“Young and Bold versus Experienced and Old”

Employers have different approaches in promoting employees to fill in certain positions. Skill, potential, and personality might make it on the list of who is going to make it on top. Controversial component include connections and relations with people in the higher echelon and of course seniority. There seems to be an unwritten rule of “first in, first to elevate”. However, these days, millennials are said to be career driven individuals. They are willing to sacrifice so much just so they could see their name on the higher tier of the organization chart. Would their sheer fierce and ambition trump over the experience and knowledge of people older than them? What makes one better over the other?

This may be the obvious choice. An employee’s technical expertise regarding the operation procedures, problem-solving skills, and years of experience are all but required elements befitting any job description. Vital as the traits may seem, there is still a downside to all of these. Older individuals tend to have lack of interest with innovations and updates in the industry. They work best with what they know, but in this era, modernization and improvement have become major game changers. As a result, they may resist change and purely rest on their laurels. Still, the gold in them is their loyalty, and reliability. They may play it safe with their workload, but you can surely depend that at the end of the day, work is done.

Wild, fearless, and power-hungry. These are some of the words to describe young adults in the universe of professionals and workforce. They know what they want, what drives them, and what they want to achieve five or ten years from now. They have a clear picture of what they want to become. Yet their experience hinders them from claiming what they think they deserve. Young professionals can offer the craziest yet plausible solution to a company problem, but the seniors would see it as a reckless decision since it goes against their principles and ideals. Young professionals crave achievement and praise which make them work hard and pour their hearts out as they perform each and every task assigned to them.

In matters of hiring and promoting employees, one should not underestimate the value presented simply by age and years in service. Both generations offer plenty of advantages and disadvantages. Nevertheless, the doors of opportunity should not be closed to the younger generations because of seniority. A company should have confidence in their fledglings and these fledglings should not disappoint their superiors. They still have plenty to learn and they have the biggest room in the world – the room for improvement.