Have you been thinking about your current internship and the only thing you are sure about is that you are looking forward to doing something else for a living?
We often read or hear older generations complain about young people lacking a can-do attitude when work is involved.
This phenomenon is not new, quite the opposite! Like me, you would be surprised to discover that the so-called generational blame dates back to Greek philosopher Socrates’ times, which is something like 2,000 years of generational complaints!
While this feeling of lack of understanding from older people can sometimes influence us leading us to second thoughts on our life and career choices, something is starting to change in this regard, and, personally, what I see is a lot of attention being paid by media (including social media) to the topic of new generations defining a new work ethic.
Why is this going on? One of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has been that of highlighting the importance of talking about mental health and taking care of it.
While as young people we certainly have a lot to look up to our parents, what they were probably not able to experience when they were young was choosing a job that reflected their values in terms of work-life balance and attention to the employee, as well as mental health.
As we said, the focus on mental health in the workplace is something pretty recent, so—in this sense—we should consider ourselves lucky as, by hearing and reading about this important topic, we can be more prepared when making our career choices, to recognize a workplace aligned to our values and work ethics.

The realization moment
While, as a student, I was convinced that I was all set with knowing what I would have liked to do for a living and the reasons that would drive those choices, little did I know then about values in terms of the workplace.
Indeed, during my studies up until my Master’s, I had my first volunteering and work experiences though no particular expectations since I knew I would “still have time to find that perfect job once I would graduate”.
It was just after graduating and leaving for my first work experience abroad as a graduate teacher that I realized that “Omg, there are other challenges in the workplace I had not considered!” and—I must be honest—in the first moment I felt rather helpless.
While this misalignment with my expectations as a student was initially hard to face, I now look back at my professional path as a step-by-step learning process leading me—finally—to a good understanding of what is essential for me as a young professional.
I would have never thought, though, that what would be important for me in the workplace would actually reflect me on a personal level. But let me give you some specific examples to make it clearer.
What I learned step by step
- The work environment
Let me ask you two questions: which type of people do you like to surround yourself with and which are your vibes? While you must think I am going totally out of topic, believe me, it is important to ask yourself these questions to understand if a workplace could be your good fit! Being in the international relations field, I have crossed pretty different work environments, finally realizing that in workplaces that are too formal, I feel like I cannot bring my true self to the office of a constant need to maintain this formality (e.g. in the way I behave with colleagues, in my choice of what to wear, etc…). This is because, personally, what I like the most about myself is my sociable side which includes good laughs with colleagues in a coffee break! But this is, of course, on a case-by-case basis and your personality might be completely different from mine! - Work-life balance
While it could seem rewarding to have a lot to do at work, especially if you are doing the job you actually studied for, let me tell you: be careful, because—if it goes out of hand—you could reach burnout! Luckily, this was not my case, but I reached a point in which I felt that I needed some mental break from the day-to-day routine and that was, for me, the sign that something was not right in that job! How did it happen? Well, I had just moved to a new city and, while excited about it, I simply didn’t want to miss out on any opportunity in my field. Of course, we are all different so some of you might also like to feel the “thrill” of having full, productive days and the more, the better! But in my case, after having passed through that super busy period, I realized that working every day on tasks that I enjoy is motivating enough for me, and, for the rest of my day, I want to fill it with cozy dinners, energizing workout sessions, reading and catching up with friends and family! In other words, I take the motto “Work to live, don’t live to work” pretty seriously. - Flexibility
Similarly to the work-life balance, it is becoming increasingly evident that many young people now tend to prioritize jobs that provide flexibility over a good salary. Of course, we also don’t like the feeling of being underpaid for our skills (see next point), but if there are two jobs in the same field but one of the two has a flexible working policy, the majority of us would probably choose that one even if the salary is a little worse. But what do I mean by flexible conditions? Well, flexible working does not necessarily entail working as a digital nomad. In fact, I had just one completely remote work experience and I must say that, as a sociable person, it did not fit me! What I realized is that the flexibility I care about in the workplace has to do, first of all, with hours. In the same fully remote work experience I was supposed to report on all my tasks and the times I performed them and it was then that I realized that there are jobs in which hours have to be strictly respected. While, once again, this kind of work arrangement could fit you—if you are a pretty organized person who prefers to have a fixed daily routine of tasks—personally, it made me pretty nervous to know that, if I was late one day, I would have to report it to someone. One of the most important aspects for me is rather that of having a good working rhythm with my team since we all need to work together to reach common goals. Another type of flexible condition I deeply appreciate is hybrid working. As I mentioned, working completely remotely kind of “kills” my sociable side, but there is a solution to this: working just partly remotely and spending the rest of the office hours in the office with my team. Of course, this depends a lot on your team as—also in this case—it is good to be aligned especially for in-person events but, once you have your work agenda with you, with hybrid work you can adapt your working rhythm to how you are feeling that day (more like being from home, for example?) or to your other commitments (you might need to go to get your dog at the vet’s, for example!). - Don’t fear but embrace the “money talk” Another distinguishing aspect of our generation is that we have heard too many times about underpaid—or even free—internships in a way that has become a harsh reality! It shouldn’t, then, be surprising that—even though we care about flexibility in the workplace—once we find a job that seems good for us and we do not know the salary offered for it, this rings a bell and we are eager to know whether we should consider it a red flag or not. This is why, from initially fearing to ask for more details about the salary, I recently learned that not only is it “normal” to talk about it during a job interview, but I also realized that it is super important for us, young people, to stand up for obtaining the reward we deserve for our knowledge and skills! But as we said, a career is not only about money, especially if you are a young professional nowadays! So, if you are feeling a bit shy about immediately going into the “money talk”, there are other aspects to focus on, such as does the job entails initial training or onboarding. Will you be given a tutor for your initial period? Will future colleagues help you in the accommodation search (in case you need to move) and will the company pay for your commuting? Remember that, even if you start as a trainee, you are a valuable resource for your company!

One final tip
While it can be hard to face the career discourse with people from our parent’s generation—especially when we are not happy with our job—there are always specific reasons for which we do not feel aligned with it and challenging experiences enable us to understand them better!
What distinguishes our generation is that we are well aware of our values, which drive us also in our career choices so, even if we might not feel at ease when chatting about this with other generations, it is totally normal that we want to have a job where we can feel at ease.
So my final tip for you is this: if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are not at all satisfied with your job, take into consideration a career change. But don’t forget to take some time between one job and the other to reflect on what you are looking for in terms of added values in the workplace.