So, I'm reading a book called "Slackonomics" which lists a lot of observations about "Generation X". There's an entire chapter dedicated to the fact that many young adults, throughout the late '80s to the present, have declared themselves "not the 'Corporate America' type".
I find this amusing because almost EVERY FRIEND I have has declared him or herself as such! I have quite a few friends who have gone back to grad school to get out of Corporate America and into the school system or some other 'non-corporate' field of work. Aside from them, I have a lot of friends who are working corporate jobs and feel 'misplaced'.
Here is my question - is anyone out there 'the Corporate America' type? Or, more simply, does anyone consider him or herself 'Corporate America material'? Also, realistically speaking, there are however many corporate careers and there are only so many non-corporate jobs out there - someone's going to need to do the corporate jobs and some of the 'non-corporate' people are going to be out of work (or forced into Corporate America, which some people might say is what is happening now).
Also, what, exactly, do these people define Corporate America as? Is it every job outside of self-employment, the arts or the educational system? Is it really the nature of corporate jobs, or is it just some stigma associated with them (being stuck in a cubicle dead-end job under florescent lighting doing the same monotonous tasks without any creativity)?
Another point the author brought up was back in the late '80s and early '90s, people did things that went against the mainstream and called it 'alternative'. Soon alternative became the norm. Will Corporate America become the alternative career choice? (and possibly become more appealing in the process?) What are your thoughts?
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4 comments:
In most cases,I think that not being a corporate type is an excuse for working in a menial job or holding out for your big break. While I don't like the cubicle life, I do still have a real job that pays well and requires me to show up every day at 7:15 and has strict evaluation standards. I think those non corporate people say they're non corporate to feel better about the fact that they're just drifting along with no real prospects.
Aside from that, I can tell you that Jim is a corporate type. Not in the soul-less cubicle sense, but in the sense that he wants to work his way up the business ladder and eventually become the CFO of a company. And he wants an MBA. His old roommate is also a corporate type-investment banker with a law degree/MBA who works 80 hours a week.
But anyway, we aren't Generation X. We're Generation Y, which means that we are more motivated than those 'alternative slackers.' And we like the internet!
true confessions- i'm corporate.
..and i love business dress.
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