When a Millennial Stays
Millennial bashing is a favourite past time of middle aged business owners. It’s nothing new, older generations have been complaining about younger generations since time began. However, I too have found myself agreeing with one common gripe and that is their propensity to move on. Job switching is common and I have lost count of the amount of CV’s I’ve seen where a young and eager 23 year old candidate boasts about their 7 jobs, with the longest tenure being 6 month! As if a collection of companies on your CV is like a collection of degrees or letters after your name. It’s not. Back in my day (yes, I know how that sounds) anything under 2yrs was something that had to be explained and justified with good cause. Now, if you last 2 months somewhere, it’s time to start planning the next move!
LinkedIn, hungry recruiters, a fast paced, rapidly expanding, constantly shifting digital market is fuelling the job switching and the consensus is, if you keep moving, you make more money.
Well let me tell you what happens when a millennial stays. I’m lucky to be surrounded by some of the brightest, conscientious, and hard-working group of 20 something’s around. In my FTE pool of around 10, I have multiple 2yr+, a couple of 3yr+ and Sam. Sam Wood is 26 and started working for me as a casual over 5 years ago. He worked hard to master SEO, showed an interest in management, and became a Senior SEO Manager. In due course, he stepped up into the General Management position and excelled. One thing I’ll tell you about Sam, is that he has initiative. He sets his own goals, he seeks out the resources he needs to achieve them, he pushes himself and he achieves. He’s probably the one employee I’ve coached and guided the least. He spearheaded our expansion into Sydney and still successfully manages the team in Brisbane. He is also fiercely loyal and sees the growth and success of Alpha Digital as being one and the same as his success. For these reasons, he is now a shareholder of Alpha. From casual employee to business owner in 5 years. That is what can happen when a millennial stays.