Mid-Career

Mid-careerists are often between the ages of 35 and 45, but this term can apply to people of any age who have worked for a while in the same job or industry. If you are in this category you might have found your career has plateaued or stalled - perhaps due to the ladder being squeezed, or a lack of new and challenging roles or projects. If this is you, you might be finding your working life is unfulfilling - signs of this are boredom, anxiety about going to work or simply having trouble making the effort.

Some mid-careerists have achieved their ambitions by this time and might be wanting to scale back a bit. Others might be having difficulties with superiors and/or colleagues, or are feeling frustrated at being passed over for a promotion or other opportunity.

For a lot of mid-careerists, family and other pressures can create work-life balance issues. Perhaps you would like to start a family, or spend more time with the kids. Perhaps you would like to move to a new location, travel or take up a hobby but are finding your work life is overtaking all your other plans. this is a classic mid-careerist problem.

Another problem mid-careerists find is that younger colleagues might be advancing more quickly, perhaps because they are more qualified or have been fast-tracked.

For this group, finding the time to change things is usually the biggest issue to overcome, but if you don't do this, life will get away from you and you will look back in ten years time and wonder where the time went.

If you are in this age group but feel you are yet to get into a career, take a look at the Late-Starters page.