Healthcare has long employed a large portion of American workers. Since the 1960s, it has steadily increased its share of jobs in the U.S. economy, and its growth shows no sign of stopping. By 2024, the U.S. government expects nearly four million more healthcare jobs to exist, a faster pace of growth and larger volume of new jobs than what’s expected in any other industry. But healthcare companies aren’t the only ones recruiting heavily.

Dear Liz, Do you know that feeling when you feel so good about yourself and so confident one minute, and then something happens and your confidence is shattered? That’s what happened to me this week. I’m job-hunting. I’ve been job-hunting for four months. That’s kind of a long time but I knew it would be a long haul. I’m a Marketing Manager in the payment-processing space.

“Well, I’m technically a millennial. But what I hear and read about millennials isn’t true of me, so I’m hesitant to call myself a millennial.” This statement, or a variation of it, comes up every time I interview an older millennial for a story. Among the 34.4 million results for “millennials” on Google are countless articles on my generation. We’ve been labeled narcissistic, entitled, and job hoppers.

Shutterstock Like many college grads, I finished school without a job lined up right away. I’d originally planned on going into international relations, but an internship at the United Nations showed me how wrong that path was for me. (Big egos and bureaucracy? No, thanks.) As my living expenses piled up post-graduation, though, I knew I had to act quickly—applying to jobs I wasn’t even sure I wanted had so far been fruitless.

Shutterstock The other day, I was scanning through resumes for one of my open positions when a co-worker dropped by to recommend a friend of hers who had applied. “He’s amazing,” she said, “and would be perfect for this role.” I went back to the applications and realized I had put him in the “probably not” pile. “I’ll talk to him,” I said, thinking that I’d have one conversation and pass.

The Centers for Disease Control predicts that by 2020, stress will be the most disabling condition Americans face, second to only heart disease. If you’re like me, after a long week at work, you might wonder what’s taking the rest of the country so long to catch up. But don’t worry yet. Looking towards the future, all this stress is igniting new thinking and fresh businesses to help us manage the upcoming Age of Anxiety.

Shutterstock Maybe you’re one of those people who wakes up one morning, decides that you’re not happy with your life, quits your job, sells your possessions and moves into a yurt outside Sedona, Arizona. For the rest of us, the revelation that we’re burning out is not quite so dramatic. Over time, work stress, financial worries, family struggles and/or health issues accumulate, dragging us down and fraying our edges bit by bit until we’re eventually just spent.

Shutterstock You’ve gotten the offer, congratulations! Maybe you’re inclined to accept. It’s been a long search, the offer seems pretty good, and if you hesitate they might just change their mind, right? Not necessarily. Nine times out of ten it’s in your interest to pause, take a short time to reflect on the job itself, and depending on what you find negotiate to get what you want.

Millennials are entitled. I’m convinced. I’m not convinced, however, that this is a bad thing. Some forms, of course, are. Narcissistic and exploitive entitlement, such as “If I’m in a hurry, people should let me move ahead in line”, are associated with manipulativeness, irresponsibility, grandiosity, neuroticism and anxiety. Such traits nearly always damage both the individual and the organization.

Shutterstock Little by little we are starting to openly acknowledge the fact that work is a weird place. It’s a mix of two energies — business and social. We try to be friendly and casual with our workmates, but we are all bound by a business rather than social connection. Bosses can be great people and terrific mentors. Still, there is a line between you and your manager that it is in your best interest not to cross.