I know, I know, I’ve seen the 3,256 infographics on why Millenials are the second coming of Christ, but let’s slow this party down a bit. The Baby Boomers are now steady on their way out of the workforce, the gray wave is finally crashing down on the shores of south Florida and retirement villages are booming!
GenX, my people, are still an easy 15-20 years away from retirement!
Yeah, we all like to believe we’ll be retiring in our late 50s, early 60s, but it’s probably more like late 60s, early 70s if you’re one of the lucky ones! My dad just retired at 70 and after a year he’s ready to go back to work!
GenX will save recruiting because GenX is the last generation who is still willing to work. It’s the one generation still in the workforce that has had to work through more recessions than any other generation. We’ve got some hickeys and some scars, and we don’t lose our shit when someone asks us to take out the trash.
GenX will save recruiting because we aren’t afraid to pick up a phone, and we aren’t afraid to reply to an email, and we can still text, snap, and message our way through anything you can, with the added benefit of knowing all these forms still actually work depending on the audience you’re trying to hire.
GenX will save recruiting because unlike our bright young Millennial and GenZ peers who are up and coming in the workforce, we actually know how to break shit and put it back together. We’ve been told we can’t have stuff and we found out ways to make it happen anyway. We’ve been forced in our careers to be ingenious and do more with less, more than any other generation since our great grand parents.
GenX will save recruiting not because we have more technical skills, but because we have more relationship skills and can talk to real people, in real time, in real scenarios. Face to face. In a group. On a train. On a plane. With a fox. On a box. Yes, we actually like talking to candidates, and not having robots try and do that for us.
The reality we face in about 97% of organizations is that a millennial isn’t going to be tapped for the top leadership jobs. Unfortunately, for most younger workers in their career right now, they came up in the ranks during the great recession, which meant they got almost zero leadership development. GenX, who were already in those roles, got development through fire, and that kind of development is more valued when boards of directors filled with old people and CEOs look to fill top roles.
GenX is the one generation in a perfect position to lead, that no one is talking about. Why? Because we don’t need people to talk about us, we already know we’re good.
GenX will save recruiting because quite frankly, we’re the ones in the best position to save it.
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