#HustleEveryday: What do millennials work for?

Bea Cupin

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#HustleEveryday: What do millennials work for?
Here’s what you – our readers – have to say about the working millennial

Almost everyone has experienced this: it’s either the middle of the night or bright and early in the morning. You’re tired with nary a trace of sleep, and you have a million and more things to do. Welcome to the middle of your career.

And with your nth sip of coffee (or tea) in the past 24 hours, you wonder: Why am I even doing this?

If you haven’t gone through this, consider yourself lucky – the occasional metaphysical crisis, after all, is an essential part of being a young professional who just happens to be a millennial (or an older Gen X-er).

Before we launched Hustle, our new space devoted to working and living smart, we ran a quick survey on jobs and millennials.

It showed that career is one of the things that worries them the most – with nearly 30% of respondents saying it was among their top worries.

Curiously enough, more younger millennials considered their careers as a top source of worry. The older set (those in their late 20s to early 30s) worries more about “security, peace, and order.”

Who is the hustling millennial?

Here’s a quick snapshot of the other things we learned about you, our millennial readers, from this quick (and pretty informal) survey:

Salary is a top consideration when looking for work. Coming in at a rather close second? The mythical work-life balance (does that even still exist nowadays?).

Career growth is a fairly close 3rd while pursuing passions, impact on society, and travel opportunities are at the tail-end of their concerns.

Now that we’ve worked really hard, where does our hard-earned money go? It mostly goes to food (and who can blame us, right?).

Here’s where younger and older millennials differ: while younger millennials prioritize experience (travel, concerts, the like) after food, older millennials think their money should be spend more on rent or housing. A sign of #adulting, perhaps?

The two subgroups seem to agree on one thing: they consider themselves “responsible” and “goal-oriented,” when asked to describe themselves.

The word they picked the least? “Entitled.” Of course.

And after a day or week of working hard, comes the stress release. Entertainment in the form of books, movies, or online streaming platforms are the top picks for both millennial groups, with quality time with family and friends a close second. Lagging behind are drinking, shopping, and exercise.

So what does this all mean?

We’re a generation of responsible and goal-oriented professionals who care about their careers, a safe and secure world, financial security and quality of life, Netflix (or read or sine) and chill. We also don’t like being called “entitled.”

In a nutshell – and I say this with all the affection in the world – we want it all. We want satisfying careers that provide for our needs and wants while still letting us enjoy the kind of lifestyle we’ve worked hard for.

And I’d have to agree – of course we want it all, who wouldn’t?

It’s been a running joke in and about media: about how millennials are blamed for the demise or fall of every single thing that’s good in the world. Thankfully, media organizations (including this one, hello!) are smarting up and doing less finger-pointing and more understanding.

This is what Hustle is all about. While we’re here to help you out, we also want to learn from you. After all, guides are ever-evolving and they’re best when they’re derived from real experiences.

Subscribe to the Hustle newsletter and watch this space for more from us. – Rappler.com

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Bea Cupin

Bea is a senior multimedia reporter who covers national politics. She's been a journalist since 2011 and has written about Congress, the national police, and the Liberal Party for Rappler.