I recently read an article in Signal Magazine, the monthly publication published by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, about the impact that millennials are having on the workforce. Accustomed to seeing criticisms of millennials’ work habits, I read many of the familiar arguments. Millennials are fragile. millennials don’t read. Millennials are entitled.
But I also read how the attributes of millennials make the uniquely suited to certain work, specifically as analysts. The article, titled “Mind the Millennial Training Gap,” by research analyst and professor Margaret S. Marangione, specifically considers the impact that the millennial generation has on the intelligence community.
Marangione argues that with the growing presence of millennials in the workforce, the strategies used to train them must be updated. Intelligence analysis, an area of growing need identified by Marangione, is a good fit for millennial skills. But the methods used to get them ready for this work does not currently take those strengths, or the accompanying weaknesses, into account.
What is a millennial? The exact age range of millennials is debated, mostly among millennials themselves. Neil Howe and William Strauss, the two researchers and authors who coined the term in their book “Millennials Rising,” define millennials as those born between 1982 and 2004. Marangione uses the broader definition to include those “born between about 1980 and 2000.”
The more important distinction is to identify millennials as those who grew up using technology and whose lives were profoundly different than preceding generations because of it.
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Identifying as a millennial is a point of contention among those categorized as such. Articles titled “7 Reasons Millennials are the Worst Generation” list the reasons that millennials are “the least useful generation in America.” Even pop culture has taken to mocking millennials, such as in the “Saturday Night Live” skit that includes stereotyped millennial characters constantly on their smartphones.
Those on the older side of the millennial generation don’t always identify with the stereotypes presented. While they grew up with increased technology, they have had to adjust to the latest technology, specifically the near-constant presence of smartphones, as young adults. Those born closer to the 2000s have grown up with this technology available from a very young age.
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Social media is also a large factor in millennials’ identity and in how they engage with information. “Social media has shaped not only who they are and their perspective but also what information they think of as timely and relevant,” the Signal article states.
Education for the millennial generation. Howe and Strauss identified education as an area that millennials approach very differently from previous generations.
The article in Signal furthers this argument by applying it to professional training. “The intelligence community must adapt the classroom experience to this generation and the next,” Marangione states. She points to real-world examples, practical problem-solving application, and interactive learning as strategies that millennials respond to in the classroom.
Many of the arguments that criticize millennials have a sound basis in fact. Reports from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and Payscale cited by Marangione show clear data that millennials are lacking in needed workplace skills. Data collected found that “Millennials in the United States fell short in the skills employers want the most: literacy, including the ability to follow simple instructions, practical math and problem-solving in technology-rich environments.”
This lack of functional skills can be traced back to the academic environments in which millennials developed as young adults. Millennials are often “not prepared for the academic rigors of college.” This can be due to the style and standard of learning they received leading up to college, specifically the emphasis placed on standardized testing. “They may resent the amount of reading, research, problem-solving and writing that professors assign them and the standards to which they are held.”
“Just as the intelligence community cannot approach 21st-century issues with tools from the Cold War, it cannot teach millennials in classrooms designed in the 1950s.”
The challenge lies in responding to this new millennial style of learning. But it is a shift in mindset that must happen to meet the changing needs of the workforce. “Just as the intelligence community cannot approach 21st-century issues with tools from the Cold War, it cannot teach millennials in classrooms designed in the 1950s,” Marangione writes.
The way that millennials consume information has a large impact on how millennials learn. They need smaller pieces of information, preferably that they can engage with, to keep their interest. They also need to feel personally connected to the cause or mission. Rather than learning through textbooks, which millennials see as “obsolete,” they need digital media that is updated continuously. While previous generations considered a textbook purchased at the beginning of the semester as relevant and timely, millennials are already on to the next piece of information.
Implications for the workforce. It is exactly this knack for consuming information rapidly and picking out the most important pieces that make millennials such excellent intelligence analysts, Marangione argues. “Millennials’ habit of ‘reading with purpose’ may be good news for the intelligence community because it is a skill needed for scanning the huge amount of open source intelligence,” she states.
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Responding to the needs of millennial training is an important question to consider because these are both the future creators and consumers of intelligence analysis. “Some millennials are now in elected and staff positions in Congress and fill essential positions with contractors as well as jobs across all 17 intelligence agencies,” Marangione writes. “They are on the receiving end of intelligence and are analyzing and driving its collection.”
Millennials’ ability to process information in a rapid and discerning way is a skill that can be used by the intelligence community. This is an opportunity to gain considerable skill in the workforce. But the challenge lies in training them to work most effectively. This is essential to meet both the needs of the millennial employee, as well as the needs of the intelligence community.
Katie Begley is an OpsLens contributor, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and a former Surface Warfare Officer. In addition to being a military spouse, she is a freelance writer specializing in travel, education, and parenting subjects. This piece originally appeared in OpsLens.
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