PR is not for everyone

And what about making a living?

A few months ago, it was in November, I got an e-mail from my boss SUBJECT: Dreams of the future. She invited me to have a sit-down meeting to talk about my future within the agency. I am a PR trainee and my contract was up. When the meeting finally happened weeks later – it was postponed twice – I was offered a full-time-job. I could stay on till retirement, if I wanted. Simple right? Especially in today’s economy, where job opportunities are rare. But I hesitated. The pay would continue to be minimal, work-life-balance non-existent. Room for negotiation? Zero. Either I would take the deal or not. They could easily find somebody else to replace me – or so I was told. That rang true. After all, “Everybody chooses where they want to work. If you are unhappy or don’t like the conditions, quit.” – was my boss’s favourite motivational quote that gets repeated every other day.

Is it too much to ask to make a decent living?

Contrary to popular believe the so-called Millennials are not a homogenous group. I’m not an unduly self-entitled narcissist who believes she’s owed more than she’s really worth. I’m not after the Bentley or the Maserati or any of the other fast cars of my boss’s boss. I don’t need a vacation home in Spain or a private jet or a personal chef. I want to make a decent living without having to count every single penny. However, like many of my generation, my salary is disproportionately low – 20 % lower than baby boomers’ salaries when they were the same age. Underneath the usual stereotypes that get peddled by the media we have real problems: Poverty is just on top of that list. It’s not just the smartphones and the selfies that have changed my generation and its outlook; it’s the constant improvement of labour market flexibility. That by the by started in the 1970ies, way before the Facebook or Instagram became a thing. Yet, it seems nobody is making a fuss about that. We aren’t doing anything against this? If we all share the same grotesque working conditions, why don’t we brand together? Why are businesses still allowed to not pay us our dues without that becoming public knowledge? Fact is: Nobody would deny a handyman his pay, why are we the so-called highly educated and underpaid ones? The first year of my traineeship, I usually worked more than 40 hours per week, but I made less than 800 Euros after deductions. Thus, in my country I officially qualified as being poor although I was working my ass off. In my second year we crossed the official poverty line, but I was still far cry from making a living, paying the rent and having this tiny sliver of freedom, that remains after a good day with only 50 or so e-mails in my inbox. Then I got offered a new contract: 1.500 Euros after deductions, 24 days paid holidays, no paid overtime and a long list of expectations.

-        Working on a Saturday evening because a mailing has to go out into the ether

-        Using your private mobile phone to contact clients and journalists

-        Using your private computer to work

-        Going on business trips without getting paid overtime

Endurance Test 2.0

Hell, I know that I am able to endure. I survived my surly Maths teacher in grade eight. And with the same equanimity, today I survive my colleague’s verbosity on the subject of her precious and oh so clever eight-year-old daughter – the next Einstein if she is to be believed. But let’s face it; her future is just as bleak as mine. She will have to work even harder and cram more knowledge into her head even before she gets a job. However, this extra work will not pay off in the real world. My generation already knows that. Just because you have a degree or two, does not mean anything. You won’t get a better life either. Truth is: Although Millennials are currently regarded as the best educated generation, we have to deal with less job security and less money than our parents. So I survive. But here is the clincher: Salary doesn’t only say something about how you value me, my loyalty, my experience and my work. More than anything else it says something about how my boss values the training his agency provides. Food for thought.