Driven generation hits 'quarter-life crisis'

They were some of the country's most talented graduates who were fast-tracked into glittering careers - yet by the age of 30 they had hit a "quarter-life" crisis. Bogged down with debt and disillusioned with their jobs, the latest generation of professionals has become desperate to jump off the career ladder.

They were some of the country's most talented graduates who were fast-tracked into glittering careers - yet by the age of 30 they had hit a "quarter-life" crisis. Bogged down with debt and disillusioned with their jobs, the latest generation of professionals has become desperate to jump off the career ladder.

Eight out of ten successful young people who have striven to rise to the top of their professions for a decade were deep in the throes of a crisis by the time they are in their late twenties, a study has found.

The survey, which questioned 1,000 men and women aged from 25 to 35, revealed that nearly half of the professionals interviewed felt "stuck" in a career. Most were unfulfilled but felt they had amassed too many debts to leave.

Nearly 90 per cent wanted careers which would add purpose to their lives, yet 59 per cent said their jobs failed to meet this criteria.

The group complained of being treated like "corporate machines" at their workplace and felt that their office achievements had no bearing or value on the real world.

The research by Common Purpose, a leadership development organisation, suggested that the disillusioned young masses were in danger of leading a "brain drain".

Employers who failed to nurture young talent were cited as a reason for the office ennui.

The report, called Searching for Something, said organisations were most likely to lose their talented young employees at the danger age of 30.

Julia Middleton, the chief executive of Common Purpose, said: "These findings are a warning shot for employers. Emerging leaders want to make a good living, but they also want to make a difference. These are young people who collected bottle tops for Blue Peter and who got involved in environmental campaigns at university and then they get to work and they are expected to switch that side of them off because they are 'grown-up' now.

"They are a bright lot and they feel a yearning to make a mark on the world but their employers never bother telling them that what they are doing is a vital and important part of the world. They need to feel more than a machine at work.

"Employers who invest time in providing opportunities for their fast-trackers to explore how society works and get engaged in the wider world will hang on to their talent. Those who force young managers to choose between work and making a difference won't," she said.

The study found that 56 per cent of disaffected high fliers said they were only continuing in their careers to pay off debts. More than half admitted that they were looking for a new job and more than a quarter hoped to change working environments within the year.

Nearly nine out of ten said they were seeking careers that fulfilled their potential at work as well as adding a sense of "purpose" to their lives.

Ms Middleton, 46, said that unlike the older generation of professionals, who regarded their formative years at work as "serving their term" and put their employers' wishes above their personal fulfilment, today's fast-trackers were not prepared to make such a compromise.

"When I started my first job 25 years ago, we had a staff meeting in which - to my total horror - the whole office stood and applauded an employee who had worked while his wife was in labour. There would have been an outcry if that had been allowed to happen today," Ms Middleton said.

From PR executive to writer: 'I did love my job, but I was taken over by work'

Cathie Brett was clambering to the top of the career ladder when she was in her late twenties.

As a Cambridge graduate, she was well-educated with a good job in public relations. But after her 30th birthday, Ms Brett decided to quit a career that did not allow her the time and energy to fulfil her life ambition of writing a book.

Despite a massive salary cut - which forced her to move to a cheaper property - she feels much happier working part-time at a call centre to finance her career as a novelist.

Ms Brett, 31, from Stockon-on-Tees, said she felt her high-pressure job in PR hindered the achievement of her life objectives. "After university, there was an expectation for me to have a proper career, and I thought I could combine my day job with writing my book. For years, I accepted what I was doing and just thought, 'This is how life is.' I was working long hours and I could not really be myself."

Ms Brett's day in PR began at 8.30am and her workload meant she sometimes found herself stuck at the office at 8pm. "I enjoyed it but I felt completely taken over by work. Now I go for long walks with my dog and I have the time and freedom to nurture my ideas. I do sometimes see something I could easily have bought that I can't possibly afford now but when I'm walking through a forest, thinking about ideas, I realise I could never have bought that time."