What do Gen Y and Gen X workers really want out of their careers? In a workplace? In terms of work-life balance? People are aware of these concerns, challenges, and opportunities. But who exactly is talking about these young careerists?

All too often, it seems that Baby Boomer managers are defining the characteristics of these younger generations, emphasizing how these younger colleagues dress down at work, turn their noses up at mundane office tasks, or listen to iTunes and instant message while at work.

For example, A USA Today article from 2005 quotes Bruce Tulgan, a founder of the research institute RainmakerThinking, which studies young people, as saying that members of Gen Y have been “pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, meaning they are both high-performance and high-maintenance.”

How accurate is this depiction? Certainly any characterization of entire generations will be exactly that—a caricature. But it seems as though most of the discussion about young careerists is generated by people who are not young careerists. (Exceptions always exist, such as the irreverent blog Brazen Careerist, which defines itself as a “career center for Gen Y.”)

BPW Foundation wants to give young careerists themselves a chance to talk about these issues. This dialogue must, of course, always reach across generations, because everyone is impacted by generational differences, tensions and strengths in the workplace. But we want to engage with young careerists not only to finally hear what they think, but also to help their older colleagues and managers better understand what makes them tick—and what doesn’t.

BPW Foundation is developing some exciting new publications and projects focusing on these issues, including:

• An extensive research project to partner with a focus group of prominent employers to find out about their experiences with Gen X and Gen Y employees, as well as a survey of a range of young careerists to hear in their own words what’s important to them.
• A series of catchy “Top 10 Things Every Young Careerist Should Know” articles that offer practical tips about career advancement, workplaces and work-life balance specifically related to the concerns of young careerists.
• A down-and-dirty “how-to” for young careerists who are just graduating from college and about to begin their first “real” jobs, to address many of the issues, questions and hurdles they feel ill-prepared to handle.

Now tell us: what do you think? And what do you want to know about young careerists?