The Lost Generation

August 26, 2010

No, I’m not talking about the throng of Gen Y-ers who are often unfairly criticized for walking aimlessly down sidewalks and hallways peering lovingly into their 3G and 4G smart phones.  Nor am I referring to the growing ranks of aging baby boomers who long for the days when a hand-addressed envelope and hand-written letter appeared in their in-baskets … the real old fashioned in-baskets that now are stacked high in many an office’s supply closet.

The “Lost Generation” of which I speak is the missing ranks of 30-40 year old professional communication, advertising and public relations practitioners who decided (willingly or unwittingly) in 1999-2001 to get out of this crazy business. Much of this migration out and away from agency and corporate marketing communications came on the heels of the .com bust and a post 9/11 economic downturn.  Tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of early to mid 20-somethings found their way out of an industry and profession that had just a few years earlier held so much promise. The result—a huge and recognizable decade-sized void of missing professionals who would now be in their early to late 30s with 10-15 years of experience under their belts. And to be clear, this void will follow us through the next three decades until which time this Lost Generation would be collecting their lost (misspent) Social Security benefits.

And I’m afraid it’s happening again with more and more young (early 20-somethings) unable to find gainful employment in agencies and corporations  which if hiring today in a post-recession era do so more deliberately and slowly than ever before.

So what are we to do to fill this gap of missing experience, wisdom and competencies that often come with 10-15 years of work/life experience? 

At Northlich we’re raising our own. That’s right, we’re doing a better job of taking the incredibly bright 20-somethings we have right now and pushing, challenging, exposing and trusting that they can more quickly than ever step up and out into the bright spotlight. We do it every day with professional training, ever-growing assignments, more client-facing opportunities and added responsibilities for strengthening relationships and growing business. It’s our only choice … our best choice … and our best hope for success.

 So I guess the “Lost Generation” isn’t really lost after all. We just had to wait for them to graduate.  

 Apply to get hired at Northlich: 

 http://www.jobpath.com/csh/search.aspx?csh=CSH_Northlich&pubjobs=true&privjobs=true&int=false&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=745660238cba463d803337069508fcbb-335970883-R4-4

posted by northlich press August 26, 2010 in blog, northlichin', villages