Millennials Cope with Job Loss: Innovation and a Walk on the Bright Side

“Being laid off isn’t necessarily a negative thing. It’s an opportunity to find something that’ll inspire you and make you happy in the long run.”

–Chris Hutchins
Creator of LaidOffCamp

Unless you live under a rock–on Mars–you’ve heard about the crushing unemployment rate. There has been a good deal of speculation as to what effect this will have on the Millennials.

Will they be able to stay in school?

Will they stop spending their money? (But aren’t grad school, college, and high school students broke? Define broke.)

Will they lose their jobs?

I’ve seen examples of yes and no answers to all three of those questions. Regardless of the example, however, the result has always been the same: Millennials being innovative and looking on the bright side. There are some lessons to be learned from watching Millennials cope with job loss.

LAID OFF CAMP

This morning I read an article called Generation Y Goes To Camp For Bay Area Job Search. The article outlines how Chris Hutchins, a recently laid off Millennial who did NOT head for the unemployment line, created something called LaidOffCamp. It’s a new spin on the traditional job fair. It’s being held March 3rd 2009 at (are you ready for this?) the Temple nightclub in San Fransisco. This is a job fair on Red Bull.

I can hear some people snickering. But, according to the article, excitement about LaidOffCamp is spreading rapidly via Twitter, wikis, blogs, and Facebook. More than 3000 people have visited the website and 300 have registered to attend. This is cool. Instead of moping and crying “woe is me”, make something happen.

Be innovative. Take a walk on the bright side. Problem solved. Could it all be so simple?

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS

Two young ladies (sisters, Aisha and Juanna) in the Achievers program at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta–where I teach soft skills and chair the Steering Committee–called me the week before last during school hours.

“What are y’all doing out of school?”

“We only had a half day so, we’re out looking for jobs.”

“I thought y’all were working at the hospital.”

“We were but we got laid off.”

“Aw, man…sorry to hear that.”

“That’s cool, Mr. Duncan. It was time to move on anyway. Now we can find a job making more money and doing something we actually like.”

Huh?!

Can you imagine a GenX’er or a Boomer saying something like that? (I know…bills…responsibilities…family, right? Hold that thought. We’ll come back to it in a second.)

That’s pretty much the mindset of millennials everywhere. And that’s why I love’em. Be innovative. Take a walk on the bright side. Problem solved. Could it all be so simple?

INNOVATION AND THE BRIGHT SIDE

Bills.

Responsibilities.

Family.

Three immovable objects in life. Everybody, including the Mega-Millennials™, has them in some shape, form, or fashion. If you’re not careful, they will kill your innovation and darken any bright side.

This isn’t about the over-used phrases, “be creative” and “think positive”. This is about getting better…constant elevation…making a way out of no way. Here are some lessons to be learned from Chris Hutchins, Aisha, and Juanna:

1. Constantly ask yourself, “How can this situation make me better?”
2. DO what you CAN do and stop focusing on what you can’t do. (That’s worth millions.)
3. Put a new twist on something old. (Man, are we having this for dinner again?!)

Be innovative. Take a walk on the bright side. Problem solved.

Million Dollar Question:
Could it all be so simple?

Yes. Not all of the time, but probably a lot more often than most people think.