Dear Millennial...

I know you are tech savvy. I know you hold more liberal beliefs and hopes for a better and more equal world. I know you seek meaning from work rather than just job security or a pension. I know you have so much potential for good and the world awaits you!

But I hate to break it to you, having potential is not enough!

Employers don't hire for potential or good intentions. No-one to going to give you a seat at the table by virtue of your potential or youth. The world rewards competency, initiative and sheer unbridled hustle - things school will never teach you. Take it from me, an older Millennial (or younger Gen-Xer, depends on whom you ask) who learnt this the hard way. 

I hope you don't take this the wrong way as I've come to learn that you don't like being told what to do. And I also know that maybe I have to be a little patient with you. All I'm saying is that I'm willing to adapt to your arrival in the workplace, but you too have to step up, get to work and bring results. In the same way I have to become more accustomed to your obsession with selfies, tiktok and being woke, you have to adapt to the reality of deadlines, targets and boring admin tasks (PS: Just because filing papers doesn't feel like you are saving the world or that writing reports doesn't seem to have transcendental value doesn't make those chores less important. And yes, we will digitize eventually right after we get used to Boom. PPS: I meant Zoom). I have to stop calling you entitled whining social media zombies and you have to stopping calling me a fascist dinosaur who can't tell the difference between dubstep and trap music.

We both need to work on ourselves to make this work. I'm willing to work on me, I hope you will do the same.

Yours sincerely,

An older millennial (or younger Gen-Xer or who came up with these categorizations and why should we even care anyway!)