By DAVE SIMANOFF
The Tampa Tribune

Honor thy mother and father. But think twice before honoring their career advice.

Penelope Trunk, the blogger and author we’re interviewing in today’s Tampa Tribune, says parents today often miss the mark when it comes to career advice for recent college graduates and young professionals.

The problem? The parents are baby boomers, and they’re dispensing advice that worked for members of their generation. The advice is passe because their children are members of the Millennial generation, also called Generation Y, which has different expectations about work and success.

The advice also is outdated because the workplace is changing, too, mainly to accommodate the Millennial employees.

“Baby boomers’ kids trust them so much, but their parents are giving advice that’s not going to help them be happy,” Trunk says. “The parents just need a little education about what the new work force entails.”

Here, Trunk shares the five worst pieces of advice that baby boomer parents give their Millennial children - and why the advice isn’t good:

Don’t Job Hop
Job hopping is so commonplace today that even HR departments that pretend to frown upon it won’t actually penalize anyone for it. In fact, job hopping is one of the fastest and most efficient ways Millennial workers build their career networks and learn skills, Trunk says.

“These days, the scariest thing in the world is to be in a job for seven years, then have to look for a job,” she says.

Make Enough Money To Support Yourself
Let junior move back into the house. If you force your kids to support themselves right out of high school or college, you’ll force them into jobs or career fields that may pay well but that they might not enjoy.

Baby boomer parents must realize that, adjusted for inflation, entry-level jobs don’t pay as well as they once did, Trunk says.

In addition, the costs of obtaining an education are much higher than they used to be, health care costs are astronomical, and Millennials have monthly expenses for items that were luxuries, or simply unheard of, when baby boomers were young, such as Internet access and cell phone service.

“If everybody had to support themselves, we’d have a glut of investment bankers,” she says.

Don’t Let There Be Any Gaps On Your Resume
It’s OK to take time off to travel, learn a new skill or do volunteer work. Just make sure your child is prepared to talk about what he or she has learned from these experiences, Trunk says.

“Having big ideas is what’s going to make a career, and the only way to have a big idea is to give yourself space to breathe,” she says. “So it doesn’t matter if you have a gap. It matters how you talk about it.”

Go To Grad School
Many people, including quite a few boomer parents, have unrealistic expectations about MBAs, law degrees, MFAs and PhDs. If you’re confused about your career options, grad school won’t necessarily give you perspective; however, it will provide plenty of bills, Trunk warns.

“You think you get a graduate degree and you’re on a nice, safe path. … But you better know exactly what you’re going to do with that degree afterward,” she says.

Work Hard And You’ll Be Rewarded
Put your nose to the grindstone? “That’s great for history class,” Trunk says. “But the work world is about teamwork and helping each other and vision; it’s a totally different skill set.”

The Millennial generation is transforming the American workplace, and competition is giving way to collaboration.

“Some people get so uppity about how the workplace is changing, but everyone should be excited to make this shift now,” she says. “It should be exciting to go to a workplace where people are rewarded for kindness.”

Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762 or dsimanoff@tampatrib.com.

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