2.2. MOBILE MILLENNIALS

Although millennials have high expectations about what their employers should provide them, companies shouldn't expect much loyalty in return. Because of their grand expectations, most millennials have no intention of settling down for long with one employer. They always have one foot out the door, looking ahead to the next big career move. If a job doesn't prove fulfilling, they will forsake it in a flash.

Indeed, many employers say that recruiting millennials isn't their biggest challenge. It's retention that worries them most. After companies invest thousands of dollars in recruiting and training, they shudder to see their young up-and comers suddenly bolt to another employer. "These young people are going to break your heart, so don't get personally invested in them," says Marilyn Moats Kennedy, a consultant on workplace issues. "They know there are other opportunities and don't mind having a series of short-term jobs."

In the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey of corporate recruiters, fully half of the respondents said it is becoming increasingly difficult to retain the transient millennial generation. "They are unwilling to stick out tough situations that take more time to solve than they are willing to give," one recruiter said. "They will job-hop without thinking about the consequences to their careers." Another commented, "This generation is very fickle. They are not necessarily looking for a career relationship with a company."

Millennials want their dream job as early as possible, but entry-level positions are seldom dream jobs. As young people encounter the realities of the workaday world, many are quickly disillusioned and want to continue exploring to get it right. In essence, the millennials operate as free agents who can bounce from one job to the next anytime they choose. They place a premium on self-determination and want to be in charge of their careers. Their aim is to develop as many marketable skills as possible, and they expect companies to help them with their resume-building mission, even though they'll probably jump ship after a few years. In the Michigan State/MonsterTrak study, about two-thirds of the millennials said they would likely "surf" from one job to the next. In addition, about 44% showed their lack of loyalty by stating that they would renege on a job acceptance commitment if a better offer came along.

The disloyalty is understandable. Many millennials have seen family members laid off through corporate downsizings or outsourcing of jobs to other countries. They know job security vanished long ago from the workplace, so they want to be prepared to change career paths throughout their lives. From their perspective, their lack of commitment is simply a survival strategy.

Millennials do feel some degree of loyalty, but it's toward the individuals they work with, not the faceless organizations that pay their salaries. Ultimately, many of them may end up dropping out of corporate life altogether and going the entrepreneurial route. That's what Justin Pfister did. After working in information technology for a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., he became discouraged and left to work full-time on his start-up Open Yard, an online retailer of sports equipment. In his corporate job, he says, "It was very clear that the business roles seemed afraid of the IT people who think creatively and implement their own ideas. I was constantly told my ideas were good, but nothing came of them because the business lacked understanding of the issues, such as mobile phone technology and Web service generation."

Pfister believes that the millennial generation will resist being pigeonholed and having their expectations deflated. "We can sing, dance, and write our own music," he declares. "We get stifled when we're offered single-dimensional jobs. We are multidimensional people living and working in a multidimensional world."

Millennials are quite candid in chatting about their career goals and their desire to move on after gaining some experience at their current employer. Young professionals at several companies freely shared with me their plans to leave within a few years, even though they were being interviewed at their corporate offices. Other generations might have been reluctant to openly discuss their focus on personal goals rather than long-term loyalty to their company. But most millennials have no such qualms.

Two millennial professionals I met at Ernst & Young are content in their jobs for now, but both have bigger dreams that may ultimately mean leaving the accounting firm. Although Lena Licata enjoys her work in the technology and information services practice, she considered quitting after she hit the two-year mark. "Job switching is definitely a characteristic of my generation," she says. "After two years in a job, many of my friends felt they had to move on to another company or go back to school. But I decided to stay put because of the variety of assignments I was getting and the opportunities I had to switch to other groups within the firm to acquire new skills."

Still, Ernst & Young isn't likely to be her final career destination, and Licata doesn't feel the least bit disloyal in acknowledging it. Her career vision: owning her own horse farm. "I would like in a few years to use the firm's flexible work arrangements and my income to put together a farm," she says, "then have a family and run my own business." Even before attending Lehigh University, she flirted with the idea of becoming a riding instructor instead. But, she recalls, "My dad asked me, 'Don't you want to own the barn, not just work in the barn?'"

Devin Duffy, an Ernst & Young colleague who works in the transaction real estate group, also ponders possible future moves. Like many young professionals, he is considering going to business school for an M.B.A. degree, after which real estate opportunity funds could be on the horizon. "What matters most to me now is the breadth of experiences I can have at Ernst & Young," he says. "The exit options are greater if my learning trajectory here doesn't flatten out."

Some of his frustrated friends in the finance and real estate industries have told him they are getting stuck with monotonous tasks a year or two after graduation. But thus far, Duffy still feels as if he is growing and outpacing his peers. He has received top performance ratings, pay raises, and bonuses, and he felt honored to participate in Ernst & Young's global branding strategy initiative and to be profiled in a video on its careers Web site. "I continue to have high expectations for myself and my career wherever it may lead," says the University of Wisconsin graduate.

Of course, few people of any age today expect to spend a lifetime in the same career with the same employer. But millennials are an unusually mobile group. These workplace nomads don't see any stigma in listing three different jobs in a single year on their resumes. They are quite confident about landing yet another new job. In the meantime, they needn't worry about their next paycheck because they have their parents to cushion them. They're comfortable in the knowledge that they can move back home for an indefinite amount of time while they seek another job.

When recruiters question the gaps in their resumes, millennials don't have any reservations about simply saying, "Well, the job just didn't work out," or "I needed a break and wanted to travel." In fact, some millennials view their job switching as an asset. Nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds said they were likely to leave their employers in the next year, and 61% said they believe they increase their career potential by periodically switching jobs, according to a study by the recruiting firm Spherion Corp.

Still, companies understandably are leery of job hoppers whose resumes list three or four different employers within a year or two. They may bring a variety of experience, but such frequent career moves still won't be a selling point with many companies. Corporate recruiters and college career services directors advise millennials to try to be less impatient and impetuous. In due time, the promotions will come, and while they wait, they will be acquiring valuable new skills and experiences. Millennials also might be wise to ask themselves if there really is a better job waiting for them elsewhere.

Such counsel may fall on deaf ears. But recruiters can also consider trying to recapture talented millennials who stray and later regret their hasty departure. "I believe that recapture is more important than retention with this new generation," says Kennedy, the consultant. "Let them go, wait six months, then call and tell them if they don't like what they're doing, they can come back."

Johnson & Johnson believes in following that strategy, too. "Older generations valued staying at a company for 30 years, but I understand that this young generation wants to grow and develop through a variety of experiences," says Kaye Foster-Cheek, vice president for human resources. "If valuable people leave, we will reconnect with them in a few years and try to re-recruit them."