Several of my friends and I were frequently referred to as the “best of the best” the John Molson School of Business had to offer. This was typically said either in the context of our school’s coop program or business case competitions. Our university was even recently ranked as the top Canadian school in terms of number of alumni holding CXO positions in Fortune 500 companies.
You would think that the “best of the best” would be highly productive and contributing a lot to their organizations right? Wrong. Oddly enough, despite several of us getting very good jobs with prestigious firms in a variety of industries and decent pay, many are unhappy with our jobs, primarily because we’re bored! That being said, let me rephrase my original assertion: we may still be highly productive, but not optimally so.
There’s a very big (and paradoxical!) gap here. Organizations make such an effort to recruit top talent and yet, when the talent arrives, several of them make the mistake of not using these people to their full potential. Despite most of us working for the top firms in our respective industries, several of us are doing jobs/tasks that are FAR below our qualifications!
I spent the last year wondering: “Is it just me? Or is something wrong here?”. Then, about 6 months ago, I heard about the Boreout (opposite of burnout) theory. Now, recently, I’ve been reading more and more about Generation Y‘s work ethics, habits and expectations. I’m wondering: Is Boreout a consequence of Generation Y’s attitudes and expectations of work and career? I really hope it is, because if this is NOT due to generation Y mentality, then boreout is going to be much worse for us!
I never like bringing up problems without potential solutions, so, as I go through this, I’ll be coming up with ideas to fix this, but as always please feel free to share your ideas, experiences and creative solutions to address this issue…stay tuned!
I have been thinking about this recently as well and have developed a hypothesis of sorts. I think that maybe the problem isn’t that the top companies are looking for the top students, but that the top students look for the top companies. The top companies are usually mature firms which don’t offer as much excitement, variety and opportunities to excel and be proactive in your work, which are factors sought out by top students. I believe that it is working in the smaller and lesser known firms that one truly gets the experience they are looking for fresh out of school. It is in these small firms where the growth (both personal and career) is endless and the learning curve is high.
The true way to avoid boreout is to choose a job that helps you explore your passions and not one that will look good on your resume…..
…isn’t that why we all chose JMSb over McGill?
Boreout is definitely an interesting idea. You hit the nail right on the head, Ian. A lot of us are talented and did very well during our university years, whether in the classroom, Co-op or in case competitions. And we were sought out by these “prestigious firms” because of our accomplishments. The problem is that the majority of the jobs given to us are still entry-level jobs. This is especially true for very large companies.
I don’t know if it’s due to GenY mentality or maybe companies not being able to adjust to our generation’s mentality. It might be a combination of both. I’ve written about this in a previous post before. We all have high expectations of what our future careers will be when we graduate and get in the “real world”, especially if you were a “high-achiever”. But when we start working, we find ourselves bored with the lack of challenging tasks in our jobs. Because of the fact that we’re recent grads, companies still see us as being inexperienced and unable to handle “major” responsibilities.
The example I always give is that of a twenty-something recent graduate who has done their share of cases and even might have acquired nearly two years of work experience in a co-op program. Sure, you might be allowed to work on the huge proposal, but will never be allowed to pitch it to the 50 or 60-year-old executive client and be taken seriously.
With the larger North American companies, we first need to move up the corporate ladder from the entry-level jobs to be trusted with that kind of responsibility.
Unfortunately, because of “boreout” we won’t wait to move up and just leave the company to start over again. And the cycle repeats itself.
Sorry to take up so much of the comments with my rant. But that’s my take on it.
I see: 1) Gems is right: big firms do not offer the breadth of activity that a small one will (but they often pay more – so you make a choice)
2) You have no credibility because you are young. You have to earn that and it takes time to get there. Patience is a virtue.
3) You just popped out of uni and you are used to being surrounded by the world’s top minds. Welcome to the workplace where mere mortals reside – the pace you are experiencing accomodates average Joe now, and you are not used to that.
4) Average Joe might be your boss. And your boss’s boss too. It happens.
If you are any good, be patient, tag on a cheerful ‘can-do’ attitude and plenty of graft and you will get to spread your wings and fly like eagles.
I spend my time at a new job building a network. That is never boring, and any general needs to have an army he can rely on. If you can stand it at the beginning, that is what seperates the wheat from the chaf. In my opinion.
My own co-op terms taught me to keep my expectations as low as possible and things MIGHT end up interesting. This worked only in my last work term, well maybe it’s because I learned that after my 2nd term lol (I did only three).
I went into my career with this idea, however when I signed up to work in an industry that I have no clue about hit me like a great motivator cause I wanted to learn about this crazy financial market where commodities trade (NYMEX)…
It about 6 months I started trading and making deals (obviously only tiny ones, cause I am ‘too young’ to deal with 50 yr old procurement manager!)
I wanted to run a expansion project within Quebec but my proposal was refused because it was too much work! However I did get them to chew on the idea of opening shop in Ontario. It is always going to be about numbers and market size, another lesson learned SHOW BIG NUMBERS lol.
Today, I still ‘enjoy’ going to work to see what is waiting for me on my desk but in 4 hrs time I am done for the day! That is when I start studying the market news and for my GMAT. I spoke to my supervisor about me being bored and not having much to do, he’s like just slow down and absorb as much as possible. Okay, done! Now what! So I offered to do my MBA, he’s like “Yea sure go for it, send us the bill, whatever keeps you busy!” I keep asking for stuff, or find stuff to do, but can it get annoying or what. I’ve started working with communications and marketing just because.
I still remember Dr. Buyukkurt’s voice, “Go with the small company, you will get to learn a lot more, leave IBM and the likes for now, you can do that later in your life’ she was definitely right about that. I doubt IBM would’ve left me re-do their entire IT infrastructure just because I didn’t like it :p !!
To sum it up, we want to do soooo much in little time that the big companies can’t keep up. We should all get 2gether and start our own shop with our expertise!! Who’s in???
I was one of the best of the best 10 years ago. 10 years later, i am so bored with my job / jobs; its a good thing for facebook.
Man, great post. I am feeling this too. I have some thoughts. I’m going to write a response on my blog ;->.
I’m an accountant. Bore-out is built in.
Thanks for the comments everyone! All of you have given me a few more things to consider. Hopefully we can keep this up and I can get some more valuable input!
gems – Nice to see you back here!
That’s an interesting hypothesis and I tend to agree with you. However, I do know that large companies can still have an “Entrepreneurial spirit”/small company-feel if an effort is made. Thus, despite being mature, if they paid attention to some of our recommendations they may be able to innovate and increase productivity vs. “This is the way it’s always been done.”
“choose a job that helps you explore your passions and not one that will look good on your resume…..
…isn’t that why we all chose JMSB over McGill?
That’s a great conclusion… You’ve given me yet another thing to think about!!
Angelo – Don’t every worry about taking up “so much space” with a comment!!
You’ve brought out some good points, but this one stuck with me:
“Unfortunately, because of “boreout” we won’t wait to move up and just leave the company to start over again. And the cycle repeats itself.”
I know a few people who do this and although the grass is always greener on the other side, I’m trying my best to avoid repeating this cycle!
Anon @ 17:21 –
1) Agreed.
2) Agree somewhat. Are you suggesting that credibility comes with age and/or seniority? I don’t care how old someone is or how long they’ve spent at a company…show me what they’ve DONE. I’ve seen far too many people get promoted due to seniority rather than merit. This is bad for everyone. I’ve seen the opposite true as well, where people don’t get promoted because it might offend the more senior people who had to “pay their dues” (more on this another time.). “Patience is a virtue.” Absolutely.
3) “Welcome to the workplace where mere mortals reside – the pace you are experiencing accomodates average Joe now, and you are not used to that
Very well said…lol I’ve never really thought of it this way. However, would you agree that accommodating average Joe might slow everyone else down and potentially demotivate others? Maybe this is the difference between good and great companies.
4) Don’t worry, I’ve seen many “Average Joe” managers!
Thanks a lot for the feedback!!
Anon @ 22:15 – Amazing that you manage to finish 8 hours of work in 4, but I’m not surprised. Clearly you could be doing a lot more. Even if your recommendation involved “more work” I’m sure you would have been happy to take that on!
Dr. B is full of words of wisdom, I try to get frequent advice from her as well!!
We should definitely consider our own shop once we’ve got a little more experience…
Paul – “its a good thing for facebook.” LOL!! No offense, but God help me if the most interesting thing I’m doing 10 years from now is Facebook!!
Christien – Thanks! Looking forward to reading your response! Make sure you give us a link here!!
Dom – Come on…there must be SOME accountants that are excited/passionate about their jobs??? Or is it just about the money?
[...] Boreout – The New Office Disease Generation Y and Boreout – Correlated? [...]