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Quarter-life crisis or just Tough Choices - Quarter-life crisis or just Touch Choices |
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Written by Erin Frustaci and McClatchy Tribune
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Thursday, 16 November 2006 |
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Page 1 of 5
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By Erin Hooley |
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Chances are Shelly Hill, 36, of Fort Collins won’t have that mid-life crisis everyone talks about. To a certain extent, she’s been there done that — and yes, moved on.
Like many students, Hill worked at a restaurant through college.
“There was a lot of pressure from my family to get a real job,” she said.
She had no idea what she wanted to do. When she graduated with a liberal arts degree, she got a job with the Namaqua Center, a residential treatment center in Loveland for kids who are abused. This prompted her to go back to school to get her masters in special education.
“It was a natural progression and I really loved it,” she said.
However, after working as a special education teacher for the Fort Collins school district, Hill started feeling the effects of the job.
“I hit a wall one day when child protection services came to one of my classes,” she said. “The stress was just too much. I had an epiphany and realized the stress wasn’t good for me. It was traumatizing for me to stand by and watch people being abused and know that I was the most stable person in their lives. A few kids in my class had gone through the unimaginable. I decided I wanted to make a career change.”
Hill was not alone. In fact, many of her friends were going through the same thing. Some went back to grad school and others also made career changes.
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GROWING DISCONTENT
 Career confusion and frustration are growing sentiments among 20-somethings — so much so that an entire crop of ”Quarterlife Crisis” books have appeared in bookstores, offering life and job advice.
Hill hit the 30 mark and asked herself, “Is this where I want to be?”
She began evaluating her life and writing down goals in a journal.
“I do think setting goals and looking into the future with a sense of wonder is exciting,” she said. “Writing my goals down got me one step closer to making them happen.”
A recent study on aging and job satisfaction shows that young workers, ages 18 to 34, are more “extremely dissatisfied” with their jobs than any other age group.
Nearly half feel burned out and one in four are seeking an entirely new career.
“My hypothesis would be that once people are in middle-age they have different priorities, said Ann Malen, director of the career center at Colorado State University.
“They have other priorities like family and children. Careers are still important, but they have other priorities.”
Robert Morison, co-author of the 7,700-person survey and executive vice president of the Texas-based business management Concours Group, says today’s 20-somethings have unusually high expectations because of the way they grew up: during a time of economic prosperity, seeing young adults making easy fortunes during the tech bubble of the 1990s.
Since then, the bubble has burst, job and salary growth has slowed and positions have moved overseas.
Yet young workers still want high salaries, quick promotions and moderate work hours. They have big student debts, face soaring housing costs and are suspicious of big corporations.
In the 2005-2006 school year, 63 percent of students at CSU received financial aid. This comes as no surprise given the rise in tuition. Between 1999-2000 and 2006-2007, resident undergrad tuition increased 48 percent, while nonresident undergrad tuition increased 50 percent.
Tuition hikes and soaring credit card debt can add financial pressure come job search time.
Dawn Duncan, co-owner of Creative Career Connections in Fort Collins, said college systems don’t educate students enough on their market value.
“People of all levels have a propensity to think, ‘What’s in it for me?’ and employers think what’s in it for them,” she said.
Median wages for male, full-time workers ages 20 to 24 have fallen by 25 percent since 1975 when adjusted for inflation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
At the same time, in the past 20 years, young adults with debt have seen the amount they owe nearly triple, according to Federal Reserve statistics also adjusted for inflation.
Malen said the career center tries to get students to think about finances realistically. Though it’s important to pay off student loans, it’s equally important to have a satisfying career.
“Don’t get lured by big dollars because if you know right from the beginning it is a job you are going to hate, it won’t matter how much money they are throwing at you,” Malen said.
The upside of this phenomenon: What makes this generation spoiled also makes them smart. Morison said these high expectations, when combined with a bit of patience, could eventually make today’s young workers happier and healthier than generations before.
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GENERATIONS X AND Y WANT IT ALL
 They’d like to make big bucks. But after watching their parents work long hours, forgo vacations and, in the end, face large cuts in benefits and Enron-like scandals, experts say today’s 20-somethings have all but given up on job security and are looking for a career that offers much more than money.
Namely, they want a career that fulfills a personal talent or calling while also allowing them to have time for their family and friends.
Yet choosing the right career from the get go is not always easy. For a lot of students, college is an automatic path to adulthood and having so many choices can cause confusion.
Malen, career advisor at CSU, said it isn’t uncommon for students to change majors four or five times. The CSU career center sees about 35,000 students in an appointment setting, 10,000 in workshop settings and 6,000-7,000 in career fairs annually.
“We try to help them get more focused on what they ultimately want to do and match that to a major,” Malen said. “Employers are looking to hire skill sets rather than a major.”
Duncan, of Creative Career Connections said students must realize the importance of real world experience.
“If kids in college don’t do internships, it can be very jarring when they enter a job,” Duncan said. “Kids should also get involved in high school and not wait until the end of college to get experience in an area that interests them.”
For Hill, learning did not end at graduation.
“A degree will open doors for you, but the key is to become a life learner,” she said. “People who open themselves up to learning live richer lives.”
Hill’s career change marked a time for personal growth. She applied to film school, but after not getting in, she pursued her real estate license. Now when she talks about her job with The Group Inc., she glows with excitement. She is still involved with the Namaqua Center, serves on the board of directors and continues to take various classes.
“I had no idea I’d have the success I’ve had,” she said. “A lot of cool things have happened to me. It was really scary (to make the change), but worth everything.”
McClatchy-Tribune contributed to this story.
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