As stressful as the last few weeks have been to anyone with a pulse and a 401(k), nothing’s been quite so disturbing to me as the inordinate number of times I’ve been asked, “With the economy the way it is now, will Gen Y stop being so demanding?” It may sound innocuous at first, but once you’ve heard the line a few times, it quickly becomes clear that what it really means is, “Now that you don’t have any choice, will you finally stop forcing us to do right by you and just settle like everyone else, for crying out loud?”

Well, thanks, folks. Good to know that, in all this turmoil, the silver lining for some people is the potentially broken Gen Y spirit.

But don’t start celebrating just yet. As a high-profile Los Angeles businesswoman told me last week, what said schadenfreuders don’t realize is that the outcome of the financial crisis may not be a defeated Gen Y, but a more determined one — determined, that is, to follow fulfilling work. “There won’t be any trust in companies,” she said. And the fact of the matter is, without that trust, corporate America becomes even less attractive to standout young employees than it was before the recession hit. The security that a Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch business card used to mean — never mind the cachet that they carried — began to evaporate as even those peers who chose the “stable” path of, say, financial services found themselves jobless. And as the list of the white-collar unemployed grows longer every day, it’s beginning to look like they’re gone for good.

Believe it or not, a paycheck doesn’t necessarily make up for all that. True, it may get a few young candidates in the door. It may even get them to stay a little while. But as today’s far more footloose Yers wait longer for spouses, kids, and mortgages — the trifecta of entrapment for the company men of generations past — they’ll be harder to corner. Every time they get a paycheck, they’ll be wondering if it’s their last. And they will always resent a company that uses that paycheck as a shackle — not to mention as an excuse not to improve the myriad other aspects of worklife — rather than as a reward for a job well done. So much so that the moment something better appears– whether it’s an NGO in Bangladesh, their own small business, or a plain old better job as the economy stabilizes — they will be out like The Flash.

So what’s a company do? (Besides advise managers not to hope for a generation of employees cowed by financial instability, of course.) It’s simple: See this time as an opportunity, not to snare young candidates while they’re down, but to distinguish your organization as one that can shine in difficult times and, as a result, attract and retain the very best employees. Yers are all about partnership, so talk to them about the challenges your company’s facing, and use those challenges to build that stirring startup energy that gets young hearts beating. And even when layoffs are a must, do them humanely, so all your employees can stay and go with dignity (and without saying mean but true things about you on every blog this side of Gawker).

As a Washington utility executive reminded me recently, Shakespeare wrote, “Sweet are the uses of adversity.” We Gen Yers are learning that, I think. Let’s see if the people in charge can, too.

Today, a question from one of you. Gig reader Kurt writes:

“I’ve been thinking about switching jobs and finding something that will provide better benefits and salary for me and my new wife. But I was typing up a new resume and realized that — at 28 — I have five jobs that are one year apiece. How can I spin that in an interview as a positive? Can I just tell the truth and say that I’m not finding what I need, or do you think that might be a kiss of death?”

Well, Kurt, you’re definitely not alone. And while the job hunt is always stressful — no matter who you are and how great your resume might be — don’t let this particular issue keep you up at night. Because if the recruiters I talk to are any indication, your job-hopping isn’t as unusual as you might think. With more and more of us waiting to settle down and choosing “non-traditional” career paths — such as hostel-hopping through Europe or heading back to Mom and Dad’s while we write the great American novel — we’re less and less likely to stay in a bad job just because we need the money or don’t have other options.

Which is why you’ll hear some HR people say that they can’t get young employees to stay. But that’s actually a good thing for you. Because as more qualified, professional candidates come in with resumes that look like yours, those doing the hiring have been forced to focus less on job tenure and more on real skills and relevant experience.

But what does this actually mean? As discussed in a recent post, “Job-hopping Gen Yers aren’t disloyal, they’re smart,” many twentysomethings are simply opting for opportunities over loyalty. That was certainly the case for me: I came to Fortune at the age of 24, and it was already my fourth job out of school. Did that mean that I was a giant flake without any sense of purpose or commitment? Not really. Instead, it played as evidence of my risk-taking nature and willingness to follow the best gigs, managers, and experiences (or so my bosses tell me). And, ultimately, that made me a more attractive hire for companies that were looking for a person with a specific skillset and perspective, rather than someone they could develop all the way to retirement.

To be fair, I should point out that, while HR folks often say that we’re harder to keep than ever, the numbers don’t necessarily bear out our fickleness: In 2006, the median tenure for workers ages 25 to 34 was 2.9 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And more than 20 years ago, in 1983, it was…3 years. Not exactly a dramatic drop. (And the same is generally true of younger workers: For those ages 20 to 24, the median tenure was 1.3 years in 2006, and 1.5 years in 1983.)

While there are economic fluctuations from decade to decade that caused some peaks and valleys, it’s possible that this relatively constant tenure number doesn’t yet capture the changing attitudes of young professionals. And one BLS survey found that the youngest Boomers — those born between 1957 and 1964 — held an average of 10.2 jobs between the ages of 18 and 38, a number that will probably just keep going up. Regardless, the fact is that recruiters definitely think we’re more fickle — and they’re starting to forgive us for it.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we should bounce around just for fun. After all, the postscript to my four-jobs-by-24 story is that I’ve now been at Fortune almost four years. And as Gig reader Dan pointed out in his response to the job-hopping post, “those who stay with the same employer for longer tend to get good at what they do,” among other things.

Of course, there are perfectly good reasons to move on, especially if you find yourself an expert at stapling and copying, but not much else. So, Kurt, if you can demonstrate some logic to your career moves, you’ll be in good shape. And in your case, with a new spouse — and the new priorities that (I hope!) come with that — you’re often even more desirable than you would be otherwise because recruiters know that you’re looking for stability.

So when you head into that next big interview, think about how you can show you’re a high performer who’s both learned and contributed in each job — and it won’t matter much whether you stay for one year or 10. (Though it’s probably a good idea to try to stay at least a year, as it’s kind of hard to argue you made a real mark in a job you had for six months.) I’m all for being honest about your struggles to find the right fit, but be sure to make the interview about how you made the best of each role, not how bad they all were. And since you’ll want to reassure the new company that you won’t be headed out the door fast, come with some examples of what makes their organization such a good one for you.

Think of the interview as a chance to tell your story. For so many of us Yers, that’s what work is — an enormous, seamlessly-integrated part of our personal stories that’s even more central because we often don’t have the things that take precedence over work in older people’s lives, like families. So figure out how to frame your career story in terms of trajectory and lessons and goals, and don’t get hung up on the numbers.

If you believe it, they just might, too.

What about you guys? Are your resumes similar to Kurt’s, or are you through with job-hopping?

In this, the week of all things Green, I’d be remiss if — amidst the talk of CFL bulbs, organic farmers, and the like — I didn’t bring up that other green issue: Gen Yers. (Don’t act so surprised…)

At Fortune’s Brainstorm Green conference in Pasadena earlier this week, there was much high-level discussion amongst high-level executives, researchers, and activists of the problems one might expect — for instance, panels such as “Nuclear Power: A Debate” and “The $1 Trillion Carbon Market.” But what struck me was the way that Gen Yers crept into these green leaders’ conversations.

In “Wall Street and Climate Change,” Lehman Brothers managing director Theodore Roosevelt IV called green one of his best recruiting tools, saying that when Lehman goes to business schools, the younger generation asks what the company’s doing about environmental issues. And in “The Green Consumer: Myth or Reality,” Marc Mathieu, Coca-Cola’s SVP of global brand marketing and creative excellence (i.e. marketing guru), pointed out from the audience that — whatever the back and forth here about how to get consumers who say they’d rather buy green to actually do it — the next generation was going to take ownership of this movement. They’re not going to change when they get older, he said, citing his own teenagers, who are all members of Greenpeace or organizations like it.

To some extent, this is starting to emerge in the research, like this 2007 study, which found that 50% of Gen Y respondents said environmental messaging influenced their shopping behavior. (For the record, I’d like to think that older people would say the same, but the study didn’t go there.) It called to mind a recent conversation with a researcher in this field, who said that, as far as he could tell, the only thing preventing young people from going completely green was their obvious lack of that other kind of green — cash. As Yers’ incomes grew, he thought, we’d begin to see the impact of their green leanings.

Of course, I’m curious to hear what you think. Would you stay at a company that promised it was getting greener, or leave one that wouldn’t? And once you have the money to do it, would you spend on green? Or do you, as Green Consumer panelist Joel Makower of Greener World Media, put it, think this is “just marketing.” (Which, to clarify, is an insult.) I got into a heated “debate” a while back with my 23-year-old sister — otherwise known as my Gen Y guinea pig — around this very question of the mainstreaming of green. While she was glad to hear more people express an interest in the environment, she said she couldn’t help feeling like green was rapidly gaining fad status. And since, to quote Heidi Klum, “In fashion, one day you’re in and the next you’re out,” she felt it might only be a matter of time before the hype died down and we were left just about where we started.

She’s still hoping to see us prove her wrong, but I wonder how many of you out there agree with her. And how many are cautiously more optimistic? And how many more are in the group that Makower brilliantly sketched out for us, people who find no irony in getting in their poorly tuned Escalades with under-inflated tires and turning on their cold engines to drive three miles to buy their favorite recycled toilet paper. He laughs — and hey, it’s funny, because we all know (or are) those people — but one does worry that this last camp of convenience is the one that most of us fall into, when it’s all said and done. (Not unlike the young women in this piece, for whom green is, apparently, a true fashion statement.)

So is it true, guys? Are we a bunch of fair-weather environmentalistas? Or are we, as I’d like to think, really going to make a change here, not just through our own actions, but by our ability to force the companies trying to hire and market to us to get with the green program?

*****

And in other news, if you haven’t already, check out our “Face of the future” gallery, part of this year’s Fortune 500 coverage. It was a labor of love for photographer Mackenzie Stroh and me, amassing images and interviews from more than 50 young people at 11 Fortune 500 companies to get a little insight into what life is really like for them. If you don’t mind paper, the magazine version is worth a look, too, with beautiful photographs and a more in-depth look at 29 of these hard-working — and I hope, high-rising — Yers. And when you’re done, do me a big favor and have an awesome weekend…

In this, the week of all things Green, I’d be remiss if — amidst the talk of CFL bulbs, organic farmers, and the like — I didn’t bring up that other green issue: Gen Yers. (Don’t act so surprised…)

At Fortune’s Brainstorm Green conference in Pasadena earlier this week, there was much high-level discussion amongst high-level executives, researchers, and activists of the problems one might expect — for instance, panels such as “Nuclear Power: A Debate” and “The $1 Trillion Carbon Market.” But what struck me was the way that Gen Yers crept into these green leaders’ conversations.

In “Wall Street and Climate Change,” Lehman Brothers managing director Theodore Roosevelt IV called green one of his best recruiting tools, saying that when Lehman goes to business schools, the younger generation asks what the company’s doing about environmental issues. And in “The Green Consumer: Myth or Reality,” Marc Mathieu, Coca-Cola’s SVP of global brand marketing and creative excellence (i.e. marketing guru), pointed out from the audience that — whatever the back and forth here about how to get consumers who say they’d rather buy green to actually do it — the next generation was going to take ownership of this movement. They’re not going to change when they get older, he said, citing his own teenagers, who are all members of Greenpeace or organizations like it.

To some extent, this is starting to emerge in the research, like this 2007 study, which found that 50% of Gen Y respondents said environmental messaging influenced their shopping behavior. (For the record, I’d like to think that older people would say the same, but the study didn’t go there.) It called to mind a recent conversation with a researcher in this field, who said that, as far as he could tell, the only thing preventing young people from going completely green was their obvious lack of that other kind of green — cash. As Yers’ incomes grew, he thought, we’d begin to see the impact of their green leanings.

Of course, I’m curious to hear what you think. Would you stay at a company that promised it was getting greener, or leave one that wouldn’t? And once you have the money to do it, would you spend on green? Or do you, as Green Consumer panelist Joel Makower of Greener World Media, put it, think this is “just marketing.” (Which, to clarify, is an insult.) I got into a heated “debate” a while back with my 23-year-old sister — otherwise known as my Gen Y guinea pig — around this very question of the mainstreaming of green. While she was glad to hear more people express an interest in the environment, she said she couldn’t help feeling like green was rapidly gaining fad status. And since, to quote Heidi Klum, “In fashion, one day you’re in and the next you’re out,” she felt it might only be a matter of time before the hype died down and we were left just about where we started.

She’s still hoping to see us prove her wrong, but I wonder how many of you out there agree with her. And how many are cautiously more optimistic? And how many more are in the group that Makower brilliantly sketched out for us, people who find no irony in getting in their poorly tuned Escalades with under-inflated tires and turning on their cold engines to drive three miles to buy their favorite recycled toilet paper. He laughs — and hey, it’s funny, because we all know (or are) those people — but one does worry that this last camp of convenience is the one that most of us fall into, when it’s all said and done. (Not unlike the young women in this piece, for whom green is, apparently, a true fashion statement.)

So is it true, guys? Are we a bunch of fair-weather environmentalistas? Or are we, as I’d like to think, really going to make a change here, not just through our own actions, but by our ability to force the companies trying to hire and market to us to get with the green program?

*****

And in other news, if you haven’t already, check out our “Face of the future” gallery, part of this year’s Fortune 500 coverage. It was a labor of love for photographer Mackenzie Stroh and me, amassing images and interviews from more than 50 young people at 11 Fortune 500 companies to get a little insight into what life is really like for them. If you don’t mind paper, the magazine version is worth a look, too, with beautiful photographs and a more in-depth look at 29 of these hard-working — and I hope, high-rising — Yers. And when you’re done, do me a big favor and have an awesome weekend…

Ask most people what they think of tattoos, and you get a pretty good idea of who they are. Impassioned rants abound on both sides of this unlikely hot-button issue, from former soldiers and athletes who wear their body art as badges of honor, to girlfriends and wives who cringe every time their partners expose a bicep, to mothers forced to acknowledge that their own daughters are in fact in possession of the hilariously named “tramp stamp.” (Joke all you want, but that last one so happened on Real Housewives of the O.C.)

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that if you ask a corporate executive what she or he thinks of the tat revolution, you get a pretty good idea of “who” his (or her) company is. A tad reductive, I know, but it’s something that first occurred to me last year, after a conversation with a very senior exec at a television network. He asked me about The Gig, which was launching right around then, and by way of explanation, I said something like: “It’s for our younger readers, to discuss everything from getting a raise from an obnoxious boss to incorporating tattoos into your corporate office.” He thought for a second, then asked, “So how do you?”

As it turned out, he wasn’t quite sold on the whole idea of tattoos in the office yet, despite working in the seemingly hipster-rife world of television. It also turned out that, after our meeting that day, I was heading down to Invisible NYC, to get inked for the first time. According to a study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press that I’d just written about, more than a third of 18- to 25-year-olds had a tattoo, and 30 percent had a piercing somewhere other than their earlobe. So I shared that with him. As for the anecdotal answer, I promised to let him know.

In retrospect, it must have seemed funny to him – a Fortune writer in her Sunday best on her way down to the Lower East Side for what amounted to a family field trip to a tattoo artist. (My brother was turning 18, campaigning for some ink, and big sisters couldn’t resist getting in the act.) But we weren’t the first suburban clan to grace the halls of Invisible NYC, and judging from stories like this one in the Christian Science Monitor last month, we’ll be far from the last.

But while the piece suggests that, at least in the short term, some concerned managers may be taking anti-tat measures, there’s more openness than one might expect. Recently, another senior executive at a major financial services firm told me that, if he worried too much about tattoos and piercings, he’d have to turn away too many otherwise stellar prospects. So he didn’t worry. Never mind that, in a few more years, he could see having more tatted and pierced candidates than not — “I’d never hire anybody, at that rate,” he said, laughing. So despite his company’s client-heavy business, squeaky-clean reputation, and notoriously high standards, body art in his mind isn’t - or better put, couldn’t be — much of a recruiting concern.

Now, I’m sure he isn’t going to be hiring anyone from Miami Ink anytime soon. And for those conservative clients who’d still prefer women in stockings and men in suits, his service professionals no doubt dress to accommodate - and likely wear too much clothing to show any real skin. (After all, we’re a reasonable bunch, and it’s good business that pays for our body embellishments, so I’d like to believe that most of us would suffer long sleeves to keep our clients.)

But given all that, when the financial services exec sees a young person — or any person, for that matter — with a tattoo or piercing, it doesn’t automatically scream, “Rebellious vagrant not worth the chair I’d put him in, which he’d probably steal anyway.” Sadly, I think that’s exactly what the TV exec was hearing every time he thought about it. Hence his struggle reconciling a seemingly decent and well-mannered me with the specter of a tattooed troublemaker.

Little did he know that my village-dwelling Indian ancestors have been getting tattooed for centuries. Sure, it skipped a couple of generations (way to go, colonialism), but what was a cultural rite of passage for them has become a meaningful form of expression for me, not a regrettable sign of teenage angst or a willful attempt at self-sabotage. And I think many of us, we of the much discussed funky T-shirt and blue jeans tribe, would say the same, whatever our ancestry.

Where for some of older colleagues, tattooed or not, body art was something to hide in polite company - the sign of a reckless weekend or questionable background – it’s become so ubiquitous that it borders on the mainstream. So much so that, as the New York Times’Ruth La Ferla recently reported, even the needle-shy can get a faux version, a sort of pop-cultural prop, for some extra wow on a night out.

In short, the accepted and acceptable aesthetics are changing, and it’s the higher-ups who can appreciate that shift in thinking, and get over it, who will ultimately reap its benefits. As the editor who brought me to Fortune told me when I came, “You look different, you dress different, you sound different, you are different, and I want you to be different here.” And all I had back then was an upstart attitude and a nose ring.

But then, as deputy managing editor Hank Gilman demonstrated to me just the other day, as I waxed self-righteous about my plight as a vaguely edgy young person, even different starts to fit in, fade away, and eventually work when you’re part of a good team. “You don’t have a nose ring,” he said, incredulous at the mention of this potentially transgressive piece of jewelry. And upon my inelegant Vanna White-inspired highlighting of the little diamond in my nostril, he replied, matter-of-factly, “Oh, that’s a nose stud.” And that, folks, is the wisdom of leadership.

So are Hank and I living in a media bubble, or are your offices feeling it, too? From tellers with full sleeves to teachers with ankle art, this seems to be becoming the norm, but it may take a while for corporate-types to acknowledge, let alone give in. Are they right, or are you already making a statement with your tribal arm band? As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts…

Ask most people what they think of tattoos, and you get a pretty good idea of who they are. Impassioned rants abound on both sides of this unlikely hot-button issue, from former soldiers and athletes who wear their body art as badges of honor, to girlfriends and wives who cringe every time their partners expose a bicep, to mothers forced to acknowledge that their own daughters are in fact in possession of the hilariously named “tramp stamp.” (Joke all you want, but that last one so happened on Real Housewives of the O.C.)

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that if you ask a corporate executive what she or he thinks of the tat revolution, you get a pretty good idea of “who” his (or her) company is. A tad reductive, I know, but it’s something that first occurred to me last year, after a conversation with a very senior exec at a television network. He asked me about The Gig, which was launching right around then, and by way of explanation, I said something like: “It’s for our younger readers, to discuss everything from getting a raise from an obnoxious boss to incorporating tattoos into your corporate office.” He thought for a second, then asked, “So how do you?”

As it turned out, he wasn’t quite sold on the whole idea of tattoos in the office yet, despite working in the seemingly hipster-rife world of television. It also turned out that, after our meeting that day, I was heading down to Invisible NYC, to get inked for the first time. According to a study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press that I’d just written about, more than a third of 18- to 25-year-olds had a tattoo, and 30 percent had a piercing somewhere other than their earlobe. So I shared that with him. As for the anecdotal answer, I promised to let him know.

In retrospect, it must have seemed funny to him – a Fortune writer in her Sunday best on her way down to the Lower East Side for what amounted to a family field trip to a tattoo artist. (My brother was turning 18, campaigning for some ink, and big sisters couldn’t resist getting in the act.) But we weren’t the first suburban clan to grace the halls of Invisible NYC, and judging from stories like this one in the Christian Science Monitor last month, we’ll be far from the last.

But while the piece suggests that, at least in the short term, some concerned managers may be taking anti-tat measures, there’s more openness than one might expect. Recently, another senior executive at a major financial services firm told me that, if he worried too much about tattoos and piercings, he’d have to turn away too many otherwise stellar prospects. So he didn’t worry. Never mind that, in a few more years, he could see having more tatted and pierced candidates than not — “I’d never hire anybody, at that rate,” he said, laughing. So despite his company’s client-heavy business, squeaky-clean reputation, and notoriously high standards, body art in his mind isn’t - or better put, couldn’t be — much of a recruiting concern.

Now, I’m sure he isn’t going to be hiring anyone from Miami Ink anytime soon. And for those conservative clients who’d still prefer women in stockings and men in suits, his service professionals no doubt dress to accommodate - and likely wear too much clothing to show any real skin. (After all, we’re a reasonable bunch, and it’s good business that pays for our body embellishments, so I’d like to believe that most of us would suffer long sleeves to keep our clients.)

But given all that, when the financial services exec sees a young person — or any person, for that matter — with a tattoo or piercing, it doesn’t automatically scream, “Rebellious vagrant not worth the chair I’d put him in, which he’d probably steal anyway.” Sadly, I think that’s exactly what the TV exec was hearing every time he thought about it. Hence his struggle reconciling a seemingly decent and well-mannered me with the specter of a tattooed troublemaker.

Little did he know that my village-dwelling Indian ancestors have been getting tattooed for centuries. Sure, it skipped a couple of generations (way to go, colonialism), but what was a cultural rite of passage for them has become a meaningful form of expression for me, not a regrettable sign of teenage angst or a willful attempt at self-sabotage. And I think many of us, we of the much discussed funky T-shirt and blue jeans tribe, would say the same, whatever our ancestry.

Where for some of older colleagues, tattooed or not, body art was something to hide in polite company - the sign of a reckless weekend or questionable background – it’s become so ubiquitous that it borders on the mainstream. So much so that, as the New York Times’Ruth La Ferla recently reported, even the needle-shy can get a faux version, a sort of pop-cultural prop, for some extra wow on a night out.

In short, the accepted and acceptable aesthetics are changing, and it’s the higher-ups who can appreciate that shift in thinking, and get over it, who will ultimately reap its benefits. As the editor who brought me to Fortune told me when I came, “You look different, you dress different, you sound different, you are different, and I want you to be different here.” And all I had back then was an upstart attitude and a nose ring.

But then, as deputy managing editor Hank Gilman demonstrated to me just the other day, as I waxed self-righteous about my plight as a vaguely edgy young person, even different starts to fit in, fade away, and eventually work when you’re part of a good team. “You don’t have a nose ring,” he said, incredulous at the mention of this potentially transgressive piece of jewelry. And upon my inelegant Vanna White-inspired highlighting of the little diamond in my nostril, he replied, matter-of-factly, “Oh, that’s a nose stud.” And that, folks, is the wisdom of leadership.

So are Hank and I living in a media bubble, or are your offices feeling it, too? From tellers with full sleeves to teachers with ankle art, this seems to be becoming the norm, but it may take a while for corporate-types to acknowledge, let alone give in. Are they right, or are you already making a statement with your tribal arm band? As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts…

On the road again talking some Gen Y smack, but wanted to float a few things past you while I have a few minutes.

First, have been meaning to bring up the recent Ask Bing, “I’m worth more than $28K a year,” and get your thoughts. If you haven’t read it, a recent college grad in the throes of a challenging job search wrote in to lament his situation: “Everyone wants experience but no one is willing to give it to me. Not to be arrogant I just genuinely believe that I am worth more than $28,000 a year.” Of course, Bing gives him a talking to and ultimately advises finding a job “that, in a way, you might just do for free,” to make waiting for that big payoff easier.

And he’s right. No matter where you come from and what your expectations are, the realities of the job market don’t really allow for huge salaries and major titles right away. But this is a common area of contention, for both recruiters and recruits. (Bing echoes the refrain of many put-upon recruiters when he says, ” “I can’t tell you how many people I interview these days who, having just gotten out of school, want a vice president title and bag of cash just for showing up.”) While I tend to agree with Bing’s assessment, it’s clear from your own comments on posts like “Money v. meaningful work, the battle continues” that there’s a bit of disagreement on this point.

For me, though, taking the “passion” gig isn’t just about following your heart or any other such hippie-dippy swill; the fact is that if you take a job you love, you’re far more likely to rock it. And that experience will help you get that bigger, better-paying job faster than holding out for what you think you deserve (i.e., filling out endless applications only to have recruiters collapse with laughter at the sight of your salary requirements). My first job didn’t pay much more than that $28,000, but what I learned at that scrappy startup made me a lot more attractive to future employers, and before too long I was able to afford both a shoebox in New York City and dinner.

So when young people stress about their meager paychecks, I say think of that first job not as an insult, but as a chance to prove that you actually are worth more than $28,000; it’ll make your first employer value you — and encourage the second to pay you accordingly.

On another note, thanks to Gig reader Sarah W. for passing along Virginia Heffernan’s hi-larious New York Times story, “Sweeping the Clouds Away,” about the recent release of the earliest episodes of Sesame Street, volumes 1 and 2 of which apparently “may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.” If people think we Yers were coddled, heaven help us when today’s preschool child gets old enough for work.

Cookie Monster doesn’t even do his Alistair Cookie bit anymore, mostly because of the pipe. I’m not sure I want to live in a world without Alistair Cookie. But then, I have a friend who won’t even say the word “die” around his child, because he thinks that knowing things die will be too disturbing for her. (We still haven’t told him that, when her fish died, she said not to tell, because talking about dying was too sad for him.)

Anyone who’s read pre-Disney fairy tales knows that kids have been handling hardships much worse than dead fish for centuries. And that’s helped them to grow up — to take responsibility and fend for themselves. In that light, a little adversity mightn’t be such a bad thing for today’s sheltered youngsters. Which is not, obviously, to say that they — we — are all sheltered, or that they haven’t suffered in their own ways. It’s simply to point out that children born into privilege would probably turn out to be better people if they saw some of the other side growing up, be it with an afterschool job, a volunteering stint, or some of those old school episodes of Sesame Street.

And, lastly, check out our latest Gen Y web video if you haven’t already. Hope you like it, and in the meantime, pray for me; I’m in a hotel with no wireless, and it’s murder. (Cue the “spoiled brat” commentary from Yadgyu ;o).

Last week, I spent some time out in Dayton, Ohio, speaking at the Executive Directors’ Conference of the National Association of Regional Councils about some of the challenges of recruiting and retaining Gen Yers. NARC is the umbrella group for metropolitan planning organizations and councils of government across the country — i.e., the people in charge of many aspects of urban planning, from transportation to environmental quality.

As cool as it was to appear in front of such a distinguished group, I have to tell you, I wasn’t expecting much. After all, local government and the industries around it aren’t exactly known for their staggering open-mindedness and willingness to change. Not to mention that this audience was our parents’ age. I’m glad to say, though, that I was pleasantly surprised, and extremely encouraged by everything these folks are doing to accommodate Yers. For instance, one gentleman shared how, in his office, every new hire’s first major project is a fundraiser for a major charity, which lets the young people try their hand at a big assignment, builds a great image for the organization, and allows lots of room for learning.

Many asked, though, how they could keep their Yers engaged — and frankly, coming to work — in the face of huge salaries from big corporations trying to poach them. The plans they work on have a huge impact on people’s lives, another attendee said, but is that enough for Yers? I’m inclined to say that, yes, along with lots of exposure to higher-ups’ passion, Yers will choose high-impact jobs like these over high-paying, but perhaps less rewarding, ones. (Leaving aside, of course, debt. The average college grad with loans has more than $19,000 to pay back, so s/he may have to choose salary in the short term.)

But I think the key is seeing the dedication of senior staffers. As psyched as these Boomers were about their work, I couldn’t imagine any Yer I know not finding it a little infectious. This seems to be borne out in the research, which Tamara Erickson — one of our recurring Gig experts and president of the Concours Institute — says shows that Yers value expertise above all else, including authority. Meaning that, a lot of the time, we’ll take the old guy with great stories and good advice over the younger one with a big title. So for those senior folks in the public sector or nonprofit world, retaining their Yers may just be a matter of sharing a few tales about the lives they’ve changed.

Then again, that may just be my own wishful thinking. Especially because, as a writer, I’m something of a sucker for all that touchy-feely stuff. I’d be curious to hear what you all think, though. How could one of these organizations keep you?

*****

On a related note, I and lots of the older people who write in about The Gig were encouraged by the great response to the activism post last week. But in light of that, I’d be totally remiss if I didn’t point you guys to this piece, “Narcissists in Neverland,” a “web exclusive” from Newsweek last week, the point of which, evidently, is to deride Yers for wanting to “pursue their passions” more than “make lots of money.” (Could be good for the NARC people…)

I’d hoped to avoid writing about this at all, mostly because — and I’m going to go out on a limb here — I found it a little ridiculous and more than a bit irresponsible. But who am I to deny you this kind of comedy? Among my favorite moments (aside from the fact that it uses an anecdote from organizational psychologist Mitchell Marks that appeared in Fortune’s Gen Y story six months ago — how exclusive is that?) was the following: Generation Me author Jean “Twenge has found that the gap between expectation and reality is immense for Generation Y. One example: in 1975, 24 percent of American high-school students believed that they would earn a graduate degree; today 50 percent of high-school students think the same thing. In reality just 9 percent of students both then and now actually go on to accomplish this goal.”

Shame on you people for hoping you’ll get an education! It’s not as if this were America or anything. Plus, young people may be more educated than ever before, but we’re actually going to need them to get more educated to do the jobs soon to be left vacant by experienced retiring Boomers. So keep dreaming, you crazy kids!

And then, there’s the blatant omission of the debt issue. Obviously young people are going home; you’d be going home too if you’d paid what we did for our degrees. And let’s be honest: That’s what our parents wanted us to do. Sure, there are the ne’er-do-wells, but there are also the going-to-do-wells. Supporting them now — even if they want to waste time doing, say, volunteer work — is an investment in the country’s future.

Just ask my own mom, who let me move home for six months after I graduated to see if I could make this whole magazine thing work. I’d venture to say she’d do it again, and barring any unforeseen degeneracy, I don’t have plans to empty her nest egg. And even our resident Boomer expert, Anne Fisher, has advised readers to follow their dreams in lieu of the big cash payoff in her column, so it isn’t just the indulgent moms of the world leading us up this garden path.

There’s so much more I could say, but I have a nice-person rep to maintain. So for the last word on this, visit the wonderful people at Gawker, who always succeed in saying precisely the things I would, if only my mom — narcissism-enabler that she is — didn’t read The Gig. What about you? Is this story unfair, or are we trying to live the impossible dream (and taking advantage of our parents in the process)?

Let’s talk about text-messaging. That’s right, talk. Because evidently, some of us have forgotten how. You’re probably wondering how in the world this is a workplace issue, and I would be, too — except that several times over the last few weeks, recruiters and other corporate-types have asked me how to handle young people who’d rather text than talk.

This might not be such a big deal but for the fact that it seems to surface most when there’s a conflict to resolve. It used to be that, if you had a problem with your colleague or wanted to confront your boss about something, you sat down and had a hard but helpful conversation. Nowadays, you send an abbreviated- and emoticon-laced e-mail and hope for the best. Which, needless to say, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in higher-ups. And when it comes to interviewing, recruiters are reporting that, faced with a difficult question or scenario in an interview, candidates just shut down. Maybe all those “alarmists” warning about the risks of being too wired and pointing to our generation’s lack of interpersonal skills aren’t so far off.

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise; girlfriends have been getting the boot via text for years. As one source so eloquently put it in a December 2005 Washington Post story: “It was easier to say, ‘Look, things just aren’t working out’ ” via text message, said [Andrew] Weigle, 23, who lives in Falls Church. “I’m not the most verbal person when it comes to expressing emotions,” he admitted, but with text messaging, “I can put it out there and feel like I’m not saying it. I find there’s a little more freedom to say what you’re feeling.”

And with an average of 18.7 billion text messages sent every month in 2006, there are a lot of feelings being expressed (according to some crazy stats from the wireless industry trade group CTIA). Just not in person. That might be all right when you’re trying to escape a second date, but not so much when it comes to office relations. Which means that, as much as we’d like to text our troubles away, we’re going to need to train or retrain ourselves to settle them face-to-face. Sound reasonable? Or is this another imagined Gen Y “problem”?

After a week on the road doing my civic duty — that is, recruiting at the National Association of Black Journalists convention — I have to say I missed you guys! (But don’t be sad for me; sure it was hectic, but it was also in Las Vegas, which even at 105 degrees, is at least as fun as the office ;o). And while I did have a good time chatting with young journalists at the Time Inc. booth, the hilarity that transpired there also provided good fodder for us. So for those of you heading to a job fair — or even into an interview — sometime soon, a few notes from my own recruiting experience…

• Calm down. We know you’re hyped, but not everyone wears this state of heightened agitation well. Case in point: A young man sat down to speak with a very senior (and exceedingly sweet) gentleman from one of our biggest titles — and basically proceeded to yell for 15 minutes. Not at my colleague exactly, but about the industry, the wrongs he’d suffered, what he would and would not do now as a result, and various other topics that made him seem just a tad antagonistic (if not downright crazy). This might help you stand out, but it’s probably not your best strategy for getting a gig. And incidentally, neither is the opposite — being so excited and/or obsequious that you sound like Clueless on fast-forward. So as Dr. Phil might say, take a good honest look at yourself, and if you tend toward any behavior that might frighten or otherwise arouse undesirable emotions in your recruiters, do whatever it takes to stem it. Seriously — do yoga, burn incense, listen to Enya, whatever — just do it, and save us and yourself.
• Templates are not the final answer. If I have to read, “This letter is to express my interest in blah, blahblah, blah, blah,” one more time, I may throw myself out a window. (Or to use one of my favorite words, defenestrate myself.) Unless you’re applying for a job as the most boring person ever, don’t succumb. Just about every cover letter your recruiter reads will start with some variation of this sentence, which means you’ve lost a key opportunity to distinguish yourself. Of course, this is not to say that you ought to substitute stream of consciousness either — clarity is still king in these exercises — but surely we bright young people can find one or two clear and creative ways to catch a recruiter’s eye.
  
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