Lolly, if you haven't noticed, your generation is getting a lot of bad press for being the most spoiled, whiny bunch of high-maintenance brats to ever enter the workforce. Then again, these cracks are often made and written by baby boomers, so you can say it takes one to know one.
Every young employee feels like he or she doesn't get enough feedback, and that his or her brilliant ideas keep getting shoved into the memory hole. My first piece of advice (as a sterotypically cynical Gen-Xer) is get over yourself. No manager is going to respond if he or she thinks the employee (young or not) in question is a whiny pain-in-the-ass and clearly more interested in himself or herself than the interest of the publication. It annoys me if a reporter tells me my job is to help make him or her better. No, it isn't. My job is to put out the best publication possible, and my interest in your improvement rests on that.
Also, if you're presenting your innovative ideas like your new and exciting stuff is the most brilliant thing ever developed and is going to throw aside what those old farts do, prepare for the old farts to kick you out the door. Equal and opposite reaction, you know. Before you present an idea (and, by god, don't kiss yourself to say it's innovative), ask yourself -- has my publication tried this before? If not, why not? If it did, what happened? What are the resources required to make this idea work? Is this an idea readers will respond to?
Even the fartiest old farts, such as the direction I'm heading, are willing to help someone out who is sincere and thinking of the good of the publication. If it's somebody who acts like they need special treatment or is doing this with one foot out the door, for better or worse, it ain't happenin'. Remember, the love you take is equal to the love you make. (Old fart Beatles reference -- your bosses will love that!)
