Millenials Getting Bad Rep

Check out the Morley Safer piece from 60 Minutes on Millenials in the workplace. I found this pice to be terribly one-sided and biased. I painted an image of Millenials as egotistical narcissists. I cannot believe that the illustrious 60 Minutes would produce such a one-sided, negative piece on millions of people. To me, it just seems like the Boomer and X generations are just resentful and envious of a very talented younger workforce. I won't say that all Millenials are perfect, but this piece was just too negative and one-sided. What the Boomer generation ironically forgets is that they actually raised these Millenials--these are your children dummies! If you are now upset that a bunch of young'ins refuse to tow the line on your meaningless job and are not in awe of an irrelevant you, get over it!

Woo Hoo...Student Loan Forgiveness for Federal Employees!

According to the Federal Diary, public service employees will have the opportunity to qualify for student loan forgiveness under a loaw signed by President Bush last week. From what I gather you would have to slave away for 10 years and make your loan payments (from October 1, 2007--it is not retroactive), and, then, your outstanding balance would be forgiven. That's what I gather, anyway. This is a good thing for those who will remain in public service for at least 10 years. I have no idea what I will be doing, and it is highly unlikely that I will be in public service for 10 more years. But, for the first time in forever, I almost for a split second was happy to be a federal employee.

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The Right Way to Quit a Job

Looking for a change and your current employer is no longer the right fit? Author and consultant Alexandra Levit advises on how to quit your job the right way.

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Will Uncle Sam Appeal to Gen Y?

Stephen Barr, Federal Diary columnist for the Washington Post, has written an article on whether federal jobs are appealing to Generation Y. As a federal employee, and one who is in Gen Y, I definitely can say that my agency is not going to appeal to most educated, talented, driven twenty-somethings. I don't want to speak for other agencies, as I can only hope they are more cutting edge than mine is. But, there are a number of things in most workplaces, especially the government, that probably will not appeal to younger workers. The lack of updated technology, too many old people with the "pay your dues" mentality, lack of real meritocracy, little opportunity for growth and training, a lack of activities that allow younger workers to feel a sense of belonging, etc. I could really go on and on. In my particular agency, there are no real systems in place to allow people to use their talents and skills and actually be rewarded based on meritocracy and ability. If a lot of younger workers are like me, and are not respecters of titles, positions, time in service, and age, and are expecting to be able to showcase what they bring to the table and to have work that motivates them, they may end up being sorely disappointed.

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How to Deal Live

If you've got questions about human resources issues, workplace laws or just everyday workplace survival, washingtonpost.com's How to Deal columnist Lily Garcia will be hosting an online discussion today.

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Fed Using More Bonuses for Recruiting and Retention

According to Stephen Barr, Federal Diary columnist for the Washington Post, large federal agencies are increasingly offering bonuses to recruit employees for hard-to-fill jobs and to keep them from leaving the government. Obviously, this is a good thing. I really think the federal government needs to offer more bonuses creative incentives for young people and highly-skilled workers to come to the federal government and stick around. I'm talking bonuses, tuition reimbursement, sabbaticals, maternity/paternity leave...all of that and more.

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Jobs Live

Want to work for the feds? Career counselor Derrick Dortch offers advice on how to break into the public sector.

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