GenX Women

In a nutshell, they're cheap. Companies go this route because the inexperienced have far less knowledge of what their rights are, what should/should not be asked of them in the workplace, and (generally) fewer outside interests (family, etc.) competing with work for their time (which makes them more likely to acquiesce when asked to work extra hours). In short, they're easier to take advantage of.

My husband works for an architectural and engineering firm. They have only hired 20somethings for a few years other than some very high level roles. The senior leaders don't understand why there are so many errors and omissions on drawings, my husband (50) and his peers keep trying to explain that hiring "kids" is not enough, they need mid level staff, people in their 40s and 50s who have industry experience. Senior staff are wowed by the computer skills of these kids but they have no real world experience and it's creating a huge amount of work for the mid level staff who have to keep cleaning up the messes. The other issue is the young staff do not want to take direction, they think they know it all 5 years into the industry. One of the designers picked a flooring that was discontinued, she had NO idea how to call and check availability before specifying and working with a rep to find an alternate. When my husband explained this she told him she didn't have time, someone else should do it! She is a fresh out of school interior design major, it's HER JOB!

Well, said Jillian! There seems to be a stigma with a lot of seasoned companies that younger, less experienced individuals are not needed or valued. A change in the culture for those companies is needed. Bringing in younger college graduates, can bring forth new and innovative ideas. It is a win for everyone!

I'm not a recruiter but based observations here are some theories: 1) Younger do tend to appear economical. I don't agree with this because a) they may take longer to do things and b) they may not have the experience to foresee expensive errors. I can't be specific, but trust me! 2) There is a perception that a young person who is a new graduate is without baggage and can be trained. This is possible if there is a healthy balance of experienced people to mentor the inexperienced people. I've seen companies with floods of young people with no mentors and it has had different levels of disaster. My opinion is that we need a balance of age, race and gender to be most successful. It's not just a politically correct idea; it will actually make a company money. One day when I'm president of the world it will happen:)