Millenials seem to be resetting the corporate clock. They have shrunk the time between jobs. Now, on an average, a job lasts around five years.
And some of them have gone on to shrink the time between careers. Earlier, most people were content sticking to one career. Even those who jumped into a new career, did so after spending decades in the earlier one. Critical thinking would have shaped the decision. However, even such calculated career switches would be greeted with surprise. Now, twenty-somethings, barely three years into a career, switch to a whole new career and no questions are asked.
It’s a sign of the times.
Aditi Narayanan, who pursues chartered accountancy and has many other irons in the fire (some of them potential alternative careers), is a typical millennial — multi-faceted, ambitious, and by her own admission, flummoxed by the array of career choices.
She knows her tribe: “Millenials are exposed to a whole world of new ideas and have more freedom to do what they choose. Free flow of ideas is facilitated by technology. Interactions with like-minded people, made possible by social media, encourage them to explore new pastures.”
It is however difficult not to wonder if a great number of rapidly-career-switching millenials get carried away by the enticing spread of choices in front of them.
Someone from the baby boomer generation, Dr. P. Srinivasan, co-founder and chairman, Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre, believes this is often the case.
“Access to information should not be confused with access to knowledge,” says Dr. Srinivasan and goes on to explain how free availability of information has led to conclusions that have not gone through critical filters.
Dr. Srinivasan believes young employees contemplating a career switch require mentors to convert unfiltered information into reliable knowledge that could then form the basis for career choices. “Mentoring is a critical resource and is immensely valuable where confusion reigns due to unfiltered information and an abundance of career options,” he says.
There are other areas where a millennial may need to be guided. Career growth depends on skills. It however depends in greater measure on an employee’s core value system. Given his lack of experience, a millenial can miss this point. He may fail to see if his core value system is in alignment with his new career.
Dr. Srinivasan says, “My experience is different. From being employed as a doctor, I went on to become an entrepreneur and then a social entrepreneur, but I believe I have something to offer that would interest an employee planning to change his career. It is this: my core value has been service, which is why I took up employment as a doctor in India despite having the option of continuing to work abroad. And when I shifted gears and started Jeevan, the decision was still in alignment with my core value. Therefore, I had no doubts or conflicts when I was faced with challenges in the new endeavour. Another point to be kept in mind: never change a career due to the promise of financial benefit. For, there will be somebody else out there who will elbow you out. Let passion for the new career be the guiding principle.”
Keeping money out of major career decisions however seems to be a steep challenge for millennials. E. Saravanan, a physician assistant and a millennial, believes the promise of better pay is the major reason millenials go in for a new career. Thanks to the information revolution, it is now possible to compare salaries in various fields and sub-fields, which leads to temptation and causes people to overreach themselves.
Another ill-advised move is entering a completely new career without mastering the domain knowledge required for it.
Says Dr. Srinivasan, “A career change is less turbulent when it involves the same industry. If someone is filled with an overwhelming desire to take up a career light years away from his current one, should he give in to it? My answer is ‘yes’. But, let him first be a student of the new field and understand it thoroughly, before launching out.”
