Ryerson students know that the workforce is changing, and quickly. My parents used to clock in at 9, punch out at 5, and head home. I go to my office at 7:30 on a Sunday night – if I don’t feel like working from home. I do rough cuts and rough drafts on my laptop on breaks in between classes, before bed or whenever I’m the most productive. There have been times where weeks have gone by without face-to-face interaction with my boss, but that hasn’t affected our efficiency. As a generation, we might be stereotyped as entitled and lazy, but we’re the most educated and diverse workforce our country has seen. And we’re doing something right – we are the largest part of the workforce.
While the Gen Y workforce makes for a great thinkpiece in The Globe & Mail, that’s not how Gen Y actually connects with the world. I get more news from Twitter than anything else – we’re connected 24/7 to the world around us and the work we care about.
Now, all of that is fairly redundant if you’ve spent any amount of time reading these in-depth articles on what it means to be a Millennial in the workforce; which is unlikely – you’re part of Gen Y, news needs to be compressed and consumable. So, this is the Gen Y Perspective – the thesis project of six graduating media students at Ryerson.
The Gen Y Perspective breaks down their media into five categories. Some are short essays that wouldn’t be out of place on Thought Catalog circa 2012, or shared on Facebook before your grandma took over. This isn’t a criticism of the site: it’s a feature. It looks and acts like a site for Millennials before it was discovered how easy it was to monetize these sites when you compromise on content.
Ryerson students, be aware. We’re graduating into this market, and you’ve noticed by now that employers aren’t looking for entry-level employees they can mold into the workers they need – they’re looking for someone who can come forward with the skills they need and be willing to learn more. That’s what I find so interesting about the Gen Y Perspective. What are the skills that are going to be needed in the new workforce? Constant attention to the work? Focus on perpetual innovation?
But that’s not all that the Gen Y Perspective is about – it’s a global experience. Not only are subjects from the political uprising in Hong Kong covered, so are the pleasures and benefits of analog media. It’s exactly what Ryerson needs, a global perspective on Millennial issues. Ryerson students need to be aware.
It’s typical of Ryerson to be ahead of the curve, it’s the reason most of us chose our school. That’s what I find most exciting about Gen Y Perspective, it feels more like looking to what’s beyond the horizon as opposed to what’s just in front of you. If you’re a Ryerson student who wants to get involved with the Gen Y Perspective, send an email to genyperspectiveteam@gmail.com. C’mon, we’re Generation Y. If there’s one thing we love doing, it’s talking about ourselves and our lifestyle.
