HBR Guides to Managing Your Career Collection (6 Books)

Chapter 12

Accelerate Your Development: Tips for Millennials

by Jeanne C. Meister and Karie Willyerd

Many of the 70 million jobs that Baby Boomers will vacate over the next two decades—from the front lines up to senior management—will go to Gen Xers and Millennials (also known as Generation Y). If you’re a Millennial (born after 1980), that might mean early career advancement for you, though you’ll have lots of competition for those positions: 88 million others in your generation, plus about 50 million Xers, will also be vying for them.

How do you compete for jobs formerly held by people with decades more experience, especially when you’re younger than at least a third of the candidates out there? By putting your mentoring and development ...