How Millennials Are Redefining Their Careers as Hustlers
“What do you do?” used to be a simple question. Individuals defined themselves by profession: teacher, engineer, pilot. Or by company: Con Edison, NASA, Kodak. But it was always one job, one identity.
Today’s young professionals, however, aren’t as easily categorized. I still can’t figure out what to prioritize on my LinkedIn profile. I am a journalist, marketing consultant, and co-partner for an Internet company. All are equally important to my identity. And my Millennial-aged peers find themselves in similar situations. I don’t know any Millennial who self-identifies using only one “job.” “Millennials aren’t just position players,” says Ross Martin of Viacom’s trend-spotting and innovation division, Scratch. “They don’t just play first base or left field. They are ‘athletes,’ and their external hard drives are wired to do many things at once.”
This Millennial multi-careerism — which MTV/Viacom calls “sidepreneurism” — is taking over the workforce. By 2014, 36% of the U.S. workforce will be comprised of Millennials, and by 2020, 46% of U.S. workers will be Millennial-aged, per the Young Entrepreneur Council. This generation of Millennials does not identify with one company or career. They don’t work for IBM, but instead build smart computers. It might be a slight difference in semantics, but it underlines that their priorities are on their own skill set, and not on their employer.
There are two parallel trends at play. Millennials are both working several jobs simultaneously and sequentially. Nearly one in four (22%) expect to work at six or more different companies during their professional lives, according to DeVry University and Harris Interactive. Only 28% expect to work for fewer than three employers during their careers.