(photo by dsb nola)
As the summer of 2008 is officially upon us, we see gas prices soaring to a whopping $4.00 a gallon, and an economy that is unpredictable at best. But even with all of the uncertainty in the world, one thing is for sure – very little seems to be stopping the new class of college graduates entering the workforce.
Millennials crave something different than their Boomer parents did when they entered the workforce some 30 years ago. In particular, a strong desire for a work life balance, increased financial stability (after all those student loans), and a longing to make a difference in the world.
And what’s more, companies are listening and adapting their recruitment practices accordingly. For example, at JPMorgan recruits are divided into teams and take part in what they call a Good Venture Competition, where the winning project team is awarded $25,000 for their cause. For executives at JPMorgan, this is a clever way to combine genuine philanthropy with a real-world test of leadership and teamwork for their potential recruits. For Millennials, it’s proof that the company is committed to giving back to the community.
In this weekend’s Washington Post magazine cover story, The Amazing Adventures of Supergrad,” Liza Mundy shows us how companies are falling over one another to vie for the talents of what some consider the most “sophisticated, accomplished, entitled graduates ever produced by American colleges.”
As Millennials, many of us have been pushed to learn new languages, we’ve studied abroad in multiple countries, we spend our summers in the halls of Capitol Hill and in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies. The JPMorgans and Googles of the world are focused on how to attract us to their companies, but what will it take for the nonprofit community to rise to the occasion and attract the same caliber of young people to the ranks of the local United Way or Boys and Girls Club? If this generation is so eager to make a difference in the world – how will the nonprofit sector keep up and attract the best and brightest?