Us millennials get a lot of stick for the way we choose to live our lives - you should have seen the reaction I got from some people when I explained that I was leaving my stable, well paying job in Gibraltar to go travel and spend a year living in Australia. The thing is our generation thinks differently. we no longer feel like we have to take the first job that comes our way straight out of school/university and stay there until retirement so we get a good pension and can afford a mortgage and house. I think nowadays there is more importance on our mental health and pursuing careers that make us happy and fulfilled, instead of chasing higher salaries. In a perfect world, I'd love to open a cafe/book shop where I could also sit in a corner and write away. So what do us millennials look for when choosing jobs?
Office environment
Interestingly, a study by Free Office Finder has shown that a third of employees put more focus on the office environment than their salary and benefits. When I worked for a gaming company (and like most are) the office just consisted of a big open space and rows and rows of desks and computers. It was almost as miserable as those little cubicles you see in American movies. Luckily in my last job, we were at the top floor of the World Trade Center and had large glass windows and was nice and airy. Some companies have even gone as far as to add pool tables and gaming rooms to their offices (not for everyone I guess).
Location
The great thing about living in Gibraltar is that I would literally wake up for work at 8:15am to be out the door by 8:45am, grab my coffee from Costa and be in the office by 9am. I'm currently working as an Au Pair in Australia and my commute to work has got even shorter, change out of my pyjamas and walk up the stairs. I don't think I could go back to living in London and having to wake up at 6am to go commute an hour each way in a jam packed tube.
Team environment
Most of us spend 8 hours a day working with the same people, so if there's a cold environment in the office it's going to make going to work dreadful. Companies that encourage things like team building events, open plan offices and have a manager who isn't tucked away 1000 miles from everyone else usually have a more connected and in turn, more productive and motivated staff.
Flexibility
9-5 jobs are not for everyone, which is why a lot of people are now choosing jobs that they can do from their laptops or freelancing. As long as you're not working in customer service, some flexibility should be allowed as long as you're getting your work done. When I worked in London we had the choice of working 11am - 6pm, which meant we missed the morning rush and also qualified for off-peak train journeys.
Benefits
Who doesn't love cupcakes on their birthday? Funnily enough the study only found that 9% of millennials looked at benefits when picking a job, whereas '19% of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Z' did. In my last place of employment we got free smoothies and office yoga on Thursdays and monthly team lunches - and not going to lie that made going into the office exciting. I think another thing to note is that we're not necessarily looking for costly benefits, sure a bonus is great and being rewarded for hard work. But instead things like extra holiday allowance or social activities seem more attractive.
What things do you look for when looking for a job?
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