches. He has had a 39 career in the federal public service, so there were a lot of stories about old collegues (none of whom I know) and previous positions (I've only known him for three years). It was all a bit dull for me, but it made me think about what a retirement party for me or someone like me would be like.

And I realized that it wouldn't. I couldn't have a party with people there that had worked with me my whole career. I haven't stayed put anywhere long enough for that to happen, and I don't forsee that happening at any point in the rest of my career either.

A job for life is something the baby boomers had, but it's not something most Gen Xers have, nor is it at all something the generations following us will have. Does this mean retirement parties like my client's are soon to be a thing of the past? What will a retirement look like in twenty years? No gold watch, but will there be people to celebrate the end of work with, or will it just be a winding down and closing of doors.

Hmmmm....

All my coworkers are Gen Y

When you work in an office, birthdays are celebrated. In my new office, it seems they usually pass a card for signatures, unless it's a "big" birthday, in which case there is more. This week, the office manager turned 30, so we celebrated with cake and champagne, and a bit of socializing.

There are only about 15 or 20 people (haven't met everyone yet!) who work here, and most of them were in the room for champagne. Talk came around to whose "big" birthday would be next, and eventually it came out how old just about everyone is. Turns out more than half the women are under 30. A few of the women and a few men are in their early to mid 30s. And one woman will turn 40 later this year.

Then there's me.

Granted, there are two senior people who work here who were out of town that day -- my boss, the President, who is in his 50s, and the VP of operations, who is 46. But man, it was a huge shock to find myself in the minority, and to find that I was the oldest person in the room.

That said, it didn't make me feel old, too much. More it was a surprise to be on this side of the dividing line. My previous office jobs in the past decade were government, where there are a LOT of baby boomers, so I was always on the young side of the line before.

I guess the good thing about being on the older people side is that it kind of reinforces the seniority I bring to my job. I want to be seen as a higher up, a senior staffer, so I guess being older helps with that impression.

But man, I need to learn more about Gen Y now.

Gen Xers rule summer movies

Via the Globe and Mail's movies columnist Johanna Scheller I read about how mid-lifers like myself are dominating the movies this summer.

Think of all the 40-somethings in Sex and the City, Robert Downey Jr (46) in Ironman, Ed Norton (38) in the Hulk, or Adam Sandler (42) in that Zohan flop. There must be the usual summer teen flicks, but if they're out there, I haven't heard of them yet.

Schneller calls it "the summer of 42- age 42, that is. Or 43, or 53." And I agree, I see many men and women on screen now who are actually my age. But Schneller, who I assume from her photo is a Boomer, naturally credits all this to her generation, not mine.

It must be acknowledged that this spurt of midlife movies could be simply the last roar of that terrible beast, the baby-boomer ego - the cinematic equivalent of a perimenopausal woman firing off her extra eggs before her womb goes dark. Never before has a generation held so fiercely to the belief that it's the only one that matters; some of summer's films make hay with that belief.

And yes, that does make sense, but isn't ironic that most of the film stars she cites are in their late 30s/early 40s, and therefore not of the baby boomer variety but rather the Gen X era. Isn't it fun that now that boomers are looking for their youth, but not wanting to look too far (like into the eyes of a 20-something), they look to our generation. No doubt all those 60-somethings sitting in dark movie theatres are living vicariously through the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker -- a Gen Xer if ever there was one (come on, remember Square Pegs!)

After all those years of us seeing mostly them in our pop culture, they are finally looking at us. Maybe it is the summer of 40 -- sure makes it easier for me to have joined the fourth decade!

Generational quiz -- what is your media use?

I was reading some older columns from one of my favourite bloggers, Penelope Trunk, and came across this terrific quiz she posted.

She hypothesizes that what really labels us into a generation is not so much the year of our birth but rather our experience with digital media. I took her quiz and came out square in the middle of Gen X, so I think she may have a real point.

Go ahead and try it. Did it work for you?

Gen Y job hunting mistakes

I have a website for my public relations 'company' -- I put company in quotes because it's just me -- and I'm listed with professional organizations in my field, so from time to time I get people contacting me who are job hunting. Needless to say, I'm not hiring, but I find this amusing anyhow.

This week I got an email, obviously sent out to a group, from a young girl in Toronto (the other side of the country!), who is looking for a job. I wouldn't for a minute consider her, and here are the main reasons why:

1. She's in Toronto, but nowhere in her email does she say she'd like to relocate to Vancouver.

2. She gave me too much information about why her internship in journalism didn't work out and why she's better suited for PR. For example:

"The idea of organizing product launches excites me and this is not
something I can do in a newsroom. I can, however, talk about the toothpaste I used in the morning before coming to work, but there's no excitement there."

3. She sent me an attached resume. Bad enough her email landed in my junk folder, but if I were on a PC (which I'm not -- MAC rules!), I'd never open her attachment it for fear of viruses.

And worst of all,

4. She invites me to check out her Facebook profile, but it's not public. In fact, she says:

" I also welcome you to check out my Facebook profile..., as it is a good indication of how unique and creative my writing style is. Most importantly, it expresses the essence of ME."

I went so far as to look her up, but all I got was a name, city and photo. I guess maybe that's the essence of HER.

My conclusion is that new media options may have opened up new techniques for Gen Y job hunters, but classic mistakes never get old.

Which generation are you?

Via GenerationXpert, I found this http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifthat claims to figure out what generation you belong to based on a few quick answers.

I'm Gen X, baby, all the way!

Of course, the quiz seems to have been designed by baby boomers, since Gen Xers wouldn't have used questions like:

How do you feel about work and money?

* Work should be meaningful, and money should be spent on something you love.
* Work should be short, so you can get on to your true interests. Money isn't all that important.
* Work should be as fun as possible. Life is short, so enjoy your money.
* Work hard to be financially secure, and don't waste your money.

I mean, really, that one is obvious designed to flush out the Gen Yers who, in the minds of boomers, don't care about working.

More musing on Gen X

Via the Tyee, I read a terrific article and review of a book about Gen X. It's fun to find that at long last, my much-ignored generation is getting attention from the masses.

Naturally I was pulled in to read the article after the intro:

...the cultural powers that be forgot to take note of a major milestone: generation X began to turn 40. Molly Ringwald, of the quintessential Gen X film The Breakfast Club, celebrated her 40th birthday earlier this year.

I loved Molly Ringwald, didn't you? What ever happened to her?

The article interviews Jeff Gordinier, American author of the just released X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking.

Gardiner apparently discusses our origins in punk rock and slacker culture, but comes up as an optimist, believing generation X is coming into its own as a true force for change. He says our generation will clean up the world. Yeah, X! And why us? Gardiner says:

We're equipped. We're wary enough to see through delusional "movements": we're old enough to feel a connection to the past (and yet we're unsentimental enough not to get all gooey about it); we're young enough to be wired; we're snotty enough not to settle for crap; we're resourceful enough to turn crap into gold; we're quiet enough to endure our labors on the margins. Beyond that, we're all we got. Nobody else is going to do it.

Oh, right, poor suffering us are stuck with the problems. Sounds familiar.

Discrimination against older workers

Not that I think that at 40 (well, 39 for another monhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifth) I'm "older", but this post from LifeTwo was still an interesting read.

I really like how it listed the way younger and older workers are perceived:

Stereotypes exist for workers of all ages. Generally speaking, younger workers are considered:

Physically more able and healthy
Easier to supervise
Lower salary expectations
Willing to use new technology
Creative
Energetic

While mature workers are considered:

Experienced
Reliable
Stable
Loyal
Have good practical knowledge
Mature

As I examine myself and my personal growth over the past two decades, I'd say the latter list does apply. That said, I'm pretty fit at 40, creative and open to new technology, so maybe I'm really part way between the two. Where do you fit?

Aging is depressing (until 50)??

I read an article recently in the Globe and Mail that discussed a new research study about being happy in mid-life. It said that aroudn the world,

most of us bottom out in our mid-40s, describing ourselves as unhappy or even depressed.

But here's the good news: We bounce back and describe ourselves as happier in our 50s and 60s.

Does this explain my mid-life crisis? If it does, at least there's a bright side in the next decade...

Gen X short changed by demography

Linda Duxbury really hits the nail on the head about my demographic, the embittered Gen X:

Generation X, a term popularized by Canadian author Douglas Coupland in the 1990s, includes anyone born between 1961 and 1974. Duxbury explains Generation X’s job market as follows: “Members of Generation X followed this huge cohort, the Boomers, into the labour market just when the labour market tanked. When those born in 1961 were trying to get their first jobs we hit a recession, followed by a jobless recovery, followed by another recession. So there was tremendous competition for jobs in this particular group. They had trouble getting permanent work and they had trouble keeping permanent work.”

Members of Generation X are often portrayed in the media as apathetic cynics who are over-educated and underachieving. Another term closely linked with this generation is McJob – a low-paying job with little stimulation and few prospects. This is certainly not a flattering portrayal of a generation, but these characteristics as a generational response to a point in time are justified. To put it simply, Generation X was short changed by demography.

That's me to a T. I have never had a long-term job -- I've always had to make my own opportunities. I've had many jobs for which I was underemployed, until the past few years was what I always thought was underpaid, and a lack of prospects I guess is what prompted this blog.

It's nice to know I'm not alone in this.

Becoming a boiled frog

Have you ever heard Linda Duxbury speak? She's a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and she specializes in work-life and demographics. She talks about how the demographics of the workplace influence how to attract and retain workers. There's the huge cohort of baby boomers, followed by the small cohort of Gen Xers (me included!), tailed by a bigger group of Echo Boomers (or Gen Y or whatever name you like for them!), and each group has their own unique experiences and desires in the work world.

Let's talk first about baby boomers, because they are my only current role models of what work should be like for me over the next twenty years. Duxbury calls them 'boiled frogs." From a workpolis.com article about Duxbury's presentation:

"Research shows that frogs placed in a pot of water that is slowly heated until it reaches a boil will not jump out of the pot. They will remain in the water as it heats up and until they eventually die. However, a frog that is placed directly into a pot of already boiling water will immediately jump out knowing they cannot survive under such circumstances.

And such is the case of today’s workplace. More senior employees are typically part of the Baby Boom demographic and over their many years in the workforce they have become accustomed to the increased demands placed upon them and the deteriorating work environment and have accepted the consequences on their health and families."

Duxbury says these people become "retired on the job," putting in their time until they can finally retire. And it really rings true for a lot of 50 and 60-somethings I've worked with in the last few years.

So is this the fate that awaits me? Should I look for a full-time job where I can just while away the next two decades awaiting retirement? It does have some attraction -- when work doesn't consume your life, you can focus on other things. But is that satisfying?