A new survey from tax, audit, and advisory service provider KPMG has found that today’s college students are entering the job market with an uncharacteristic trepidation. While it makes perfect sense because of this little recession we’ve had, it doesn’t jibe with the characteristic Generation-Y attitude. Depending on who you talk to (and their mood) Gen Yers can be described as everything from optimistic and passionate to lazy and cocky. As Generation Y graduated from college and began to enter the workplace a few years back, companies panicked. Who were these computer-savvy young adults, and why did they think it was okay to show up late to work wearing flip-flops? Would they do any work?

It’s turning out that Generation Y has a great work ethic and brings quite a bit to the table. Bruce Tulgan of RainmakerThinking identified these five characteristics:

• High expectations of self: They aim to work faster and better than other workers
• High expectations of employers: They want fair and direct managers who are highly engaged in their professional development
• Ongoing learning: They seek out creative challenges and view colleagues as vast resources from whom to gain knowledge
• Immediate responsibility: They want to make an important impact on Day 1
• Goal-oriented: They want small goals with tight deadlines so they can build up ownership of tasks

Another characteristic of Gen Yers: they don’t expect to stay in a career for very long–at least they didn’t. The recession has taken its toll on this group.

Priority Shift: Job Security Topping the List

Generation Y first started entering the workplace when things were great. There were plenty of jobs; the world was their oyster. The jump in unemployment over the past year or so has changed their tune. The KPMG survey found that, of the more than 350 students polled, 75 percent said that job security was their top priority when searching for a job–trumping pay and benefits. Not only that, but a full 69 percent of those surveyed said that are more likely to go into graduate school to avoid the harsh hiring conditions.

For a group formerly so concerned about a flexible work environment, balancing work and life (with scales tipping towards the latter), and what an employer can do for them rather than the other way around, this is a notable jump. Whether this priority change will hold remains to be seen, but the general consensus is that when the job market improves, Gen Yers will be up to their old tricks again.