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TAKE THIS JOB (AND SHOVE IT)
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Monica T. Roberts, the director of career development at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, agrees on the importance of pursuing your passions. Starting a career just because it's stable or pays well could result in your misery, she says. Roberts works as a career counselor to almost 2,000 Newhouse 18- to 20-something students, and sees some of them struggle when it comes time to declare a major and finalize career moves. At most colleges, students must declare a major by their junior year, and Roberts says that timeline does not always work for everyone. It can be difficult for them to cement their plans, especially if they are not sure exactly what they want to do when they grow up. "You're very young at that age and you haven't really, in some cases, experienced a lot," Roberts says.
Unfortunately, she explains, major declarations and pressure from parents to enter steady, traditional careers push some young people into jobs they loathe, but stick with because they devoted four years to studying it. "If you have things that you need to take care of in life from a financial standpoint, it's not just easy to pick up and find another job. So sometimes, people get trapped in jobs," Roberts says. But "if you are one of the lucky ones and you do find your passion is acting or sculpting or anything creative, and you do have the luxury of making a career out of that, then those are the people who I think have early on figured out a plan to get there."
Recent events also inform this generation's attitude about life and work. Nadira A. Hira, a Generation Y blogger for Fortune Magazine, says tragic events like Columbine, the Virginia Tech massacre, and Hurricane Katrina put young people in a 'live-for-the-now' mindset. After Sept. 11, a Red Cross survey showed 36 percent of the respondents spent less time at work and more time with friends and family than the previous year. That desire for life outside the cubicle does shorten Generation Y's occupational attention span. However, it also amps up their commitment when they land somewhere they love. Millennials prove to be dedicated employees, working harder and longer, and offering much needed technologically-savvy advice. "They're very loyal," says Bruce Tulgan, founder of Rainmaker Thinking and co-author of Managing Generation Y. "It's just not the kind of blind loyalty you get in a kingdom—blind loyalty to the hierarchy."
When it comes to hard work, Chetan Bhagat could be this generation's poster child. Bhagat, 34, finds salvation by making his creative passion an after-five endeavor. He's an investment banker at Deutsche Bank by day, and the biggest-selling English-language novelist in India's history by night. "Ultimately, talent and perseverance in equal measure will get you somewhere," Bhagat says regarding success.
Bhagat has written three books in four years, Five Point Someone - What Not to Do at IIT, One Night @ the Call Center, and The Three Mistakes of My Life. They explore themes such as navigating the pressure to do well in school, finding the right job, dealing with the downsides of the job you're in, and enjoying life while you're young. While he's enjoyed notoriety among 20-somethings in India, he has no plans to leave the corporate world just yet. "I might do it one day, though somehow I can manage both for now," Bhagat says. His education at the top schools in India earned his entrance into the banking world, but his writing just sort of happened, he says. He had no "inkling that it would become the biggest selling book in India's history."
Unlike Bhagat, Martinez's pursuit of his passion seems a little more reckless, yet determined. In April, he signed with an agent who handles his photography business, Amor Enfermo (Love Sick). Martinez keeps busy with exhibitions, the next of which opens in Austin, Texas in September. Afterward he plans to take an extended cross-country road trip with a friend that could last for months. "I'll be spending time taking photos in new places and situations along the journey," he says. "I'm still sticking with photography, I just needed a change."
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