The Millennial Generation ... When Employers Must Be the Parents

... "Their orientation is so different from Gen Xers, who were the latchkey kids and are self-starters. These kids are fabulous at building teams, but they're challenged by responsibility and accountability."

All true, says Ms. Looney, a certified reality therapist and retired director of children and family ministry at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. And many employers are backing away from hiring them because they're so high maintenance.

"They've been overparented, overindulged and overprotected," she says. "They haven't experienced that much failure, frustration, pain. We were so obsessed with protecting and promoting their self-esteem that they crumble like cookies when they discover the world doesn't revolve around them. They get into the real world and they're shocked.

"You have to be very careful in how you talk to them because they take everything as criticism."

Read the whole story here in The Dallas Morning News. Twenty-seven year olds are the oldest of this generation that has had their self esteem coddled to the point where they feel they deserve a pat on the head simply for showing up for work. I thought it was bad hearing about parents who were calling their children's college teachers to complain about grades. This article talks about parents who call their children's employers to complain about reviews. Heavens to Betsy! I have more to do with my time than follow my kids around and make sure they are "treated right."

Tom and I read this article and both suddenly felt we had a better handle on understanding some of our last hires which never worked out. We needed someone to do the work and learn the subtleties of how graphics and web design worked as our clients needed. We got people who would rather sip coffee and debate the philosophy of one kind of code over another.

Naturally, this is a generalization and not applicable to many people ... I know many people in this age group who are hard workers and don't expect recognition for their mere existence. In some cases, I also know their parents who laughed every time there was a school awards ceremony giving a certificate to kids who hadn't missed a day of school or never got a detention. (Back in the day, we used to call that the bare minimum of what was expected ...)