How to address professional midlife crisis & build a portfolio career?

Mid-career crisis. (Photo: Mulyadi via Unsplash)

I am what they call a geriatric/ senior/ past-her-prime millennial. No, I am not 40 yet, but where work is concerned I could be 60. It has nothing to do with my energy or enthusiasm. The opportunities I now receive (or don’t) have changed. Is this what they call the midlife crisis, I keep asking myself. But then, isn't the midlife crisis projected to either be a period of financial stability and prosperity plagued by inner struggle to find ‘the real meaning of life’. Or, going slightly back in time (let’s say the Jane Austen period) where middle age is when one is almost nearing the grave. Turns out, none of these definitions or descriptions accurately depict middle age in this era. I almost feel like, ‘the best is yet to come’.

Strangely enough, middle age in our era is uniquely juxtaposed with adversity and opportunity, unlike potbellied prosperity or geriatric gloom as projected in history. On the one hand, this is a time when someone can peak in their career and, on the other hand, people who have peaked or plateaued are choosing to walk away. This is the new emancipation where professionals in their middle ages are getting picky, prefer to just do their jobs and not wanting to indulge in office politics, long meetings or RTO (return to office). The fact that companies are now open to new models of work is the opportunity and not wanting to work on anyone else’s terms is the adversity of our time.

Take for example, Sreya Vittaldev, a marketing communications professional from Bengaluru. At 32, she is consulting a noteworthy restaurant chain in Bengaluru. When I saw her tweet about it, it looked like Sreya had made it. A better role may not exist. Sreya had broken the norm and instead of a conventional job, had started up. Says Sreya about her decision to move to consulting, 'startups are really hard to work for. In my 30s, I wanted stability and peace of mind.' While Sreya was lucky enough to find an opportunity, many millenials I know want to step out of the bandwagon.

Why are mid-career professionals having a hard time?

1) Jobs of the future are not created and they are holding on to jobs that might be dying
2) Toxic working conditions are making professionals plateau faster
3) The case of too much or too little money (too much when they hold high positions in startups and too little in many other fields). Too much money makes it hard to move and too little makes it hard to leave
4) Women in these ages particularly returning mothers have a hard time coming back — due to lack of commensurate opportunities or ageism or both. According to a study conducted by the Genpact Centre for Women’s Leadership 50 per cent of working women in India leave their jobs to take care of their children at the age of 30. Yet, only 27 per cent return.
5) Ageism is catching up. Across Asia, people between 40-45 are facing a barrier to be able to find new high paying jobs or even salary jumps than there were in their early to mid thirties.

A prominent VC Partner from Bengaluru shares on the condition of anonymity, ‘middle-aged career plateau is extremely prominent and an equally sensitive topic. We have more options than our parent’s generation did. That adds to the problem.’ Essentially it comes down to three questions.

1) Does my current career path minimise my downside?
2) Does my current career path maximise my upside?3) Does it optimise my life satisfaction?

Introspection happens when people start thinking if they are reaching their full professional potential — financially and through personal fulfilment. Though there is a constant murmur (in most people this age), ‘I am doing well, but am not happy.’ In such cases, mid-career professionals are taking up more side projects or consulting gigs. What is also prevalent is companies starting due to the Founders’ career plateauing or even Angel Investments happen due to this phenomena. Says the VC Partner, ‘there is not much of a financial motivation there, but to live vicariously through someone else.’

Many professionals also plateau owing to the ‘manager problem', wherein people in their mid-30s either become managers or have to report to younger managers and this creates some level of resistance. Says Ryan Chadha, co-founder of Jigyasa (an international pre-school), ‘I notice a parallel in the engineering world and in education. As long as people get to code or teach, they are very happy. However, when they become managers/ principals (and get paid very well), the day-to-day enthusiasm of being the subject matter expert deteriorates as more people management takes over.’

On the other hand, managers are also most likely to be the first among those to be let go (in the current economic conditions). Apart from their bulky salaries, this is also a ‘people role’ that can be dispensed with, at least in the short-term. And, as the pay gets higher, it becomes harder to find roles/ jobs that can be at par. Leading to a further dead end.

The silver lining is that there are plenty of interesting opportunities for everyone to carve their own niche. Hence, people in their 30s and 40s are diversifying their careers.

The rise of 'portfolio careers'

Even within adversity, one can see opportunity. As in the career matrix today, one does not only have to climb up. Growing sideways is growth, too. Picking up new skills or being individual contributors are very much on the anvil. People no longer spend their entire career in a single company, in a single job — or even a classic full-time “J-O-B” at all. Careers are no longer linear and are increasingly thought of as ‘portfolios’ — related or unrelated projects that come together to form an individual’s ‘career portmanteau’.

There are varying models. Some pursue side gigs next to their full-time employment, mentoring founders or lending their expertise to companies on a part-time basis. Often these are passion projects, driven by a desire to diversify experience, maybe escape the monotony of the job and get engaged where one feels valued. Some take part-time roles, also known as ‘fractional’ roles, to fill the CMO, CFO or CHRO function working only a set number of days per month. A fractional CMO for example could be an experienced CMO working for a mid-size company that doesn’t require or want to invest in a full-time role at this level of experience.

Startups are leading the way for this new model, driven by a desire to get high-skilled talent, an inability to attract and/or afford the same high-skilled talent and an overall agility that makes them unafraid to experiment with new talent models.

“Organisations are open to contractual work much more than they were before. We see this regularly happening in roles like Marketing and Content. We have observed that people who have reached mid/senior positions are exploring consulting positions — especially in functions that are open to them. The pay ranges from Rs 50,000-2,00,000 upwards for a month. Generally, it starts with either an agreement around the number of hours/ or, a particular duration like three to six months. Once people have started becoming comfortable and stable, they choose to continue being in a ‘portfolio careers’ as it gives them the flexibility and also pays reasonably well”, says Divesh Dhawan, managing partner and CEO at Meyrahkee Advisors, a talent acquisition firm for mid to senior talent working with VC funded startups in India.

Alan McIvor, based out of Taiwan, is an expert around careers in Asia. He is currently part of the portfolio career economy, being a headhunter, public speaker, writer and part-time musician. He has observed the steady rise of portfolio careers across mid-career professionals in Asia. He says, “people have understood what they want from their careers and COVID-19 created a huge disruption. To some extent, despite organisations wanting hybrid work, people are not wanting to return full time.” Therefore, leading to a shift in what organisations can expect from future talent and make amends accordingly.

The phenomenon of portfolio careers holds especially true for women post childbirth. Says Alan, ‘these are senior women, from noteworthy companies and their careers don’t recover since they lose ‘perceived competitiveness.’ Many extremely talented women have to start consulting, take up family business roles or even start a small business post childbirth because the market just won’t view them the same way it did before.

The good news is that there are early signs of an industry emerging to support portfolio careers. Example: themomproject.com (helping companies hire moms), toptal.com (a network of the top freelance talent), &ahead.com (helping professionals relaunch their careers) and Talmix.com  (connecting companies with senior business talent) to name a few.

Although, until recently, a high-paying stable job was the holy grail. Acknowledges Sreya, 'initially starting out on my own felt like a failure. I always imagined myself having a stable job.' Currently Sreya is looking for more gigs and she says, 'People don't want to pay. This is a nervous conversation as I am still figuring it out. I am most worried if I will also be spending my 40s hustling.'

It takes maturity of individuals and of employers to accept and thrive in new employment models. And, maybe then, those making portfolio careers work might have crossed the professional midlife crisis.