Employees in Their 20s: "Lazy and Unfocused"

Employers are asking job recruiting agencies to shy away from applicants in their twenties, according to an article in Australia's Courier-Mail. And although this news comes from an entirely different hemisphere, I think those Aussies might be on to something.

In terms of employee demographics, most recruiters think of workers in their twenties as part of a larger group—Generation Y. Definitions vary, but most people use "Gen Y" and "Millennial Generation" to refer to people born between 1985 and 2004. Thus, most Gen Y-ers in the market for full-time jobs are currently in their twenties.

Why are employers down on Gen Y? "Lazy and unfocused" pretty much sums it up. Bosses take issue with our work ethics (or lake thereof), not to mention our tendency to waste time checking Facebook and sending text messages.

These are certainly valid complaints—I wouldn't want an employee that wasted undue amounts of time engrossed in the joys of social networking. That being said, I don't like the idea of employers applying this stereotype to all twenty-somethings, thus preventing many an applicant from ever getting their foot inside the door. And some of those people, I'm guessing, know how to leave the Facebooking for after work.

I mean, think about how this news would sound if it involved employers shying away from a particular race, religion, or gender based on a stereotype. We wouldn't consider that acceptable, would we?

But even if twenty-somethings are part of Generation Time-waster, we've got a couple of bragging rights as well. In a companion article, the Courier-Mail identifies us as "highly skilled, well educated, technology-savvy and idea-driven." Not too shabby.

Are you surprised that some employers perceive Gen Y in such a negative light? What do you think about twenty-somethings' workforce capabilities?