Yeah, Boomers are Retiring - What Next for Gen-X?

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Good points. Lots of whining, little planning, much resignation. There's a boomers vs Xers debate currently at Reason's Hit & Run blog.
http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2006/01/dea_causes_real.shtml#comments

I am a Gen-Xer and I feel compelled to defend my generation against the often unfounded generalizations we frequently encounter from society, which is currently still led by Boomers.

First and foremost, I am a woman, 34 years old, I hold 2 university degrees and am currently employed in a senior management position within a large multi-national.

I don't whine about limited career opportunities (it's up to me to make it in life!)and I do plan - both in my professional and private life. I am ambitious, I am dedicated to delivering above expectations and becoming the best I can be. On the other hand, I demand a lot and I don't accept authority or convention just because it is foisted on me. I will continue to question the world around me because I believe it is healthy.

Over the past 7 years of my career, I have met many Gen-Xers waiting impatiently for Boomers to leave the pilot's seat. Until such time as they have, we are forced to negotiate our way through a corporate jungle which still operates largely on Boomer rules.

I also notice that Boomer managers often feel threatened by younger Gen-Xers climbing their way up the corporate ladder. They are not yet ready to hand over control to a younger generation (let alone a woman!), and until our time to occupy top management functions has come, we are forced to live by Boomer rules.

Don't get me wrong - Gen-Xers do not dislike Boomers. It is every generation's prerogative to do things differently from the way they were before; and Boomers who grew up in the revolutionary sixties should know that best of all!

Boomers should perhaps consider the fact that they cannot demand that Gen-X continue as they prescribe. We need to take up our place in society and make our own mistakes.
And herein lies the point of friction with which each Gen-Xer grew up.
We are no longer the young children of Boomers. We have become adults in our own right. We take responsibility and deserve to find and make our own way in life - even if it means we fall down and must get up again.

regards,
A responsible adult

We're not prepared huh? Being 36, I thought that by now I would be in a management position, but I'm not even close. I was recently let go from a long job by my boomer boss (hippie back in the sixties), partly because he felt threatened by me.
Ever since college I have been "overeducated and underemployed". Cimminey. I've made it clear that someday I expect to move up to "the corner office". Can't wait till they retire.

34 year old female agrees with other Gen X posts. I work in graphic arts--lots of boomers who won't learn digital/ computer skills, won't retire, and won't pay their tech-savvy support staff a wage commesurate with their value. Even worse, try to justify lack of modern skills by citing how "artistic" they are, as if younger people working in digital media are less than. UGH! Boomers, if you can't drive a mouse, get out of the kitchen.

Great to see an actual intergenerational dialogue, don't you think?
I think we gen-x kids are whiners, but I'd like the boomers to mull over a couple of things.
Our generation believe was the first born into the chronic uncertainty of a job market that dispensed with staffr on a whim. Here in Australia, I've experienced not one jot of loyalty or incentive for your committment as an employee. As a result, I've always chosen to make my own way, and now own a magazine and media company with my partner. Here's the real trouble though. We have been conned by our employers over the years that it's kind of cool and professional to have your own company, to be a subcontractor, ad lot of us get sucked right in. The truth of this is, though, that it allows us to be employed and flicked at a moment's notice, and removes the obligation to pay superannuation, holidays, even a sick day. We as a generation feel disposable. THAT'S not a whinge, it's a scourge.

So we are sent out into these conditions, but our own parents keep telling us to be 'Normal' and to get 'Real' jobs. Most of us would if they were stable and offered something more than a glimmer of certainty.

In Australia we now are in the longest period of conservative governance in living history. WHY? Because the population has aged to such an extent, most of the voters are old and conservative. As a result we are technologically and on many other levels, residing in the dark ages. Another reason (nnot excuse) to be disillusioned.

Anyway. It may come off as a whinge, but there is some truth to the stuff behind our issues.

Take a look at our forums and website for a real perspective on Australian Gen x. and Gen Y.

We are whiners? Please. Listen to yourself. Cant get over the fact that you are getting OLD and need to step aside and let the next generation take over.

And another thing, you may not like Gen X....but we are your children. We learn from what we are taught. Maybe if you all werent so selfish you would have nicer kids!!

I just turned 40 and thanks to a crappy economy, I'm overeducated, underemployed and going on year three of a survival job that I absolutely hate. Like others of my generation, I fell for the old "go to college and the world is your oyster" routine that my boomer parents preached day in and day out (and didn't pay for, by the way--I had to do it on my own). This info was already outdated by the time we received our degrees! I live in an at-will employment state and it's brutal. Today's corporations see us as replaceable, make us pay for our own health insurance and empty out our 401Ks with impunity. Look around you and you'll see 18-year-olds going to vocational schools for 9 months and earning twice what we make with our 2 or 3 degrees from traditional universities. Oh, if I could only afford another degree... It's a far different world than the one our parents grew up in and I sometimes wonder if they have a clue.

Am I after my boomer boss's job? I'd take a liveable wage instead. Are we whining? Not really; we're just getting impatient. What's the next catch phrase--80 is the new 50? Retire already!!!

Gen X and Gen Y can do a lot for their careers by focusing on what they do control. Sitting and "waiting out" a boss to retire clearly could make for a very sore backside!

Instead, take control of your career. Find mentors outside of your company, network like crazy and demonstrate that you can lead in your current position by MAKING THINGS HAPPEN.

I once led off a networking presentation by saying that there are two types of people - Those who make things happen and those who sit by and asked, "what happened?"

The promised boomer retirement may eventually come, but get moving in the meantime to make something happen for your career, or you may find you lose an opportunity to a re-cycling boomer who is boomer-ranging back into the workforce to use their skills in a new opportunity!

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