Got a good point, Supe....I kind of believe that NOBODY should be allowed to even apply to any college until they have a good 2 years of real-world work under their belts after high school. I also believe that employers should - and many do - assist their employees in obtaining more knowledge through higher education (or trades training) in order to make them more valuable employees, so it's a win - win. Right now workers in general are cheap, but good workers you want to keep are never too costly no matter what you provide to keep them on board.

Zak no doubt wants to be one. I should have said "mouth shut" along with "eyes and ears open" but he's got that message by now. More unsolicited advice: arrange to have the steamer prep day off so you can volunteer to help do it at no cost to your employer. The front office will remember it and so will the steam crew.

dave

Just reviewing a tech journal for work, Industrial Maintenance and Plant Operation, and found a field report on the advent of Gen Y into the work force, and the cultural changes invovled in hiring and integrating them into old school organizations. I'd link to it but www.impomag is DEAD SLOW tonight............following is highlights:

Anyhow, short version is Gen Y wants instant gratification, is not intuitive about recognition of cause and effect, and has a lot of information technology ability. Positives include complete unconcern about race, creed, orientations of any kind between workers; belief from day one of equality among all levels of the work force, with open communication both ways as a given; unprecidented ability to think outside the box. Negatives include lack of basic manual skills apart form those used in computers; disconnection from locations and the clock; a belief system not including company loyalty.

To hire Gen Y, understand lifestyle is more important than money or work - rewards structuerd towards that life flexibility will help position you as an "employer of choice" when they seek a place to work. Retaining them takes a commitment to flexibility that challenges existing traditional models.

So, guys like Zak are going to be rarer........if this writer is correct.

dave

To add to comments above by Superheater and Dave, when I was running shortline railroads, I made it a point to hire on college students for summer track labor. I had a few guys who came back every summer, since they liked the 4-day work week. One of them, who went on to become a successful ophthalmologist, recently told me that whenever he was tempted to slack off during his studies, he would think about the hard and dirty work he did as a track laborer. No additional impetus was needed to crack the books!

On the other side of the story, I was encouraged to hire a youth who had been a standout football player at a local high school. At noon on his first day, I spotted him shuffling along the road, a mile or more from the work site. When I stopped and asked him where he was going, he replied, "I've had all the railroading I can stand for one lifetime." He never even collected the pay for his four hours on the job! Turned out his college career was short, too -- he flunked out in his freshman year. I think he works at Wal-Mart now.

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Unfortunately (at least in my state) if you don't go to college immediately after high school you lose just about all your financial aid. And it will take more than 2 years in a lousy job to be able to afford the full-blown tuition.

So I went to college, but after working as a switchman/brakeman/conductor for 3 years, I would have definitely chosen a different major.

As far as company loyalty, I grew up when all the major companies were shutting down and screwing 30 year employees out of their pensions. Loyalty works both ways. I also work for a modern RR - the kind that would rather fire you than look at you. Again, what's this loyalty thing?

The writer in question obviously didn't consider looking at the part of "Gen Y" that is in our armed forces; from what I've seen while I was deployed to Afghanistan, they have far more in common with "guys like Zak" than the author implies. I'd take that article with a block of salt unless there are other articles or reports that support the author's assertions, especially since it sounds (to me, at least) like there may be a bit of stereotyping or bias in said report (unintentional, I'm sure, but possibly there nonetheless).

Gosh, they sound like a bunch of kids.



Well now they sound like a bunch of Europeans.

But you realize -- this generation is MUCH more guided by ideals and principles than by sheer greed or workaholism. I would argue that it works in the favor of nonprofit charities, quite a lot.