Breaking the Misconception for Millenials and Gen Z

During my first trip with NMC, I got to visit Portland, Oregon. I was lucky enough to have had the privilege to join an amazing group of peers and meet several great companies within a vast span of professions.

Companies we visited:

Intel Corporation
Partners in Diversity - A nonprofit organization
The Oregonian - Daily newspaper
Portland Coffee Roasters
Tillamook Company - Dairy co-op
Portland Patrol, Inc.
Brooks Winery
Travel Portland
Sport Portland

I learned a great deal about my fellow NMC members as well as information about companies I wasn’t familiar with. The experience allowed me to learn a lot about not only myself but many other cultures as well. At first, I was very skeptical about going on this trip because I wasn’t sure what to expect from it. I really stepped out of my comfort zone and I am glad I did. All the NMC members were very welcoming and inspiring. They all had different stories and backgrounds that they were open enough to share with me. Also, I had the chance to work with different members each time we visited a new company.

One thing I saw in common with every executive meeting within the companies is that they allowed us to speak freely and actually listened to what each of us had to say. A lot of people have misconceptions about Millennials and Gen Z’ers. I’ve heard it all; we feel entitled, we change jobs a lot, due to our excessive use of technology it has made them less personable and horrible communicators, and we don’t know the meaning of hard work. However, on this trip, we were able to bust each and every one of those misconceptions about us. Our generation isn’t solely represented by our stereotypes. We are all hard working and ambitious human beings. We would love new and daring opportunities if we were actually given the chance. I am so glad we were able to change the minds of many important executives on how they perceive Millennials and Gen Z’ers.