Jeneen Hartley Sago is a Program Officer at Family Philanthropy Advisors; a national boutique firm that manages and advises families on their philanthropic giving. She also serves as co-chair of the Minnesota chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy.
Perhaps I shouldn’t comment on this as I am of the Gen-X generation (and the very top end, at that) and according to an article I read about a month ago we Gen-Xers are supposed to be the lost/jealous generation between those traditional Baby Boomers and those nonconformist Gen-Yers. (Who comes up with this stuff?) But comment I will.
I graduated college in 1995 which means Mac computers were square and beige and, like now, jobs were hard to come by upon graduation. I suppose there were those of us who worried about what they were going to do without direct access to entry-level jobs at Target, General Mills or Anderson Consulting, but I recall that many of us didn’t want to be trapped in the employment ways of our parents and were happy (eventually) to be spun out in the abyss of the employment unknown.
I recall an unprecedented number of people in my class joined the Peace Corps, or a stateside or faith-based version of it. Some took low-paying internships at social service agencies or dot-com start-ups. Some continued their schooling and some joined Teach for America. Being denied the traditional routes, we chose journeys that were guided by our passions and therefore ignited our energies and helped us develop a fuller understanding of the world.
Myself, I chose Lutheran Volunteer Corps. I spent my first year out of college working to shape welfare legislation. I attended Congressional hearings on Capitol Hill, met with public advocacy organizations, coordinated advocacy and lobbying efforts and wrote a weekly newsletter for the Coalition on Human Needs – all for about $70 a month (if I remember correctly) to spend on groceries and entertainment (rent was paid by LVC). Entertainment quickly became spending evenings at home talking with my housemates about issues that came up while they worked with the homeless, the hungry and the sick.
During those couple of years out of college I learned so many lessons that I continue to use every day —both real-world and workforce lessons. I believe I learned more about effective communication, technology, operations and about how the world, organizations and people work than I could have anywhere else. Not finding a traditional job after graduating college was the best thing that happened to me, as I learned to work effectively with people, on projects, and in environments I never would have encountered had I been welcomed into the warm and open arms of traditional employment. I am a much better employee and leader now because of it.
So never-fear, Baby-Boomers, I think our companies, agencies, organizations and governments will be okay—if not better—by allowing this latest group of graduates to gather their workforce experience by forging their own unique path through life.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Philanthropy, Professional Development
