Jobs: The quarter-life career crisis

By Laura Raines

For the AJC

We’ve all heard about the midlife crisis, but many young workers go through a career crisis much earlier. Finding a job isn’t the only challenge facing recent college grads.

“Many people with jobs are searching for the right career path,” said Hallie Crawford, an Atlanta certified career coach and founder of Create Your Career Path. Her focus is on clients in their 20s and early 30s.

While the details are individual, the general scenario runs like this: Young people go to college, choose a major and graduate.

“They get a job, excited to be in the adult working world and independent, only to find that the work is not what they expected,” Crawford said.

“It’s embarrassing to admit to their parents that they made a mistake and they don’t know where to get help," she said. "As time passes, they feel more frustrated, unsettled and lost.”

Crawford has been there. After graduating from Vanderbilt University with a communications degree, she worked five different jobs by the time she was 27. Finally, she took a career workshop, where she was fascinated by what the coach did. Exploring the field, she got training and launched her coaching practice almost nine years ago.

“I feel lucky that since my late 20s I’ve been doing something that I love,” she said.

She helps others learn about themselves and set career goals through a process of self-reflection, exercises and assessments.

Gretchen Cleveland got her education degree and began teaching high school English, only to learn that she hated the regulations and restrictions of the education system.

“I wasn’t enjoying my job, and it was affecting my personal life," Cleveland said. "It was scary and confusing because I thought I had a plan, and now I needed to go back and figure out a new route.”

Cleveland, who knew Crawford in college, went to one of her exercises to discover paths for her strengths and skills.

She decided to go to law school and is now practicing corporate law in Madison, Wis.

“Law may seem like an odd choice, but I’m using my skills and I get to help small businesses and corporations get to where they want to go,” Cleveland said.

Not everyone needs a total makeover, Crawford said. Sometimes people are just in the wrong company, the wrong job description or the wrong environment.

After nine years, Cassie Gokey felt in a rut working for her consumer packaging company. She had had numerous promotions, but the company culture had changed. Stressed by the hours and bored with the work, she felt stuck.

“Hallie asked me to visualize what I wanted my career and life to look like in 20 years," Gokey said. "When she asked what the future me would think about my present job, the answer was obvious. I knew she’d say: ‘Just make a change. What are you waiting for?’ ”

Now in a business development role with AHP LLC, a Duluth-based manufacturer of disposable diapers, Gokey has moved out of her comfort zone.

“I like the challenges of working with an up-and-coming brand. There are a lot of unknowns, and that’s exciting,” she said.

She sees others in jobs they dislike. Some quit and go back to school. Others settle for the steady paycheck rather than take the risk of changing gears.

“The quarter-life crisis is pretty common,” Gokey said. “I guess the good thing is that it may be more acceptable to be in flux earlier in your career.”

Elizabeth Mann, a sales manager with Juice Studios, a corporate event and meeting business in Midtown, said young people often feel like they have to make the right choice immediately.

“I’ve learned that there are many options, and getting to know yourself and what you want takes time," she said. "If you make a wrong choice, it’s not the end of the world. You’re more resilient than you think.”

Planning her sorority graduation party at Elon University in 2002 led Mann to discover her passion for event planning. Her degree was in finance, but she managed to land a job with a leading Atlanta destination-planning company and to move up quickly. Hitting a plateau five years later, she left a high-paying job to take her sales skills to a company that did commercial leasing. It was a frustrating 18 months.

“It taught me that my heart was in event planning,” Mann said.

In trying to get back to her field, she learned a lot about herself.

“Having the broader perspective of not just working, but working toward a goal, gave me more confidence to keep looking,” she said. “When Juice Studios sought me out, I could see that the company’s fresh ideas and teamwork approach was a good fit.”

Career-planning guides

“Now What?: The Young Person’s Guide to Choosing the Perfect Career,” by Nicholas Lore, 2008.

“The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success,” by Nicholas Lore, 1998.

“Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type,” by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron, 2007.

Source: Hallie Crawford