The May 11, 2008 edition of the Gainesville Sun newspaper had a great article on the millennial generation.  The excerpts are as follows:

An employer, thought, who is this person trying to tell me how to run my business…Eloisa Valdez, 28, was just being herself: Confident, articulate, and technologically saavy.  Her ideas were good, like creating an online job application.  This millennial generation has the potential to create lasting change in the workplace because of the way they live, communicate, and view their jobs.  Cathy Frost said that managing millennials can be challenging.  I had to be open to change and accept criticism of the system we had created.  I also had to look at technology a bit different; it really forced me to see it through her eyes.  A recent study by JWT, a New York based advertising agency, found that millennials, compared with other generations, place a higher value on work-life balance, expect their employees to adapt to them, and are more likely to rank fun and stimulation as one of their top five ideal job requirements.  Millennials aren’t the type to run out of the office when the clock strikes 5 p.m.  They are equipped through technology to be on all the time.  They can be checking their e-mail and responding to someone in Shanghai as soon as they get up in the morning.  As a result, millennials demand work schedules that provide flexibility.  Trish Moratto, 23, says she doesn’t mind giving her clients access to her personal cell phone and having them call her during her off hours.  At the same time, she appreciates that her boss doesn’t ask her where she is every minute of the day.  The work is always done and the clients are always happy, and that is what is important.  Millennials also like lots of positive strokes, are chronic multitaskers, and can be outspoken to a fault, experts say.  Much of their behavior has been shaped by their upbringing.  Many have had computers in their homes while growing up and are highly skilled at using technology.  They enjoy sharing their thoughts on personal web sites, listservs, or blogs. Millennials also don’t always know when to keep their opinions to themselves.  They have a Wikipedia-like knowledge and can easily put forth their ideas, even debate their superiors.  But, they also don’t know when to step back a little bit and listen and learn from the experience of their elders.  As children, millennials grew up during fairly robust economic times, rode in cars with “Baby on Board” signs and believed they were always winners.  It didn’t seem to matter if your Little League team came in ninth place, you still got a trophy.  As adults, millennials are wanting that same type of recognition in the workplace.

We can learn a lot from this in the church-place!  Plenty of good application to consider: This is a good person to have in your office, on your staff, and can get the job done as a volunteer in your church.  They like high-impact life everywhere they go. Is it any wonder that we must create environments that get their attention long enough for the Holy Spirit to move in and capture their hearts?  Otherwise, they’ll never be back to the local church!