Demystifying the great career just for the money

In the last decade, the attitude of young people entering the world of work in Europe and the USA is taking a Kopernikan turn: they are the ‘millennials’ (boys and girls born in the late 80s of the last century) who believe only in money and professional position as the keys to happiness.  For their part, the brain hunters confirm that only the high salary and other incentives are no longer bait for young people, unless the company allows them to dedicate flexible time, a good human environment, understanding of the needs of attention to their own family and an activity that in itself makes convincing sense. Today the job offer is globalised, thanks to the internet, which even allows people to work anywhere in the world, but occasionally even at home, which is ideal especially for mothers.

Paradigms have changed in this sense more in very prosperous countries, such as some European countries and the USA. Killing oneself for a company is a thing of the past, although it still exists in Japan and some Asian countries that are in the throes of economic growth.

The causes of this change are due to the high standard of living, which allows young people to afford many ‘luxuries’ that were previously only available to people with high levels of income, such as flying anywhere, skiing in Switzerland, holidays in the Pacific and so many other things that 15 to 30 years ago they would not have been able to afford. In addition, the mentality of thinking: I’m going to work myself to death and then enjoy life has been overcome. Young people want it all today, while there is strength, health and joy. Before, seeing how their parents killed themselves by working up to sixteen hours a day and how then the wear and tear on their strength and health prevented them from enjoying life, they learned well the lesson of not repeating this mistake. Today, for example, in Switzerland or Germany, a boy who wants to take a trip to New York can work for two weeks at the Post Office and already have enough money for a plane and a car to share with his friends in the group. Or that he likes to dive in the sea? Here we go, the Red Sea. If you’re looking for adrenaline in a vein, you can afford everything. 

That is to say: the so envied and admired life of the rich man, in the style of Hollywood movies, has been totally demythologized, to the point that today not few admire the sober life of the Robinson Crusoe spice, or that of the Indians in the South American jungle. Evidently this means that young people are looking for a deeper meaning in our modern life, so envied by less developed countries.

Today it no longer makes sense for the employer to promise many trips around the world, or to offer a great future in terms of economy or social prestige. Rather, it is frequent that the candidate for a job asks about his social sense, about the system of paid holidays etc. There are many young and not-so-young people who give up a good job to devote themselves to people in need, or to breed horses, or to travel around Africa in a jeep, or to climb a K8 in Tibet. 

Another very different thing is the ‘burn out syndrome’ which occurs in ‘workaholics’ after the age of fifty, which is precisely the state of general physical and psychological exhaustion due to excessive work, which can even cause instant death, as is the case especially in Japan. This group seeks to avoid the mistake of selling the best part of their life for a handful of dollars that they have not been able to enjoy with their family or friends.