Yesterday, Citi and LinkedIn released the results of their fourth annual survey “Today’s Professional Woman Report“.
This year’s survey was conducted among a sample of more than 1000 professional women and men, and -like every year- it was inspired by discussions on Citi’s LinkedIn Group “Connect: Professional Women’s Network“.
The results indicate that career satisfaction is a moving target and the definition of career success is changing. See the infographic below for details.
The key finding of this study is that career success doesn’t necessarily mean happiness, as most professionals believe that their career will peak in the next 2 to 20 years (depending on their current age), but the happiest point in their career was several years ago.
On the question about when they think their career will peak, most professional women replied at the age of 53, while men expect to reach the peak at the age of 55.
Grouping by generation, Millennials expect to reach the top at the age of 43 and their happiest point was at the age of 28. Baby Boomers on the other hand, believe their career peak will be at 62, while their happiest moment was at 49.
Here’s what Linda Descano, CFA®, President and CEO of Women & Co., said about these results: “The survey illustrates that career satisfaction and success are not just end goals – they’re both moving targets.”
On another note, while only a 17% defined career progress as a salary increase, 58% of men and 52% of women equal career satisfaction with a “good salary”. – For women it was equally important to doing what they love and being challenged.
Furthermore, women were asked a series of questions about their financial and career concerns. The good news is that financial issues are less of a concern for women this year. Compared to Today’s Professional Woman Report of 2013, the number of women who were concerned with paying off student loans has dropped from 46% to 35%, with saving for retirement from 56% to 46%, and with paying off credit card debt from 35% to 30%.
When they were asked what the most significant indicator of women’s progress in the workplace would be, 1/3 said “elimination of the gender wage gap”. Men replied “the end of the need for the ‘women in the workplace’ conversation”, and 31% of women agreed.
On achieving goals, 37% of women said they achieved their professional goals this year and 84% of the ones who asked for a raise last year, received it.
What do you value most to feel satisfied with your career?
Today’s Professional Woman Report Infographic:
Infographic source: Women & Co. blogData source: Press Release
