WHAT qualities spring to mind when you think of Generation Y?

Selfish, disrespectful, opinionated and immoral with an uncontrollable obsession to display their entire lives on Facebook and Twitter?

Not quite, if Gen-Y’s Peter McNulty, a 24-year-old lawyer and Cate Robson, a 24-year-old social work student, are anything to go by.

Good friends, Peter and Cate are like many typical Gen-Ys: they’re always up for a good time, socially aware and, despite a short working life, have already faced at least a couple of career changes. They use social media, but aren’t dominated by it.

However, they are an exceptional pair. Peter and Cate met through Vinnies Youth while in college, and still work with the youth conference today with Peter president and Cate VP.

Through the conference, they work with underprivileged primary school children aged six to 12, whose parents sought assistance from the St Vincent de Paul Society. They run school holiday camps and monthly activities to allow the “kids to be kids”.

“We find a lot of the time they are dealing with some pretty heavy stuff at home, so it’s good to be able to take them away and give them some respite and some recreation opportunities,” Peter said.
Considering their volunteer work, it’s no surprise, like many Gen-Ys, that Peter and Cate find the perceptions of their generation hard to bear.

“I think the negative perceptions of Gen-Y are difficult to combat,” Peter said.

“The idea that we are flaky, not committed anything, I think that is difficult.”

“It really depends on your life experiences and who you were brought up with and how you were brought up,” Cate said when asked about whether Gen-Y were selfish.

“I don’t know if I have a whole lot of friends in the Gen-Y age range that don’t volunteer for Vinnies or aren’t teachers or do something really positive; who aren’t unemployed, they are studying or working or doing something.

“Maybe that’s just because we are like-minded people and we found each other or maybe that’s just the majority of Gen-Y.”

For Cate, being part of Generation Y means more choice and more opportunity.

“I’ve only been in the workforce for about seven years and I’ve already had about three or four career changes,” Cate said.

“It’s a matter of, perhaps, those opportunities weren’t available to our parents. Especially being a female in this day and age, I’ve
got a lot of opportunities that my mum always says ‘do what you will enjoy’, ‘you are capable of doing anything you like’ and for
me that has always been a big part of planning my future.”

“Gen-Ys are concerned about living in the moment and enjoying what they’ve got while they have it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t look to the future,” Peter said.

“I think, for me, there’s a lot of focus on enjoying what I’m doing now while planning for the future. My focus is about making sure that everything now is good.

“While planning for the future I’m not going to let, my plans for the future inhibit my living in the moment.”
But with opportunities, comes confidence.

“I don’t like generalising, but I think because Gen Ys are more confident, they are more willing to share their views and have their voice heard than may be past generations were,” Peter says.

“I think Gen-Ys realise we have a voice and make our opinions and feelings heard and that may come across disrespectful.”

Read more: Revealed: the seven myths of Gen-Y