There’s a good chance that at least half of your employees are thinking about a new job. Half of working Americans would consider changing their career and 25 percent are planning to make a career change in the next 12 months, according to a study by the Illinois-based Career Education Corporation.
The survey – conducted among a national sample of 682 employed adults – also shows that only 3 percent of working adults are satisfied with their current job.
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According to the survey, Americans rank the opportunity to make more money (29.5 percent) as their number one reason for changing careers. Personal happiness is second (23.7 percent) in importance. Job satisfaction (6.5 percent) and better hours (3.6 percent) ranked third and fourth, respectively.
“At the end of the day, people want more money,” said John M. Larson, president and chief executive officer of Career Education Corporation. Larson said workers are no longer looking for “cradle to grave jobs.”
“This survey underscores how dramatically attitudes in the workforce have changed in recent years,” Larson said. “Americans don’t fear career change – they embrace it.”
The results of the study do not surprise Terence Duniho, a Providence-based career consultant. Duniho, who has operated Career Designs for more than 20 years, suggests that at least 80 percent of working Americans are not necessarily happy with what they do.
“They just do it,” he said.
And often, he said, the decision to make a career move is made by the employer, not employee.
“Unfortunately, it is usually something pushing them out the door,” Duniho said. “But about one-third of the time, they have awakened to the fact that they don’t really fit where they are.”
Too often, Duniho said, people stay with a career that is not fulfilling, in part because they fear change.
“It can be scary, when you begin to home in on what you would really enjoy,” Duniho said. “It is often something you have known your whole life, but have put aside. And if you go after that one thing that you would enjoy better than anything else and fail So people often take the easy road, but find out that it’s not always easier.”
Larson suggests that more workers than ever are beginning to search for those careers that are a better fit.
“They’re working to improve their lives significantly by developing the career skills they need to advance in the new economy,” Larson said. There is a message in the study results for employers, Larson said.
“If you have a job that is in demand, you better pay them for it or they will go someplace else,” he said.
Among the key findings of the study:
More than half of the survey respondents (54 percent) said they have changed careers. Of these, 60 percent obtained additional education or training to prepare for their new careers. More than three-quarters (76 percent) reported their earnings have increased, with 15 percent saying their earnings have at least doubled.
Among Americans who have considered a career change, nearly half (47 percent) of those making $50,000 or more a year said they have considered it, compared to the 63 percent earning less than $15,000.
Only 2 percent of respondents said they were afraid of learning the technology needed to start a new career. Age was the primary reason named for making a career change difficult.
“The trend we see among career changers is that they want more control over their future,” Larson said.
Duniho recommends that workers keep that one seemingly critical factor – money — in perspective.
“Some people want to make a move for money,” he said. “But I tell them to go somewhere else. I’m about getting people on track with their lives.”
Taking the safe road, the job that may be more stable but less than challenging, does not necessarily ensure long-term success, he said.
“Life is really hard,” Duniho said. “It is hard to go after that one thing that really fits. The devil you know may seem easier – but it often isn’t.”
