You have obtained a new position, your salary has increased or your career is slowly progressing. However, sometimes it is enough to see the announcement of a promotion on a professional social network for doubt to set in. Am I really in the right place? An investigation of myperfectCV conducted among 1,000 American employees shows that this feeling of being behind affects a large proportion of workers.
Why do so many employees feel like they are falling behind?
The first figure sets the tone: nearly three out of four employees believe they are not ahead of the objectives they had set for themselves. Among them, 34% really feel behind. The situation doesn’t really improve when looking outwards.
Compared to people in their age group, 75% of respondents say they are not ahead and 36% even say they have the feeling of being behind. However, 39% consider themselves simply average. The feeling of delay can therefore set in without a professional career necessarily being at a standstill.
This impression is also explained by a habit that has become common: 53% of participants say they compare their professional development to that of their friends or peers at least from time to time. For some, this reflex is much more present, since 27% say they do it often or constantly.
Promotions, salary increases or arrival in a new position then become points of comparison that are difficult to ignore. More than one in two employees, or 52%, feel at least some pressure when the people around them take these steps.
Promotions, salary and professional success no longer define everything
This pressure does not mean, however, that all workers still pursue the same career ideal. On the contrary, the survey shows that their definition of success is evolving.
More than half of the employees surveyed, or 53%, now explain that they associate success more with balance, health or job stability. Conversely, only 10% say they have redirected their ambitions towards advancement or professional growth.
The level of income still remains the first element cited to measure its success, with 47% of responses. Work-life balance comes just behind, at 42%, ahead of the meaning or impact of work, mentioned by 32% of respondents.
Job title or seniority seem to weigh less: only 22% cite them among the elements that most influence their feeling of success. A development which creates a fairly clear contrast with the most visible signals of professional success, often reduced to a promotion or a new position.
Social media can reinforce the feeling of being late
Social media adds a new layer to this constant comparison. Among respondents, 65% follow career content online.
However, 60% of these people believe that social networks give an unrealistic image of professional success. Despite this critical outlook, announcements of promotions, salary increases or job changes remain omnipresent in news feeds and can serve as benchmarks for evaluating one’s own career.
The survey therefore reveals a situation where career is no longer measured solely in terms of the objectives set at the start. Workers also look at themselves through the journey of their friends, colleagues and people of their generation, while giving increasing importance to balance and stability.