Career Progress Is Lacking For Three Out of 10 Workers

Of those workers are not happy, 42% plan to leave their current positions, with 28% expecting to change jobs before the end of the year. Not surprisingly, more than half of workers who are dissatisfied with their career progress are not enthusiastic about going to work each day and say they work under a great deal of stress. More than two-thirds of these workers are dissatisfied with pay and more than one-third are actively looking for a new job on a daily or weekly basis according to a survey of more than 1,600 workers completed in August 2004 by CareerBuilder.com.

When asked why they are not happy with their current situation workers cited lack of career advancement opportunities, lack of appropriate training and experience, inadequate direction from supervisors, a challenging economy and a lack of support from their present employer as the main reasons. For example, 27% of workers feel their current organizations do not offer much opportunity to move up the company ladder, one-in-four workers report they have been overlooked for a promotion this year.

Also, 18% say they do not have the proper schooling and hands-on experience to reach career goals, while 15% say their supervisors do not provide effective mentoring and instruction to help them develop and improve and 7% say they do not have a solid support network at their organizations. Ten percent feel a challenging economy is to blame for closing some doors and making it difficult to advance career plans.