Burnt Out & Undervalued: The truth about Young Professionals

Too many Young Professionals are burnt out and undervalued.

This is a report on the results of a Snapshot Survey I recently carried out. This survey is a short (10 questions) anonymous, web-based survey of Young Professionals aged between 21 and 32 conducted in April 2017 in the UK.

Burnt Out and Undervalued

With a 76% positive response, the survey confirms that Young Professionals are defined by their career and that career success is very important to this age group. Yet only half of Young Professionals feel that their career is following the path they want to take, probably because only a third believe they actually know how to make their career successful.

This means that the majority (two thirds) are probably floundering around hoping for someone to rescue them. They know what they want but they do not have the know-how to get them there. In other words, a ‘Career Void’.

Individuals are now expected to be responsible for their careers. Sadly however, the majority of Young Professionals still struggle to discuss their career aspirations with their manager. They really need to wake up and take control, especially the 27% of respondents who work for organisations that do nothing to support their career development.

The lucky third who work for an employer who is actually supporting their career development may not realise just how truly fortunate they are.

The Importance of Career Resilience

Career resilience is the capability for this generation to apply themselves and create an outstanding career combined with the capacity to cope with the pressures and demands that are endemic to the workplace today. In this context, we are very concerned to find that more than 25% of respondents are not coping with the pressure and demands very well at all. They are in danger of becoming burnt out.

Feeling energised and motivated by work is a key driver of wellbeing yet only half of this population experience this. Combine all these factors – the lack of capacity to cope and the failure to feel energised and motivated by work – and I would suggest that around a quarter of this age group may well be putting themselves at risk of becoming burnt out, if not already on the road to burnout – putting their health and career on the line.

It saddens me deeply to see from these results that so many highly driven, aspirational and talented Young Professionals are in danger of losing a career into which they have invested so much of their life and energy. At the same time their employers are in grave danger of losing talent by their failure to support them.

Without question this demonstrates the importance of my first book: How To Have An Outstanding Career, which was published on 8th May. A book that not only defines how Young Professionals can generate success for themselves but also addresses this essential topic of wellbeing and balance.

Young Professionals can have it all, but they need to know the important things that will ensure success and they need to balance this so that they don’t crash and become burnt out along the way.