U.S. millennials want jobs to be development opportunities: Gallup

U.S. millennials care deeply about their development when looking for jobs and in their current roles, according to a new Gallup report.

A whopping 87 percent of millennials rate professional or career growth and development opportunities as important to them in a job.

That is significantly higher than the 69 percent of non-millennials, and the study comes at a time when companies are scrambling to learn about the work habits and mentality of this new generation -- a generation that is significantly different in the way they view work than previous ones.

Millennials range in age from the early teens to the late 20s, are tech-savvy, and are considered America's first global generation, as the group grew up on social media and the Internet, which connects them to the rest of the world more than any previous generation.

Millennials' relatively greater emphasis on development might be, in part, related to their stage of life. Gallup has found that opportunities to learn and grow is one of the top three factors in retaining millennials at a job.

Though millennials are most interested in opportunities to learn and grow, only 39 percent strongly agree that they learned something new in the past 30 days that they can use to do their jobs better.

Millennials expect these learning experiences to be valuable, but only one-third strongly agree that their most recent learning opportunity at work was "well worth" their time.

In millennials' eyes, development shouldn't only come through tenure. Millennials want managers to find ways to invest in their futures, hone their skills and coach them to become the best workers they can be -- starting today, Gallup said. Enditem