美国年轻一代热情饱满、雄心勃勃，似乎已经迫不及待地想要挑战整个世界。只是，还有一个问题：他们需要一份工作。美国经济低迷，对于年轻人而言，形势尤为严峻。虽然目前的情况比七月份略有好转，但美国劳工统计局（Bureau of Labor Statistics）的数据显示，16 - 19岁人群的失业率仍然高达23.8%，而20- 24岁年轻人的失业率也达到了13.5%。结果，千禧一代的长期收入潜力和职业探索机会前景不妙。年轻人就业形势要有所好转或许还要等上很长一段时间，但一批勇于进取的创业者却拒绝绝望。为了帮助千禧一代站稳脚跟，他们正在采取行动。

    Bright-eyed and ambitious, America's younger set may feel ready to take on the world. There's just one hitch: they need jobs. The economy has been especially rough for Gen Y. And while the picture looks prettier than it did last July, the unemployment rate is still 23.8% for 16 to 19-year-olds and 13.5% for 20 to 24-year-olds, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, Millennials' long-term earning potential and opportunity for career exploration is suffering. It may be a long time until youth employment stats are sunny, but a few enterprising people refuse to grow disillusioned. Here's what they're doing to help Millennials get on their feet.

马修•西格尔与贾勒特•莫雷诺：倡导公益服务

机构：OUR TIME

    对于年轻人失业问题，似乎不可能有能万能的解决方案，但同是26岁的马修•西格尔和贾勒特•莫雷诺却认为，他们有一个“显而易见的方案”，能起到一定作用。OUR TIME是一家非营利机构，为了增加一百万个国民服务工作岗位（主要是美国志愿队），该机构目前正在努力寻求官方支持和资金援助。现在，他们已经获得了约112,000个签名，承诺支持这份事业。他们的最终目标是获得一百万个签名，目前已经完成了约十分之一。西格尔当然不是希望同龄人们去开河挖沟，而是希望他们加入“为美国而教”（Teach for America）、“城市之年”（City Year）和“仁爱之家”（ Habitat for Humanity）等组织。西格尔认为，这个项目对纳税人也很有意义：“公共基金和私募基金为国民服务岗位每投入1美元，就能为这个岗位所服务的成员和社区平均产生1.95美元收益。”

    此外，OUR TIME还负责Buy Young的运营。Buy Young是一家在线购物网站，销售的商品都来自30岁以下创业者创办的公司。

Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno

Organization: OUR TIME

    There may not be a catchall solution for youth unemployment, but Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, who are both 26, believe they have a "no brainer" that will at least make a dent. Their non-profit, OUR TIME, is trying to galvanize support for the authorization and funding of one million additional jobs in the national service (primarily AmeriCorps). So far, they've gotten about 112,000 signatures to support the cause, about one-tenth of the way to their million-signature goal. Segal doesn't envision young people digging ditches, per se -- he envisions them joining programs like Teach for America, City Year, and Habitat for Humanity. Segal argues that the project makes sense for taxpayers: "For every dollar of public and private funds invested in service positions, an average of $1.95 in benefits is generated for the members and communities served."

    OUR TIME also operates Buy Young, an online marketplace that lets users purchase items from businesses run by entrepreneurs under 30.

彼得•泰尔：提供青年创业奖学金

机构：泰尔奖学金（Thiel Fellowship）

    44岁的百万富翁彼得•泰尔曾是贝宝（PayPal）公司创始人，并且是Facebook初期投资人，他成立的泰尔奖学金项目目前已经进入了第二轮，将向约20名20岁以下的年轻人，每人授予100,000美元，用于研究、开发他们的技术创意。有幸入选的年轻人还可以得到硅谷重量级导师们的指导。入选者涉及的领域非常广泛，包括生物科技、能源，甚至机器人。

    条件是什么呢？入选者在奖学金两年的期限内不能上大学。虽然作为一名信奉自由主义的科技界企业家，泰尔自己也有本科学历和斯坦福大学（Stanford）的法学位（目前，他还在母校授课），但他却鼓励前途无量的年轻人以盖茨、乔布斯、扎克伯格为榜样。这些名声赫赫的辍学生证明，只要真的真的非常优秀，要想成功根本没有必要浪费时间坐在校园里听课。

Peter Thiel

Organization: Thiel Fellowship

    The 44-year-old billionaire, PayPal founder, and Facebook (FB) investor's Thiel Fellowship program, currently in its second cycle, is giving $100,000 apiece to about 20 people -- all under the age of 20 -- to research and develop their tech ideas. The fellows, whose interests range from biotechnology to energy to robotics, are also given access to bigwig Silicon Valley mentors.

    The catch? The participants can't be enrolled in college for the fellowship's two-year duration. Libertarian-minded tech entrepreneur Thiel may have a BA and a law degree from Stanford (and he recently taught a class at his alma mater), but he's encouraging promising youngsters to go the Gates-Jobs-Zuckerberg route. These famous dropouts are testaments to the fact that if you're really, really good, you don't need to sit through years of lectures to make it big.

安德鲁•杨：创办青年创业基地

机构：Venture for America（VFA）

    安德鲁•杨认为，最出类拔萃的大学毕业生竟然争先恐后地想挤进金融和管理咨询行业，让人觉得非常遗憾。杨希望引导这些优秀人才加入创业的行列，他认为创业才是美国经济的发动机。“没错，我们需要《财富》百强（Fortune 100）公司，但我们也得接受现实：就算是埃克森美孚（Exxon Mobil）也不可能增加太多的工作岗位。”

    37岁的杨曾经做过公司律师，2011年夏，他成立了Venture for America项目。VFA的理念与“为美国而教”类似，它向底特律、辛辛那提、拉斯维加斯、新奥尔良和普罗维登斯的初创企业总计派驻了40位项目成员（他们每年获得的薪酬是32,000美元至38,000美元）。项目为期两年，期望在明年能够招募80至200名成员，并向更多城市扩张。

    VFA声称，传统创业过程如同摸着石头过河，而VFA将在混沌的河水上架起一座桥梁。杨认为，那些胸怀大志的名牌大学毕业生之所以把金融和咨询行业作为首选，原因之一是希望获得声誉和保障。VFA则认为，它能给年轻人提供VFA特有的身份符号；并且，去一个不足10人的小公司工作也可以缓解向高盛（Goldman Sachs）或麦肯锡（McKinsey）这类大公司申请工作机会所带来的压力。杨说，这是最好不过的事。

Andrew Yang

Organization: Venture for America

    Andrew Yang thinks it's a shame that the best and brightest from universities across the nation are entering finance and management consulting in droves. Yang wants to channel that talent into what he views as the nation's economic engine: the world of startups. "We need the Fortune 100 companies, but let's face it: Exxon Mobil's not going to be adding that many jobs."

    The 37-year-old former corporate lawyer launched Venture for America in the summer of 2011. Similar in concept to Teach for America, VFA places its 40 fellows (who are paid between $32,000 and $38,000 a year) at start-ups in Detroit, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Providence. The competitive two-year program aims to recruit 80 to 200 fellows and to expand to several additional cities next year.

    VFA claims that it provides a clear bridge over the traditionally murky waters of entrepreneurship. Yang believes that one of the reasons ambitious, Ivy League grads wound up at those institutions in the first place is that they were looking for prestige and security. VFA argues that it offers a status marker of its own, which reduces the pain of passing up that job at Goldman Sachs (GS,Fortune 500) or McKinsey to work at a company with fewer than 10 people. And, Yang says, it's all for the best.

萨拉•辛德罗夫：创办专业实习网站

机构：Intern Sushi

    27岁的萨拉•辛德罗夫是Intern Sushi网站的创始人兼CEO，对于枯燥的实习生工作，她深有体会。“人们说我泡的红茶简直无敌了。”她也很清楚，要让电影、电视、时尚和体育行业那些铁石心肠的老板看一眼你的简历，必须得有“内线”帮忙才行。

    Intern Sushi的建立可以帮助大部分抱负不凡的求职者们，在求职过程中占据先机。实习岗位求职者可以更有创意地推销自己，比如发布视频和其他媒体文件，而不是投递简历或求职信。求职者可以免费成为网站普通会员，但高级会员（高级会员特权包括提前得知实习机会，并且申请次数不受限）每个月的会费是8.99美元。在十二月份网站成立时签订合约的2,600家公司均可免费获得该网站的服务，部分机构甚至将该网站作为招聘实习生（有薪实习或无薪实习）的唯一途径，艾伦•德杰尼勒斯秀（The Ellen DeGeneres Show）便是其中之一。目前，公司正在跟踪调查由实习转变为长期正式工作的岗位数量。

    Intern Sushi建议求职者“挑剔一点”。也就是说，不要为了让自己的履历看起来体面而接受某份工作。目前，网站共有20,000名用户，遍及美国15个城市，已有1,000多名用户找到了工作。网站未来的目标是扩张到全美。

Shara Senderoff

Organization: Intern Sushi

    Shara Senderoff, the 27-year-old founder and CEO of the website Intern Sushi, knows what it's like to do scutwork as an intern. "I was told I made the world's best iced tea." She also knows that getting employers in the hard-to-crack fields of film, television, fashion, and sports to even look at your resume often requires connections on the inside.

    Intern Sushi's setup helps the most ambitious applicants get a leg up in the application process. Prospective interns submit videos and other media instead of resumes and cover letters, giving applicants a chance to sell themselves more creatively. Applicants can join the site for free, but premium membership (which gives you early access to internship openings and unlimited application privileges) costs $8.99 a month. The service is free for the 2,600 companies that have signed on since the site's December launch, and some outfits -- like The Ellen DeGeneres Show -- have begun to hire interns (both paid and unpaid) exclusively through the site. The company is also looking into tracking how many internships turn into long-term jobs.

    Intern Sushi advises applicants to "Be picky"; in other words, they shouldn't just go for jobs that will look good on a resume. It has placed over 1,000 of its 20,000 users in 15 cities, and it's about to go national.

斯科特•戈贝尔与瑞恩•鲍戈：打造创业联盟

机构：青年创业者理事会（Young Entrepreneur Council，YEC）

    28岁的斯科特•戈贝尔承认，对于什么才是“正式的”工作，他也不甚了解。不过，他曾经写过与此相关的文章。他与合作伙伴、同样28岁的瑞恩•鲍戈都认为，其他千禧一代应该考虑放弃所谓真正的工作。于是，他们成立了青年创业者理事会，这个组织由500名四十岁以下的企业家组成，只有获得邀请方可加入，组织的宗旨是教育、指导和引导千禧一代加入创业大军。

    据称，自2010年YEC成立以来，其联营公司，如在线社交力评定网站Klout、团购网站LivingSocial和大块头垃圾运输队（College Hunks Hauling Junk）等，创造的工作岗位已经达到20,000个。戈贝尔说：“我们需要在Y一代头脑中树立这样一种观念，即创业是一条可行的职业道路。与只比自己年长五岁、而且创业成功的前辈交流后，创业这条路就会变得更加真实、更触手可及，也更可信。”

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh

Organization: Young Entrepreneur Council

    Scott Gerber, 28, admits that he doesn't know what it's like to have a "real" job. In fact, he wrote a book about it. He and business partner Ryan Paugh, also 28, think other Millennials should consider passing on so-called real work. The pair founded the Young Entrepreneur Council -- an invite-only organization of 500 entrepreneurs all under 40 -- to educate, mentor, and introduce Millennials to the startup world.

    YEC-affiliated companies like Klout, LivingSocial, and College Hunks Hauling Junk claim to have created 20,000 jobs since the organization was founded in 2010. "We need to establish that idea that entrepreneurship is a viable career path in the [Gen Y] psyche," argues Gerber. "When you're talking to someone who is only five years older than you, someone who has really done it, it seems a lot more attainable, relatable, and plausible."