3 Trends in Millennial Career Paths

Millennials appear to be a puzzling collection, especially regarding their career paths.

As the largest age group in the U.S. labor force now, the “children are the future” adage is a reality, and they are a decade away from being the leaders of our country.

This is not why this generation is puzzling to older parties.

Millennials seem to confuse Baby Boomers and Generation X members because they possess different motivations for their work and where they do it.

What are the benefits of understanding how millennials work?

Not a worse motivation — a different one.

As the tail end of this age group is finally entering the workforce, it’s important to understand what makes these young people tick.

With millennial members of the workforce, there are certain signs that you should identify when:

• recruiting
• hiring
• retaining

Here are three trends in millennial career paths and what they mean.

Digital Age Brings Easier Connections and Career Path Choices

The world is more connected now than it has ever been.

Rather than mail a letter and wait a week for a reply, one can simply email and get an answer in minutes.

Breaking stories used to be mysteries until the evening news or the next day’s paper.

But now, anyone who uses Twitter, Facebook, or Snapchat will know everything everyone else knows — mere seconds after it happens.

The world hasn’t changed in size, but because our communication capabilities have grown at an astronomical rate, the avenues to everyone around the world have gotten much, much smaller.

Business meetings no longer have to take place in a single conference room.

Ten brilliant minds can brainstorm with one another using a laptop and a reliable Wi-Fi connection.

Technology is how millennials get almost everything: news, entertainment, and personal interactions.

Banking, shopping, and working can all be done in seconds from wherever you are as long as you have reasonable data coverage and at least one working finger.

The digital age connects almost everyone

This constant connection via endless technological advancements is why millennials can stay updated with all the latest happenings across all industries.

To use healthcare and medical establishments as an example, identifying trends that cut costs and boost revenue and fluid industry trends can be challenging.

Millennials, however, adapt as the world around them changes.

They’re quite good at following trends.

Naturally, everything associated with how millennials find and carry out the functions of their jobs is digital.

Job hunting occurs on social media sites like LinkedIn, job portals like Indeed, or individual company websites.

Through continuous improvement to email platforms and file-sharing sites such as Google Drive and Dropbox, we can complete daily work tasks in the comfort of our homes.

Millennials are at the forefront of these changes.

With less paperwork, faster communication, and endless developments, they have made it possible to choose their career paths – anytime, anywhere.

Connectivity Also Brings ‘Multi-Careerism’

Any Baby Boomer will tell you that “back in the day,” you would go straight to the blue-collar workforce when you graduated high school.

Or, if you were smart, you would earn the privilege of attending college and landing a high-paying white-collar job.

No matter where you ended up, as long as you were treated fairly, you stuck with that company until you retired.

Oh, how times change regarding career paths!

Back then, one wouldn’t typically work more than one job unless it was financially necessary.

Now, it isn’t uncommon to encounter an individual under the age of 35 working several jobs at a time.

Countless millennials voluntarily work multiple jobs to challenge themselves and explore creative opportunities.

Of course, this rarely means sacrificing necessities to follow one’s dreams.

Usually, they work one job to pay the bills during half the day and expand their career horizons during the other half.

Although it sounds like millennials are the only ones to reap any reward from juggling multiple jobs, multi-careerism also benefits businesses that embrace the idea.

Smart business owners have studied their employees, who wear many hats.

And to their discovery, there are ways they can improve their revenue stream.

If a freelance podcast producer is a brilliant marketer, for example, and he gains a huge following, how might a larger business learn how to do likewise?

Multi-careerism, at its core, allows the freedom to step off conventional career paths and into more dynamic, purpose-driven callings.

Millennials Seek Self-Fulfillment

Whether through multiple jobs or just one, all millennials want the same thing: to do work that matters.

Living in a more connected world has given the nation’s youngest generation a new hunger to improve their neighborhoods, cities, and the entire world.

Everyone wants to feel like they’re making a difference – simply working paycheck to paycheck is not enough.

We define millennials as young adults ages 18 to 35, placing them in a pivotal stage of life, especially regarding their career path.

This is the time they become the person they will be for the rest of their lives.

Most millennials view their first job, and maybe their second and third, as stepping stones toward their true goal.

They want to contribute to the world through their work and look for growth opportunities along the way, in whatever form they may take.

Where are millennials headed in their career path?

It is unlikely that a millennial will end up at the same place where he began.

The desire that drives this generation doesn’t allow for complacency.

Millennials are an age group constantly hunting for the greatest opportunity to learn.

They develop their talents and try to make the world a better place.

Whatever career paths they choose, they are bound to succeed if they put their mind to it.

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Check out these Gen Z quotes to learn more about the generation following millennials.