Reflections of a Young Professional

Young professionals often find ourselves in a strange position. Commonly, we are recruited for our energy, education, talents, and belief in our innate ability to be amazing at social media. Organizations recognize that we hold the key to taking the message of an established entity and translating it to our peers and the younger generation in a way that is compelling. Sounds great, right? But several things happen that cause a disconnect between young professionals and the more seasoned professionals that hire us.

First, the belief that it is a science, not an art. There is no formula that guarantees others will buy in and take the organization’s mission to heart. Not to mention, building an organizational brand takes time. The public has to trust your organization, and being around for a long time is not enough in and of itself. The world today is saturated in good causes with good looking logos. Creating a Facebook page and bringing a young professional on board isn’t going to suddenly translate to an increase in donations/sells or a packed house of youngsters. The organization has to realize that sharing their message is an art. Respect the art.

Second, age is seen as an automatic, stand-alone qualifier. Being young does not mean you are a communications professional. And it is certainly not a responsibility that can just be tacked onto another position. Understand that good communications is time consuming, requires skills, and deserves a lot of attention to be done well. Time and time again, I see supervisors send mixed messages about how much of a priority communications should be. They want it to be the best, but don’t want to appropriately pay for it. Or they don’t want it to “distract from other responsibilities.” Without time or money, can it be called a priority? If it is an expressed priority, value it as such! Understand that it may rank above other things from time to time. If you can’t trust your employee to make that call or value it as worthy of time and compensation, then perhaps there is a deeper issue to deal with.

Photo by: Jessica Whitely

Finally, the leadership often wants us to take responsibility but doesn’t want to give us influence. A few years ago I was asked to sit in on a meeting as a consultant. A networking group was planning their new year and was frustrated that the young people who had visited their meetings had not joined and stayed engaged. This quickly devolved into a conversation about how my generation lacked professionalism, teachability, and work ethic and perhaps that was why we didn’t like their organization. I asked them to define professionalism and their answers centered on personal dress and appearance. I then challenged their notion of professionalism and shared my personal experience of wishing for a mentor in my first professional position. I suggested that the root issue was their definitions were too narrow and didn’t make room for different approaches to the work place. They wanted to “pass the torch” to my generation but had no interest in letting us contribute to what that torch looked like.

And this is true more often than not. Organizations expect us to push their plans, missions, events to our peers, asking them to buy in, but don’t want to let us help shape the essence of what we’re sharing. Ask for our input and, more importantly, create a work culture where we feel comfortable sharing it. We should have a stake in the direction of the organization, especially if the leadership wants it to be around for generations to come.

My professional journey has been a mix of learning who to trust for guidance (finding a mentor is tough but increasingly important) and learning to fight for my worth. Despite all the negative talk about millennials, we are the hardest workers I know and of HUGE value to today’s work force. Let’s claim it!