The New Confidence About Quitting Their Careers

Why Working Wore Thin

So why has ordering sheets and stirring sauces taken on more allure than making vice president by age 30? Probably because so few career women do land an awesome title quickly. Work is, well, work—it's just not as glam as we're led to believe. " Twentysomethingshave higher expectations for their jobs and are therefore more easily frustrated and prone to calling it quits," says Buckingham, who blames the kick-ass economy and specter of dot-com billionaires for accelerating their antsyness. "People feel less of a need to 'pay their dues.' Some think they should be running the com­pany almost instantly, and if they aren't, then it may not be worth it."

But beyond the craving for prestige and a stratospheric salary, the main thing many women expected to feel—and did not—about their professions is passion. "Women today think they shouldn't set­tle and should really love what they do, whether it's practical or not," says Buck­ingham. Erica, the aforementioned in­vestment banker, couldn't agree more. "I chose my career because I thought it would be exciting and challenging. Yes, it pays well, but it's not personally rewarding — I can be cutting a million-dollar deal, but I don't really care one bit. My real life exists outside the office, and I spend many nights trying to figure out how I can change this and quit wasting my days." And since women have tradi­tionally kept the home fires burning while their blokes brought home the bacon, more and more disillusioned dames are plotting to jump right back into that role.

Does he want a housewife?

500 men weigh in on whether they want to be the sole breadwinner.

Sure, some women want to stay home, but how do guys feel about their partner's domestic drive? Of the 500-plus men we polled, a whopping 70 percent said they'd be more than happy to have their spouse keep house. Typically, they said they'd be proud to be able to support their wife so well. However, more than two-thirds of these breadwinner-wanna­bes said they only prefer her home when kids enter the picture. As one respondent noted: "What would she do all day without kids? She'd get bored...and things happen when boredom sets in. She'd most likely sleep with her tennis instructor."

Don't these women fear that once they hop off the hectic whirl of the office world, they won't be able to get back on if they need to? Actually, surveys show that they're fairly blasé about it. "Women these days are more confident that if they leave the job market, they can reenter at any point," says Heather Stone, presi­dent of myjobsearch.com, an online ca­reer guide. " There's not as much of a stigma around being out of die workforce for a few years as there used to be."

Would-be quitters count on the boom­ing economy — and the current labor shortage - to keep their butts covered. "Companies are less likely to be picky and pass over a slightly rusty candidate," says Howard Fullerton, senior demographic statistician at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C. " Baby boomers will be retiring, leaving a huge gap in the labor force. " Plus, in today’s en­trepreneurial environment in which even a certain Ms. Lewinsky has started her own handbag business, women feel they can hatch a creative way to get by. Truth is, today’s young talent has so many work options (full-time, part-time, freelance, or from-home) that they think they can simply work whenever they want to. Of course, their freewheeling lifestyle is con­tingent on their husbands putting their nose to the grindstone. And given that many guys have the same start-your-own-company craving, Buckingham warns that some men might resent the pressures of being trapped in the breadwinner role.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29