the sole of a generation

After having read a few articles outlining HR strategies to reel in tech savvy career-ists from generation Y and highly educated pragmatists of generation X, it became clear that I had no idea just which generation defined me.  I didn't wear capri pants, I couldn't text or take a photo with my cell phone and I think my career drive has been in first gear for the 7 years following my college graduation.

So like any good American, I decided to take a test.

The questions were all centered around technology and sounded something like "do you e-mail to communicate with your parents" (that's a yes for me), or "do you know how to download music illegally?" (that's a no).

I scored a 5, which placed me within the "jones generation" or those born between 1954-1966. Really?  I embody a generation that is often overlooked due to its mainstream characteristics? How terrible does that sound?  Surely the test was flawed.

I proceeded to give the test to my husband (technically a generation Y guy like myself) and my father (a blue-blood baby boomer) and each scored outside their preconceived generations.

Why do we feel the need to categorize each generation as it comes and goes?  And what part of the population are we really talking about?  I can't help from suspecting that these generalizations are centered around class and consumer trends (one article stated that flip-flops were the preferred foot ware of the Y generation).  Moving beyond flip-flops, cell-phone capabilities and Pepsi commercials, I should note that there were three questions left off the test:

-Are your parents divorced?

-Have you ever been hired for more than 3 years by one employer?

-Are you in debt?

As negative as these questions might sound, I truly believe that these are the defining characteristics of the X/Y generation... an uprooted generation of recyclers, immigrants, war veterans and Obama supporters often raised in single parent households or joint custody. Consequently they are a resourceful group, finding community in alternative ways and choosing hope in uncertain times.