Managing Generation Y

[SF_Express]

In addition to getting the Cokes, I, and the other rooks, routinely were dispatched to the local eateries on Saturday afternoon for the weekly Saturday night heck shift. God I miss those days.

I used to get dinner for EVERYBODY in the sports department on Saturday nights, pretty much every week.

 

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

BBAM and Lolly, take some forking chill pills. It was a joke.

shirt.

The rest of it wasn't though. Get tougher skin.

You might be joking, but there are people out there who wouldn't be.

 

[spaceman]

hey SF, go get me a coffee, will ya?

 

[waterytart]

Lolly, most work is at least somewhat routine, and you don't get backpats for the routine ("Wow, Fred, love how you hung that bumper").

Also, editors are former reporters. The number of people who became reporters because they figured their exceptional people skills would help them with interviews is one (Erin Andrews) and holding.

Do it because you love the work.

 

[SixToe]

And for those who were serious, you probably would have gone to get the coffee 30 or 40 years ago.

Today? No one would ask.

 

[spaceman]

Hey kid, the paste pots are getting low, go refill them, then stop back in composing and sort out last week's bang out of the heck box.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

If I'm an unpaid intern, I get you coffee. If not, you can get off your ass and get it yourself.

 

[nmmetsfan]

This discussion reminds me of what the late, great Mr. Carlin called the pussification of society.

 

[dieditor]

As a Gen Y member who has been fortunate (unfortunate?) enough to be both underling and now manager during my brief six-year career in this biz, I've been on both sides of the fence.

I wholeheartedly agree with whoever said above that a manager's job is to put out the best publication possible, ego stroking be damned. What you're not seeing, Lolly, is what a manager has to put up with every day, especially at a small paper. You think you bust your ass, writing copy, editing, shooting photos, taking calls, maybe doing some layout, etc.? Damn right you do, and you probably are underpaid and underappreciated. But so is everyone else sitting around you, and so is the guy who sits in the editor's office. But he's also got to listen to his publisher bitching him out for going over budget because you had to work OT to get the football game in, or he's got to find a way to cut expenses without losing people, etc.

As this point in this industry, lots of good managers are more concerned with keeping you employed than keeping you feeling "warm and fuzzy."

This sense of entitlement that I see from some members of my own generation bugs the heck out of me. I've hired a couple Gen Y-ers who realize that they have to start from the bottom, pay their dues, cover lousy Little League games during slow periods, and bust their tails covering preps in order to work their way up. But for the three I've hired (both in sports and news), I've interviewed 15 who expect to start with a higher salary than I have, get four weeks vacation immediately, not have to work nights or weekends, and so on.

In short, work hard, people will notice, and you might get the recognition and praise eventually. But right now this business is in survival mode, so be happy you're actually working.

How can someone who wants to be in sports journalism think they're not going to work nights and weekends?

Which is why he's not in sports journalism, at least at my shop. Dude also mentioned that his mom didn't want him to move so far away from home at least 3-4 times.

 

[JakeandElwood]

As a Gen Y member who has been fortunate (unfortunate?) enough to be both underling and now manager during my brief six-year career in this biz, I've been on both sides of the fence.

I wholeheartedly agree with whoever said above that a manager's job is to put out the best publication possible, ego stroking be damned. What you're not seeing, Lolly, is what a manager has to put up with every day, especially at a small paper. You think you bust your ass, writing copy, editing, shooting photos, taking calls, maybe doing some layout, etc.? Damn right you do, and you probably are underpaid and underappreciated. But so is everyone else sitting around you, and so is the guy who sits in the editor's office. But he's also got to listen to his publisher bitching him out for going over budget because you had to work OT to get the football game in, or he's got to find a way to cut expenses without losing people, etc.

As this point in this industry, lots of good managers are more concerned with keeping you employed than keeping you feeling "warm and fuzzy."

This sense of entitlement that I see from some members of my own generation bugs the heck out of me. I've hired a couple Gen Y-ers who realize that they have to start from the bottom, pay their dues, cover lousy Little League games during slow periods, and bust their tails covering preps in order to work their way up. But for the three I've hired (both in sports and news), I've interviewed 15 who expect to start with a higher salary than I have, get four weeks vacation immediately, not have to work nights or weekends, and so on.

In short, work hard, people will notice, and you might get the recognition and praise eventually. But right now this business is in survival mode, so be happy you're actually working.

How can someone who wants to be in sports journalism think they're not going to work nights and weekends?

Which is why he's not in sports journalism, at least at my shop. Dude also mentioned that his mom didn't want him to move so far away from home at least 3-4 times.

Well that's never a good sign.

 

[writing irish]

A boss can offer mentoring. A boss can offer pats on the back. In my journalistic career, I've received plenty of pats on the back and almost no mentoring. I wish it were the other way around. I'd much rather learn something new than be told I'm the most outstanding mediocrity in the organization.