Cribb agrees that Gen Y values stability and job security less than her generation right now, but wonders whether our attitudes might change as we mature. "Will they have the same attitudes? Those guys are 20, 25 now; when they are 30 to 35 they might say: 'I'm not moving any more.' But that's just speculation," Cribb says, although she concedes that even now she changes careers more frequently than most of her Baby Boomer peers.
Of course there are advantages to moving on frequently over the course of a career. For instance, Ben Carmichael, application administrator for Monash University, notes that working in the same position or for the same company limits your potential skill set. "Basically you just don't expand your knowledge of organizations as much as you can if you stay in one spot," Carmichael says.
That said, a willingness to move on is not a universal trait among our generation. According to Daniel Viney, a business systems analyst for the University of Sunshine Coast (USC), there are also disadvantages to changing jobs frequently. "It would be hard to learn the culture of an organization and give yourself the best chance to identify business rules and processes to improve-or-remove if you're jumping around jobs frequently," says Viney, who has no plans to change employers in the near future. "It's important to hold down the same job long enough to actually gain knowledge and experience from it and also to be able to provide some form of positive 'return' for the business."
Nevertheless, there is a fundamental difference in the attitudes of our generation about employer loyalty and job fluidity. But despite our willingness to move on and our eagerness to move up, few of us have any specific occupational goals. Of course, this could just be due to our youth and the fact that our fledgling careers are just beginning.
However, there are factors that will make Gen Y employees more likely to stay.
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