Whether you think millennials are going to save the world or ensure the extinction of the species, this vaguely defined group has a lot to live up to and even more to overcome.
Countless headlines have been dedicated to cracking the millennial code and proclaiming this or that about millennials—and for good reason. According to a recent Pew study, millennials will soon overtake baby boomers as the largest living generation in the U.S., and they are quickly ascending corporate ladders and becoming major purchase decision makers. All that data and speculation has created a few assumptions that millennials would rather leave behind.
To get a feel for how millennial communicators navigate their image, we asked the PR News community to identify the biggest misconceptions millennials face in PR. From being pegged as lazy and entitled to having a mastery of all things digital, here are some generalizations and misconceptions that millennial PR pros contend with in the workplace:
.@PRNews A lot of people think we lack attention to detail. Most of those people don't end their text messages with proper punctuation.
— Trey Higdon (@TreyHigdon) June 15, 2015
@PRNews that we all have the same opinions about new technologies and social media platforms. — Brigette Fine (@bfine93) June 15, 2015
@PRNews that we are a cut & paste generation. I have worked hard and still continue to work hard in this industry, nothing was given to me.
— Koketso Phala (@KoketsoMPhala) June 15, 2015
@PRNews that Millennial = entitled 100% of the time. Oh and that I'm only good at social media when it's only part of what I do. — Brittany Thomas (@britt_thomas) June 15, 2015
That we always come to a strategy without thoughtful and holistic reasoning, @PRNews.
— Simon Sibarani (@helloitssimon) June 15, 2015
@PRNews That our preference for non-traditional work schedules means we're lazy and/or unproductive. — Jake Palenske (@jakepalenske) June 15, 2015
@PRNews Ambition is often mistaken for entitlement.
— Nicolas Kerebel (@nicolaskerebel) June 15, 2015
@PRNews That we refer to ourselves as #millennials — Ellie B (@SmellieB) June 15, 2015