Disillusioned, burnt out, frustrated – the classic signs of a midlife crisis. But hang on, these Kiwis are only in their 20s. Is the quarterlife crisis for real and, if so, what can career practitioners do to help? FitzBeck went in search of the answers.

Career Coach Consulting Director Melita Sharp and her team make a living helping people find their place in the world of work. A large number of her company’s clients are in their mid to late 20s, experiencing a quarterlife crisis. But can this phenomenon be for real?

“Yes, it is. Many of the people we’re seeing are around 25, they’ve gone to university, they’ve done a degree, they’ve got a few years’ experience in the field and then they find it’s not working for them. They’re very frustrated. There’s also a sense of panic that they’re letting people down, such as their parents,” says Melita.

The term ‘quarterlife crisis’ itself was coined by Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, authors of the bestselling book Quarterlife Crisis; The Unique Challenges of Life in Your 20s. The book has spawned a flourishing website for troubled 20s with all sorts of advice about job searching, handling rejection and relationships.

Melita says the quarterlife crisis exacts a real physical and emotional toll, and some of her clients are so distraught they require emotional counselling before they are ready to reassess their career options.

“One person who recently came to see us was 28 and very bright. She had been encouraged to study law by her family and teachers when she was 17 and 18, and she went off and studied and became a lawyer. You could substitute that profession for any number of other popular professions. She had been working in the field for six years and came to my office in tears. The environment she worked in was brutal. There were financial targets and she was pushed and pushed to meet them and it just wasn’t her. Working there had completely eroded her confidence. That’s a typical example of a quarterlifer doing work that was not aligned to the type of person she was.”

Melita says while the quarterlife crisis shares some similarities to midlife career dilemmas, it is also fundamentally different. Generation Y have vastly different expectations of working life from the Baby Boomer generation.

“Generation Y are not as patient as previous generations at putting up with careers that are not working for them. The Baby Boomer generation had the view of one job for life. Generation X and Y realise there is no such thing as a job for life and have discovered there’s no loyalty towards them from organisations. By 30, we find that many of them may have experienced the negative impact of restructuring and redundancy.

“Generation X and Y have also watched Baby Boomers flog themselves in the workplace and they don’t want to do that. They’ve seen the midlife crisis people such as their parents experienced and they want to avoid that. They’ve seen their parents in roles that aren’t really them or not fulfilling their potential or feeling stuck through lack of options.

“To their credit, more and more people in their 20s realise they do have options if things aren’t working for them at work. Generation X and Y realise they have choice and they are inclined to exercise those choices and that’s a positive thing.”

Melita says the motivations for career change among those who hit the wall in popular, traditional professions such as law, accountancy, medicine, business management or engineering are often values-based.

“There’s a growing emphasis among our clients on finding work that is in line with their social and environmental conscience. That is especially evident with Generation Y. They are reluctant to buy into the whole corporate mentality. Many of our clients are people who’ve come from the corporate world and are not prepared to wait 20 years to get burnt out by it. They ask me, ‘Well, what are my choices? I can either sell my soul to the devil or do what I love and get paid a pittance.’ The argument that I put to them is that there is a middle ground. You can do what you love and make a living.”

Melita says New Zealand companies looking to retain Generation Y talent need to realise that integrity is as important as money in their career decision making.

“People in their mid to late 20s aren’t just accepting any role that’s given to them. They want to work for an organisation that shares their values and that has a purpose that matches their own. Their career decisions are centred on their principles.”

The good news is that even a negative work experience can be turned into a positive force for change.

“The basis of our advice is that what you do for a living should be a reflection of who you are as a person and what your natural talents and strengths are. Ideally, that process of self-exploration and awareness should begin before young people embark on tertiary study, but the reality is many of them take longer to reach that point of maturity.

“The interesting thing is that there are lots of options for people experiencing a quarterlife crisis. When we look at who the person is, what they like and what they’re good at and explore their career purpose, that person can find the best of both worlds, something they like doing that pays well. And even if they take a drop in salary initially to retrain or change direction, because they are young they can quickly rebuild their salary level.

“Often people’s dreams are completely realistic and feasible. I’ve had people whose dream is to become a fireman or ambulance officer or safety inspector. Most people’s dreams are not over the top and flamboyant. They’re often ordinary and achievable things that people simply haven’t found a way to do. It’s about giving young people a belief that there is no right or wrong choice. People need to be empowered to act on their own choices.”

Melita says a huge factor in their favour is that modern work is based on competencies.

“Job descriptions, job interviews and key performance indicators in most New Zealand organisations are competency-based. That means people can often transfer many of their skills, which enables someone to go from being a corporate lawyer to a community mediator, or an architect to a project manager or an emergency surgeon to a business analyst in a hospital. A lot of our work is about helping people identify those transferable skills.”

Melita Sharp says it is heartening that young New Zealanders are waking up much earlier than previous generations to the downsides of a bad career choice.

“There is definitely an increasing number of quarterlifers who are realising there’s more to working life than their current job. Quite often they’ve taken the advice of their parents and followed what they think is the sensible option, studying a profession. And then they realise ‘Yes, I can do this and do it well, but it’s not me.’
“Human beings have a real need to do work that is meaningful and in line with who they are. Something that’s actually making a positive difference to the world. ”

Given that the number of tertiary students has nearly doubled over the last decade from 254,000 to 510,000 and that 60 percent of them are aged under 30, the quarterlife crisis trend looks set to continue well into the future.

“It would be great if young people understood who they are earlier, but it’s almost inevitable many will continue to make choices that aren’t them. Quarterlifers who are feeling stressed and frustrated need to stop and think about what it is that’s making them unhappy. It may not be work, but often what we do for a living is a crucial factor. I have clients who are embarrassed to admit what they do for a living because it’s not them.

“Many aspects of the quarterlife crisis are positive. It shows young people are getting smarter quicker. They’re not prepared to make the mistakes of their parents. The Baby Boomer generation has created some wonderful and beneficial changes in our society, but this age group has a different set of values. They will give something a go for three or five years but if they find it’s not working for them, they look to change even if they’re earning really good money.”