While it’s fun to generalize about generations, the College Board (those folks who bring us the SAT, AP Tests, etc.) sent up a loud cautionary note in May. As one of the few organizations who have studied college students over time, they are in a position to know. According to StudentPoll data, an ongoing study of incoming freshmen, CB maintains Millennials are not that different from other generations in their goals, aspirations, values and college choice criteria.
Millennial Myth: Student interest in “making a contribution to society” is on the rise while interest in “having lots of money” is declining. studentPOLL’s Freshman Survey data conclusively show that interest in “being financially well off” remains high and at levels comparable to previous generations.
Millennial Myth: Students are more intellectually oriented and less career focused than previous generations.Again, studentPOLL’s findings and CIRP’s data demonstrate that students are very much career focused, but equally interested in the academic aspects of college that challenge them intellectually.
Millennial Myth: Millennials associate themselves with the name “Millennial Generation.” Despite the public and media hype about the “Millennial Generation,” only 6 percent of students associated their generation with the name “Millennials.” In fact, 43 percent reported that they didn’t know or that none of the six generational names tested was the name used to describe their own generation, and as many identified themselves as Generation X or Y.
Millennial Fact: Raising a family tops the list of life objectives that are “essential” or “very important” to Millennials—even more so than their parents’ generation. In 2007, 77 percent of the 272,000 students surveyed indicated that “raising a family” was an “essential” or “very important” life objective to them. In 1977, only 59 percent of students gave the same level of importance to raising a family, although this figure has remained relatively constant since the early 1990s.
Millennial Fact: College Bound Seniors welcome parental involvement in college planning. Ninety-five percent of students indicated that their parents were either “very involved” or “involved” in their college plans but, contrary to anecdotal suggestions, the students reported very little unwanted, intrusive behavior on the part of their parents. In fact, nearly 30 percent of students want more, not less, parental involvement.
Call it the Juno effect, the Jolie effect or the Jamie Lynn Spears effect. Whatever you call it, it’s ‘in’ to be a mom. The average number of births per woman reached the magical 2.1 population replacement rate in 2006 for the first time since 1971. The trend continued in 2007. According to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data, more babies were born in 2007 than even during the height of the baby boom – 4.32 million babies in 2007, more than the 4.30 million babies born in 1957.
There’s no question that being pregnant and having a baby looks cooler than ever. First there’s the celebrities reproducing faster than one can read about it in the supermarket tabloids. Then there’s the movies and TV shows. Ellen Page as Juno was spunky, hip and totally emulatable by teens in Gloucester, MA — and who knows where else? An NBC Reality Show, The Baby Borrowers, is reportedly intended to reveal the sleepless reality of parenthood, but would it be interesting at all if there were no interest in the topic? Knocked Up was a hit romantic comedy.
So who is driving the trend? Is it the Millennial teens and young adults or Gen X’ers who delayed having babies to establish careers? The 2007 numbers of births by age of mother are hard to find. But there are indications that it is the younger women driving the trend. The percent of births to women 15-29 has remained steady at 62% from 2001-2005, and there is no reason to believe that proportion has changed in favor of older mothers. Further, according to a Dec 2007 CDC report, the birth rate for the youngest teens (aged 10-14) declined, and the birth rate for older teens aged 18-19 (73 per 1000) is more than three times higher than the rate for teens aged 15-17 (22 per 1,000). The biggest jump was among unmarried women aged 25-29, among whom there was a 10 percent increase between 2005 and 2006.
The current baby-mania may have its roots in Millennial attitudes. Many no longer feel constrained by a timetable that calls for establishing a career, then a family. Millennials believe they can do what they want, and if a baby is what they want right now, why not go for it? As the products of one of the most successful generations of parents, they have good parenting role models. And as one of the wealthiest cohorts, they may feel they are financial as well as psychologically prepared. Who knows, they may be right? A plethora of babies may be just the latest clue that Millennials are not like Gen X’ers.
Wendy Kopp is 40 years old, but she may be the ultimate Millennial. As founder of Teach for America, she understands the deep need of Millennials to make a difference in the world and has given them a way to do it. Each year, Teach for America selects about 3,700 college graduates to work in low-income public schools.
At Notre Dame, where I teach Marketing, 10% of seniors in each of the last three class years planned to join a service program upon graduation rather than accept employment or pursue a higher degree. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Fighting Irish are not unique: there has been a surge in applications at Teach for America and the Peace Corps. Teach for America saw applications jump 36% to 24,718 for its limited spots, spots that offer salaries of just $25,000-$44,000 but offer rich psychic rewards. The Peace Corps is expecting a 16% increase in applications, and is experiencing volumes last seen in the 70′s. While some of the increase is no doubt dimmer job prospects, the Journal says it is something deeper – a generational desire to give back.
According to researchers, Millennials are among the most civic minded cohort in four generations. Our own recent focus group research among new hires at major marketing companies provides confirmation: many feel conflicted about their inability to “give back” in their current job. Here’s how one responded to the question of how he feels about opportunities to give back at work:
“The last company I worked for went down to New Orleans to help with the Katrina clean-up effort.I know people really enjoyed that.In fairness, taking time out to do some good — while great — is a lot different than being in a career where each and every day you’re supporting a cause or a purpose you believe in.”
“I lead the company in a fund raiser for a battered womens shelter,something small but makes a difference.”
While some respondents were able to rationalize their work as doing good (or at least no harm), others are overt about seeing their current job as simply a stepping stone to a job that will provide more opportunities to give back. Most think that means a job at a non-profit, and lower pay.
Moderator: Do you see a tradeoff between making a difference in the world and making a lot of money?
Millennial: (There are) plenty of non-for-profits that would be fun to work for that make a difference but you can’t earn the same there.
Marketers take heed, this may be a group that is motivated less by self-interest than the common interest. How refreshing. How Millennial.
One word sums it up: the key to attracting top Millennial workers to your company is a ‘chill’ culture. A few weeks ago, we held two online focus groups among Millennials at marketing companies around the country. Most participants have MBA’s and several years of work experience. The conversation, moderated by Carolyn Torres, a Millennial herself, centered on their lives at work, their frustrations and what makes them happy.
It will not come as a surprise that what matters most to Millennials is their work team. However, a great team is not enough. Nearly as important as the team to their satisfaction was the culture. Here’s a sample of how the happy ones talk about their jobs:
I love the culture at XXX, which has become very chill and youthful. Plus, people are quite laid back and not overly competitive. …For example, we have Nintendo Wii in the office and have tournaments among the business unit. – Brand Manager, Major CPG firm
I’ve been at my new job for three days now. Up until this point, I’ve bounced from job to job a lot. Well, it’s brand new… but so far I really like the people, the energy and the culture.– Account Exec, major ad agency
I’m still new; however, like I said, I like the people I work with (my co-workers, manager, sales team) and therefore am motivated to do my best. — Manager, Major Commercial Realty Firm
Their biggest complaints? Micro managers and not enough challenge.
I totally agree… I have some managers that are totally hands off and then disagree with what you do and then i have the opposite that micro manage and don’t do any work. I wish i could find some managers in the middle.
I don’t feel my employer makes use of my skills. And that’s pretty much the stem of my discontent with my current job. I did recently approach the SVP of the area in which I’d excel and explained to her my situation, thoughts, hopes to grow my career. It’s hard to approach an exec, but I’ve learned that it often pays to go straight to the top.
When asked if they could tell their boss one thing, what would it be, most indicated a desire to tell them they need more challenge…. and more balance. Of course, a raise and a promotion, wouldn’t hurt either!
Keep me challenged because as soon as i get bored I start to move on… I might not actually make a move but I will start thinking about it. Manager, Consumer Durables Company
I would tell my Boss that they need to place more responsibility in the hands of younger employees so they grow into the roles.
I didn’t realize how much time was spent on process and meeting where nothing gets accomplished. I think they are making the most of my abilities but could get a bit more if my manager didn’t micro-manage. – Market Research Manager, Major Pharmaceuticals Company
More antomomy and simplifed decision processes would help. In a multifunctional team dynamic, it takes ages to get a decision made. — Brand Manager, multinational CPG firm
According to a 2007 Pew Research report, Millennials are markedly less cynical than older generations — at least as far as putting faith in government and business institutions. A full 82% of 18-29 year olds agree with the statement, “the strength of this country is mostly based on the success of American business”. Agreement with this statement among Millennials actually increased 5 percentage points over the past four years. In contrast, agreement among other age groups is much lower and has decreased. 
The gap is even more pronounced when it comes to perception of government. Just 42% of people under 30 agree with the statement, “When something is run by the government, it is usually inefficient and wasteful”, compared to 62% overall (see chart).
These statistics are not that surprising, and help explain the success of Obama’s ‘change’ message among Millennials. They do believe that all of us can do better, that government can be the solution not the problem and that business is a place to make a difference in the world. The College Board has been tracking the most popular majors for over 30 years. While the popularity of business as a major has declined from its eighties peak, it is still the most popular major, beating the runner ups of health, biology, engineering and education by a wide margin.
The paradox here is that Millennials are entirely cynical and suspicious when it comes to marketing. My marketing students at University of Notre Dame uniformly believe that advertisers lie, that there is a catch to every offer and are willing to believe the worst customer service and product horror stories. Last November, I published an article in Ad Age entitled, “Clued in or Clueless, What Marketing Students don’t know about Marketing.” I asserted that students routinely dismiss claims made in advertisements, without considering that it might be illegal or that there are natural checks and balances against lying in ads. The response from Millennials was denial. Here’s a sampleof what Millennials had to say:
They also know that ads aren’t allowed to lie, but they do know that lying ads and false claims slip by and have to be brought to court to be disputed or distort the truth just enough to be factually accurate yet coming off with a different claim. This is why they’re skeptical. They don’t put much stock in enforcement and compliance, while well aware of the laws.
So my quesiton is, if Millennials are truly are less cynical, why doesn’t their lack of cynicism extend to marketing messages?
Is there anyone in the U.S. that hasn’t heard that Millennials are shaping the 2008 election? Books, magazines and blogs are abuzz with the news that 2008 is going to be the year of the Democrats due to the liberal attitudes of younger voters, many of whom are voting for the first time. According to Pew Research’s analysis of Super Tuesday voters, 58% self identify themselves as “liberal” in their political orientation. 57% voted for Obama, 41% for Clinton.
The more interesting question is whether this is any different than in past elections? Are today’s younger people actually more liberal than earlier generations? A quick glance at the chart indicates that he answer is ‘yes’ (don’t you love it when that happens?). According to a 2007 Pew Study, each generation tends to be less socially conservative than the generation before it. Generation Y is not only less socially conservative than older cohorts, they are less socially conservative than those cohorts were at a similar age. Social conservatism is measured by agreement with 6 statements. Gen Y on average agrees with only 2.5 of the statements, while twenty years ago, Boomers agreed with more than 3 (see chart). However, the biggest gap, now and then, is between Boomers and the Pre-Boomer generation, not between Boomers and Gen Y.
So the more correct answer is that Gen Y liberalism is actually both generational and age related.
Although it happened last November, thanks to disgruntled Gen X’ers, the story of Kevin Colvin and the story of how he was Busted by Facebook is still making the the rounds on the Internet. In case you missed it, Kevin, a senior at Holy Cross in Massachusetts, wrote a polite email saying he would be gone a few days from his internship at Anglo Bank in Boston. A little investigation by his boss revealed his true location, a Halloween party in Worcester. He was busted when his boss wrote to inquire if everything was okay at home, adding as an afterthought, ‘(cool wand)’.
An instructive story on the dangers of the illusion of privacy in the Internet era, certainly. But Kevin is far from the first person to make this mistake. (In fact, I was also fired from a bank summer job at 17 for calling in sick on my birthday, a good early life lesson.) So why has this become a prime example in the indictment of the Millennial mindset? Something in this story has touched a nerve with Generation X. Here is an example from Radaronline, posted May 15.
My lack of empathy for Kevin comes from my sense of loyalty to the generation born between the years of 1961 and 1981. Generation X. Kevin is part of the generation born between 1982 and 2002—a Millennial, formerly known as Generation Y. (They got renamed after whining too much.) They’re younger. They’re healthier. They got to do anal in high school. They think updating a spreadsheet while simultaneously posting to a Twitter account about the latest gossip on perezhilton.com is an essential corporate skill. And, like Kevin, they’re always doing stupid shit, but rarely getting called on it. What’s more, Millennials pose a vital threat to my generation’s cultural legitimacy, not to mention our position in the workplace.
Intergenerational conflict is nothing new, but it will be interesting to see if this squabbling over the positive or negative character of an entire generation will affect brands. Will Gen X’ers unite to distance themselves from the music, entertainments, products and services enjoyed by its younger cohort? Will Millennials even notice the slurs, or will they decide to fight back, and which brands will help them do it?
