Burned-out millennials are quitting lucrative jobs

[SIZE=7]Burned-out millennials are quitting lucrative jobs[/SIZE]
By Doree Lewak

July 25, 2018 | 7:08pm

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Sarah Solomon in Hawaii.

Sarah Solomon had a pretty sweet life. The 20-something publicist was always out at fashion events, dinners and parties — and even hung out with John Legend during Fashion Week.

“It was definitely New York glamourous — the black dress, leather pants and high heels, and an hour putting on my makeup,” says Solomon. “Anyone would think I had a really fun life, meeting cool people and celebrities.”

But she yearned for something more and resented only having two weeks of vacation a year. So, last August, she quit her seemingly great job at a plum downtown p.r. firm.

“I wanted to travel more — I didn’t want to have to ask for time off and grovel for extra days, you know?” says Solomon, now 25 and living in a rental house in Kauai, Hawaii, overlooking the beach.

Over the past 10 months, she’s scaled volcanoes in Guatemala, soaked up the waterfalls of Bali, Indonesia, and basked on glorious beaches halfway around the world. She gets by doing freelance p.r. work on the road, so long as she can get decent Wi-Fi in paradise.

“I do have to budget more, but the freedom is so worth it,” she says. “There are different ways to do work . . . The world is changing.”

The traditional concept of employment is the latest thing that the ever-contrarian millennial generation is reinventing. They’re quitting their jobs, without worrying about what they’ll do next. According to a 2018 Millennial Survey by Deloitte, 43 percent of millennials expect to leave their job within two years. The trend is in line with broader shifts. According to the Labor Department, the percentage of workers (of any age) quitting their jobs reached 2.4 percent in May, the highest level in more than 16 years.

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Sarah Solomon at a PR event in NYC

“Twenty years ago I never would have seen this,” says Cat Graham, a managing partner in a human resources advisory firm who has 20 years of experience in HR. “The job market is so hot right now — unemployment is at a record low, and the war for talent is hotter than ever. There are more jobs than there are qualified candidates.”

Solomon’s boyfriend, Tim Mason, is also a quitter.

Three years ago — long before the two met — he left a good-paying job selling software at a top consulting company in New Jersey.

Sitting at work, he says, he saw his whole life flash before his eyes: 50-hour work weeks with a measly 10 days of vacation every year — and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Nothing was wrong with the job — it was a great company, good money, six figures. I was 26 and I said, ‘Why am I going to spend my 20s sitting at a desk?’ ” says Mason, now 29. “We’re waiting for retirement at 67, and they keep bumping it up — who knows what age it will be for me — 70s? I thought it was foolish not to [leave].”

And, he adds, “I was the top sales guy for three years before I left. I did the Michael Jordan thing — I went out on top.”

Mason has since traveled around the world, visiting more than 30 countries. He and Solomon met at a hostel for surfers in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, just a few days after she left New York.

“We were both chasing this dream in Nicaragua at the same time,” says Mason, who earns money by occasionally working as a scuba instructor.

He and Solomon have been in Hawaii for three months and plan to stay through the end of the summer. After that, they’re uncertain where they’ll go.

“I do plan to have kids and have somewhat of a normal life again, but it’s not something I’m really worried about now,” says Mason. If and when he does go back to a more traditional job, he says, “I need to be free to manage myself.”

Graham has a less carefree attitude and cautions against giving notice if you don’t know what you’ll do next.

“It’s smart to stretch yourself and your experiences, but it’s not smart to quit a job without a plan,” she says. “The economy will change in six months, and nothing is a guarantee.”

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Gracie Halpern

If you do decide to go hang out in Bali for a year, Graham says you have to be careful about how you spin it to potential employers when you re-enter the workforce.

“You better have a solid and authentic narrative,” she says.

And not every millennial is living their #bestlife after leaving a job.

“I quit and I have nothing lined up — and I am bugging,” says Jessica, a 35-year-old who lives in Clinton Hill and ditched her Department of Education school counselor job in June, after seven years, because she could no longer “deal.”

“I was at the point of, like, stay and wish I was dead — or leave and be full of anxiety. But at least have some sort of hope that change was a-brewing,” says Jessica, who declined to give her last name. She’s unsure of what she’ll do next and hasn’t been seriously searching for a new job.

“I’m beyond anxious — I can’t even enjoy my summer because I don’t know what’s happening with my life,” she says.

But most millennial quitters seem to have no regrets.

Last summer, Gracie Halpern, 31, ditched her six-figure gig as a copywriter at a major creative agency and hasn’t looked back.

While she was flush with cash and had the external trappings of a successful life, she felt empty in her old job.

“I had all this money, but I spent it all on therapy and healers,” she says. “I started having these panic attacks where I’d wake up and think, ‘This can’t be my life’ — I was stressed and overworked. I was so scared [to leave] with nothing lined up.”

She gave up her Lower East Side apartment and headed to Bali.

“I read an article online about where you should travel solo based on your zodiac sign — I’m a Pisces — and didn’t really have a plan,” she says. She went on to spend five months in India before returning to the States.

Now, she’s back in her native Northern California, living with her family, freelancing in the advertising world and taking an online career coaching class. While she’s unsure of her next move, she’s at peace.

“The future is unknown and sometimes that feels scary in the West,” she muses. But “life is so short, and the world is so big . . . living an alternative life is possible — our narrow version of success is just that: narrow. ”

I can totally relate. I quit my safe permanent job and everyone thought I had lost my marbles. I knew I was doing the right thing for me and no I did not a boyfriend to support me if things went tits up. I needed to do it and could not leave fast enough. Thankfully we were being ‘paid’ to leave in the name of VER. After 3 months in my house…waking up when I could be bothered etc…I decided it is time to get going and look for something totally different. Fortunately or unfortunately I landed back in the same industry but as a Contractor. The 1st contract was meant to be for 8 weeks but it lasted for 8 months. I quit and came home and chilled for a while, gorra say I was bored towards the end as everyone is busy during the day and I am not used to kutembelea watu anyways. Came back and got the current post which was to last 3 months. It is well over a year now. Post has been advertised now and while I will miss my colleagues… think it is time to tembeza kiatu kwingine…I am behind these millennials.

watu watembee

I left too and it was not the end of the world. Its not easy to drop a well paying job without a plan though.

Point to note: you will lose a lot of friends and get to know the evil side of your family members.

And then you rise up from the ashes like a Phoneix and fly so high wananyongwa na kiwaru moto everytime they see you…their faces covered in deep shame.

Japan nitatembea one day one time come rain or sunshine.

Yote tisa…Bora uhai.

Cicero alisema

It is foolish to tear one’s hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.

@Mrs Shosho, are you based in UK?

Unakuwanga US ama huko kwa mad cow? Try doing defense contracting.

Millennials (those born between 1981-1996)
often born as only child or with only one sibling, are very different from Gen X (those born between 1965 to 1984)
Millennials have no appetite for accumulation of wealth if it comes at the end of great exertion and struggling. They’re comfortable having sugar mummies or being the apron wearer in the relationship. They will crash at their friends sofa for a whole year if their friend let’s them. They don’t care to start a family because they don’t want the struggle associated with it.
The just DGAF about 70% of the things the previous generation cared about. Things like mburotis, kamwako, kamugunda, kuracia etc etc The girls in this generation don’t give 2 shits about being a lady in the traditional sense. They don’t care for cooking perfection or the roles reserved for ladies. They will act as if their pregnancy is the alpha and omega of pregnancies.
Millennials are just different

it’s all fun and games until bills come knocking. Anyway, I quit my job and I have no regrets, my long term goal and vision is greater than a monthly paycheque

apana ako Uthero kiamaiko

Yes I am.

Huku kwa crazy Theresa May. US siwezi kaa. V harsh place. Long working hours, silly policies, healthcare ya kulipa, few leave days…and icing on the cake…Trump. Tell me more about defence contracting ama send me some links (asking for kilo-).

Na Mushatha kule nimefungua salon just ask Meria. BTW Timo how did Kiamaiko and Uthiru become one region?

Hizo lucrative jobs ziko wapi pia mimi nikuwe burnt out?

Uthiru kino!!

Wacha nizidi kuishi Kwa comfort zone where I can access unsecured loans,nyumba silipi ,fare silipi ,yote tano napata extra kitunguu kutoka kwenyu.

ningekuwa civil servant sai ningekuwa mbirrionaire.

Afande, naona maisha apana mbaya, next time ukiwa south b kuja ninunue kanyama na a few cold ones

@ Mrs Shosho twende inbox.

@ Okonkwo, inategemea na kazi ile unafanya ama department. Kuna kona zingine ukiwekwa utakonda