Q: My question is about career-growth trajectory and employee timeline expectations. Perhaps it is just me showing my age, but I seem to find myself in more frequent discussions with impatient younger workers who don’t want to hear that you must work five, ten or more years in a field to gain the necessary work experience to be a well qualified candidate for promotion, particularly one with staff supervisory responsibilities. Why are they so impatient and how do we hold-on to talented staff who want to jump ship?
A: I’ve heard many versions of this question, usually asked by “people of a certain age”. Yes, it can be frustrating, exasperating, -sometimes funny- to see the impatience and unrealistic expectations in some younger workers. It’s such a common sentiment that there are several YouTube parody’s on the subject.
So why the impatience? I can think of a couple of reasons.
First, I think they value accomplishments over experience. Let me explain.
In school, they were taught that if they accomplished certain things (passed a test, obtained a score, completed a course, checked-off a box) it meant automatic advancement to the next level. In school, the experiential component of growth is often missing as a requirement to move forward. It’s no wonder they’d expect the same would be true in a job. But of course, that’s not how things work in the real world.
Secondly, I think they mistakenly equate information (and access to the internet) with actual knowledge and context that can only come from experience. They don’t grasp that even if you are a technical ace in accounting, engineering, law or whatever, if you have little applied experience, you are still unprepared for more responsibility. Especially when –as you point out- the promotion includes managing staff. They may feel over confident because they are equating technical knowledge with applied skill that only time can provide.
But enough younger-worker problem analysis. How can we help them?
The reality is that we live in a fast-changing, inpatient world with evolving expectations, and the workplace is a reflection of that world. We must therefore adapt career paths and advancement philosophy if we are going to retain talent. So how do we do that? Tune in next week.
©Copyright Eva Del Rio
Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com