People born in the 80s and 90s have vague ideas about careers and jobs. They tend to give advice that is outdated and poor. A user asked the forum, “What’s the worst career advice you have gotten from a boomer?”
Here are the common responses.
STAY WITH A COMPANY FOR MORE THAN 2 YEARS
“They say, ‘I don’t understand why you change jobs so much. You need to stay with a company for more than two years to get a big raise’ or ‘ just change jobs every two years.'”
DON’T CALL IN SICK
“My boomer father said, ‘If you call in sick, you will get fired.'”
IT WORKED FOR ME
“Making $7.25/hr and can’t afford $2000/mo in rent? Work harder. It worked for me back in 1970.”
DON’T JOIN UNION JOBS
“All the boomers in my life told me, ‘Union bad, don’t join.’ Meanwhile, the union apprenticeship I joined was paid for. Then, the union wages are double or greater before even factoring in the free healthcare and retirement. I moved on from construction, but I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the multitude of boomers that told me not to join them.”
CLASSICAL ART IS WASTE OF TIME
“I told my mom I wanted to take a class on classical art, and I got yelled at that archeologists have already dug everything up and that class would be a complete waste of time.”
ANNOY THEM UNTIL YOU GET HIRED
“My boomer mom forced me to call back daily and ‘annoy’ (literally her exact word) everywhere I applied for a job until they hired me. Sometimes, multiple times a day. She sat beside me while I called them because I refused to go there physically and demanded to talk to a manager for an interview.
Eventually, they almost all told me to stop calling, and one threatened to either file harassment charges or send a cease. Every single one blackballed me because no one thinks that behavior is acceptable. My mom still thinks she’s right.”
WALK IN AND TALK TO THEM
“Mother-in-law didn’t understand that graduating during the recession would make it hard to find a job. Drove me through shady neighborhoods of Chicago, pointing out every odd, shady store we saw and kept saying there’s a job, there’s a job, people are working all over here. You just need to walk in and talk to them.”
JOIN A FACTORY JOB
“My wife’s old uncle gave us some great advice. We were struggling to find jobs in accounting after we graduated in 2010. One day at a party, he went off about how we should get factory jobs in town. They’re good jobs that pay well and have great benefits.
Completely ignoring that that’s not the case anymore, and I wouldn’t even know where to look for a factory to apply to; why would I spend nearly six figures on a degree and then waste away my life making widgets?”
SEND YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY
“Someone told me to send my photographs to National Geographic, and they would hire me. I’m not a nature or landscape photographer, I never finished my photojournalism degree, and National Geography doesn’t accept unsolicited submissions, let alone printed ones.”
DON’T MAKE FRIENDS
“Keep your head down, don’t make friends, work hard, and you’ll be fine. No. People promote their friends and people they like. Also, doing anything ever is grounds for covert retaliation.”
YOU WON’T BE ANYTHING WITHOUT A DEGREE
“My parents are pushing me to get a degree. Telling me I wouldn’t be anything without it. I wish I had done a trade or not even gone. I racked up a ton of debt to show boomers how to convert a Portable Document Format (PDF) to Word and tell them, ‘No, Slack was, in fact, not broken. You have to open it up every morning when you turn your computer on just like everything else.'”
ACCEPT LESS PAY THAN YOU DESERVE
“My dad criticized me when I told him I was in the process of negotiating for a higher salary after receiving a low-ball offer. He told me, ‘Companies appreciate when you accept less than you deserve, and they’ll reward you in the future.’
He tried to convince me to call Human Resources and accept the original offer. They ended up raising the offer by 10% two days later. All I did was ask. No one in management is resentful as far as I can tell.”
NO DECENT JOB INVOLVES USE OF COMPUTER
“I was told no serious job that pays a decent amount would ever involve using a computer.”
SKIP COLLEGE
“Boomer eye doctor told a student that she should skip college and become a dental assistant. He said she was stunning and could marry a dentist. She said why not be the dentist? He said medical school is costly. She said oh, do you regret your career? Do you wish you would have married a dentist instead?”
ELECTRIC CARS CAUSE CANCER
“Electric cars cause cancer due to the battery being placed under the car. That’s the advice I got from my boomer parents on electric cars.”
DO MORE THAN WHAT YOU ARE PAID FOR
“Do more than what you’re told/paid for. You’ll get noticed. But the truth is you’re never rewarded with more pay. Only more work.”
WORK FOR FREE
“Work for a concrete construction company for free; in exchange, they ‘might’ teach me something after a few years. (I had no desire to work in that industry). But “working for free” has come up a lot.”
More From Mrs Daaku Studio
13 Things Are Scientifically Proven, But People Still Don’t Believe Them. Do You Believe Them? Read about it here.
15 Red Flags That Someone Is Stupid. Are You?
Certain traits can give us clues about a person’s intelligence. For example, people who are curious and eager to learn new things are often more intelligent than those who are content with the status quo. People who are good at solving problems and thinking critically are also typically more intelligent. Read the signs of stupidity.
21 Things You’re Saying That Make People Dislike You Instantly. Guilty of Any?
There are many things that you can say or do that makes someone dislike you. Read – 21 Things You’re Saying That Make People Dislike You Instantly. Guilty of Any?
17 Curse-Free Words That Will Still Get Your Point Across. Do You Use Any?
Want to curse someone but not use the harsh words? Read 17 Curse-Free Words That Will Still Get Your Point Across. Do You Use Any?
20 Jobs That You Should Never Do, No Matter How Much They Pay. They’re Evil.
Not all jobs are great, check this out. 20 Jobs That You Should Never Do, No Matter How Much They Pay. They’re Evil.
This article was originally published on Mrs Daaku Studio.