There’s an interesting trend emerging in the future workforce, and I think it presents a real opportunity for the nonprofit sector.
Americans are increasingly fascinated with the Millennial generation (those born between 1981 and 2000), largely because they are the biggest population cohort the U.S. has ever seen. Whatever they do is sure to have a big impact. I’ve been particularly interested in how they might affect how money flows to social change.
But now I wonder how they might impact the social change workforce.
There was a really interesting article recently about how Millennials are ditching traditional careers in favor of more creative, meaningful work:
A growing number of Americans are abandoning traditional jobs for work that is more hands-on and that they deem more meaningful. For some, it is out of necessity…many people, faced with diminishing corporate opportunities, have been forced into thinking like entrepreneurs. For many, it is a choice. Old-school artisanship—like craft brewing and shoemaking and the millinery arts—is on the rise. A nation of hobbyists and fine artists have brought energy and invention to (and made more than a few bucks on) websites like Etsy and Big Cartel. There’s a sprouting up of first-generation farmers. These days, it would not be odd to see a hedge-fund manager throw it all away to become a mushroom grower. Or a Google gearhead to take up textiles. Call it the New American Dream, where uncertainty is being spun into infinite possibilities, and a pathway to unexpected freedom and deep satisfaction feels like our birthright.
Their staggering unemployment, deepening distrust of corporate America, and civic-minded perspective (the most since the Greatest generation), have all combined to make the Millennial generation crave a creative, flexible and meaningful work life.
And that could be a boon to the nonprofit sector.
I wonder if over the next couple of decades, as Millennials take center stage in the workforce, we will witness people increasingly chucking the corporate ladder for something more meaningful and flexible.
Certainly many Millennials have already, and will continue to, flock to the emerging world of social entrepreneurship, which neatly combines their love of the entrepreneurial with their drive for social change, but not all Millennials can or will want to start their own thing. For the rest of them, I wonder if nonprofit organizations might attract their interest.
For so long nonprofits have struggled to attract and retain talent because of less competitive salaries and packages than their corporate counterparts. But perhaps those benefits are increasingly less appealing to the future workforce.
Now, what nonprofits have in spades – entrepreneurial approach, flexibility, social change – could actually become a competitive advantage. What if the nonprofits of the future become the sought after refuge of creative Millennials ready to make social change, not necessarily on their own, but as part of something bigger?
Definitely an interesting trend to watch.
Image Credit: onlinempadegrees.com
Leave a Reply