Two weeks ago I asked you what your 10 year vision looked like. Last week I asked you to consider some awkward scenarios that apply to women at work. And you already know that I don’t believe in the traditional job search or the traditional career path method.
As I do research for my book project, I’ve realized that the lovely ladies of Generation Y are changing the workplace and the definition of success more than I realized. Here are some facts to chew on:
- 85% of Gen Y women plan on remaining in the workforce after having children.
- Gen Y women love seeing other women at the top of their fields and would love to see a female president, but they don’t necessarily want to be the one leading it themselves. Why? 69% of Gen Y women would sacrifice getting to the top of their field for work life balance.
- The average Gen Y’er changes jobs 29 times in their lifetime and the average time in one job is 1.1 years.
- Surveys show that women value reaching personal goals (63%) versus professional goals (23%).
- In the Lifetime Television Women’s Pulse Poll, individuality, flexibility and, therefore, entrepreneurship was a common “ultimate career goal.”
Although I didn’t do extensive research on the career goals of Boomers or Gen X women, I imagine their career goals were much different. Perhaps they were even much simpler in that the majority felt they had to pick between climbing the corporate ladder or being a family woman.
Gen Y women have the perspective that they can have it all: a great career, a family and personal satisfaction. We believe that we can create our own version of the “American Dream” and we seek to mix passion into our work. Goodbye Miss American Pie cookie cutter American Dream.
The few statistics I’ve presented here (along with the many others I’ve been reading about) make my mind run wild with questions and excitement about how women are changing the game. We are re-creating the idyllic “successful career woman.” Although she may wear power suits, the new “Ms. Career Girl” isn’t afraid to show her femininity while doing it. She isn’t afraid to leave work early to attend to her child’s school play, and she most likely has an entrepreneurial venture in her pocket, even if she’s working full-time for someone else. A generation who has lived through Enron, September 11, a terrible real estate market and the tanking economy, isn’t about to leave their fate in the hands of someone else.
Although each Gen Y woman’s picture for success looks differently, statistics show that many of us seek to move to the top of our field while still being able to raise our kids and love what we do every day. Yes, Mom and Grandma- work really can be fun! And yes- I really can be a good Mom AND hold a job.
It’s a tall order, but when I look around at my peers who are just starting to get a foothold on their careers, I know that the amazing women of my generation will “have it all.”
How Does The New “Ms. Career Girl” Change things?
- How will companies adjust their policies to keep top performing family women at the top of their firm rather than starting their own businesses?
- When you consider working for a company, do you think about how the company would respond to you having children?
- Will there be less of a stigma for women who want to pursue the “partner track” and the “Mommy track”?
- How can marketers best reach busy, educated and career driven mothers? How is this different than generations past?
- Are you open about “wanting it all” or do you still shy away from admitting it to others?
- As the do-it-all Mom becomes more common, how will this change the Dad’s role in the family? How does it change dating and relationships?
- How will male co-workers respond to working Moms having a flexible schedule?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. We really are changing the game ladies, how exciting!
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If anyone can relate to where you're at in your career, it's Nicole Crimaldi: Nicole spent 5 years in corporate America, switched career paths, worked at a start-up, survived a layoff and is now self-employed. Nicole believes that career satisfaction is a huge part of overall happiness. Therefore, she started Ms. Career Girl to help other women get off the treadmill and onto a more fulfilling path.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post Nicole! I’m going to pass this along to some of my friends who have chosen to become stay at home mom’s but are now regretting it but feel guilty about “wanting it all”. Hopefully this mindset will help women realize that they don’t have to choose. I would love to see more women doing both the mom thing and the corporate thing, or whatever it is that makes them happy. I still freak out when I think about it because I think to myself “I have barely any time as it is, how could I possibly have time for a child?” Maybe if I have more examples then I won’t be so freaked out… especially since I’m 30 in 2 weeks and it’s getting to be about that time to start thinking about these things.
Hey Nicole!
Great post! These are the exact sentiments I have been thinking about over and over for the last few years. Having been a career girl myself along with an entrepreneurial venture on the side I have always tried to figure out how to “have it all!”
It really wasn’t until I got laid off from my full-time job that I really took to heart that it is up to me to create my future and my success…and certainly I cannot rely on putting my future in the hands of anyone else.
Although I see this shift in Gen Y’ers compared to our mothers and grandmothers, I still believe there is a larger enough population of those women on the cusp of Gen X and Y that still find security in their full time careers and believe that they don’t have the choice to live a more flexible work/life balance schedule and still be respected in the workplace. I struggle with trying to show many of my friends and family why I have chosen to go the entrepreneurial route and make it on my own! What I think they don’t understand is that going at it “alone” is not the case. So many women are out there paving the way in new endeavors and are connecting to other women & men around the country and the world sharing ideas and empowering one another to be great in whatever it is that makes them happy.
I had the pleasure of seeing Katie Couric speak this last weekend here in Minnesota, and her talk was about resilience. It was fabulous, but most importantly the take away message was, “do what you love, because life is short.” I love that, and truly believe we are poised to drastically change the work landscape in the next few years and I cannot WAIT to see how corporations and businesses react to the shift you speak of in this post.
Thanks for sharing, and best of luck on your book! I can’t wait to read it.
lol cool info man.
This post is incredibly encouraging! It’s great to see that females of my generation can get so much accomplished! I truly believe that it’s possible “to have it all”. It just takes hard work, sacrifice, and some optimism!
I was very motivated after reading your email. While I do not have children yet, it is something that I think about wondering how I will balance my career and my family while still maintaining my sanity. Sometimes simply balancing my job and sanity can be a challenge and that is without children. It also makes me wonder about how this trend towards a balanced life-work-family situation will impact males/significant others.