Building Her Own Career Ladder
By: R. Bradley Alderfer, J.D., CFP®, CLU, ChFC, CLTC
From the April 2006
Issue of Applaud Magazine

Today’s young emerging female leaders are reconstructing a new career model that is the antithesis of the high-pressure, corporate culture. Reflecting life in the post-9/11 world, today’s women are more likely to pursue flexible careers that make an impact on people and the places in which they live. However, as they seek to impact the world through careers, women are also in search of ways to spend more quality time with friends and family. And, as young women of the Millennium Generation – America’s newest generation – strive to achieve the balance between work and family, employers are tuning in to the wants and needs of women who are increasingly vital constituents of the American workforce. Based on numbers alone, women are gaining more clout than ever in the workplace: females now make up nearly half (46.6 percent) of the American workforce, with more than 67 million workers, according to 2002 figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those numbers are bound for major increases, seeing that the Millennium Generation (individuals born between 1979-2001) boasts nearly 70 million members, second in size only to the Baby Boomer Generation. And, considering the world’s flourishing technology, resources and opportunities, this generation is undoubtedly the best-educated generation in American history. Community-oriented careers So what do today’s young women want from their careers? One study of individuals in their early to mid-twenties, the Millennium Generation Studies by Northwestern Mutual , reveals that these females are looking for a sense of community and the ability to impact the world in a flexible and creative way. The study, conducted by Harris Interactive in 2004, identified several job qualities that women said were “somewhat” or “very” important. Those include: being able to work with idealistic and committed co-workers (95 percent); job flexibility (93 percent); the opportunity to help others (91 percent); the ability to make an impact on the world (89 percent); and be creative (86 percent). Based on those characteristics, it’s no surprise that the four most popular career categories pursued by these young women include teaching, business/marketing, social work/counseling, and medicine, according to the study. Computers, on the other hand, don’t make their short list for careers – only four percent of women surveyed were pursuing jobs in computers, compared with 22 percent of men. It’s not about the money Despite their definitive career ambitions, Millennium Generation women are not letting money dictate the success of their career. The Northwestern Mutual study also found that fully three-fourths of Millennial women say that money is not the best measure of success. Friends and family clearly take precedence over making a high salary. In fact, 66 percent of women say that they are not willing to sacrifice family time in order to get ahead and 77 percent say that how they spend their time is more important than how much money they make. Money also takes a back seat to job security for half of these young women. Most women starting out in their careers today expect to earn a modest salary in the $20,000 - $40,000 range, according to the study. Incidentally, women’s salary expectations are lower than men’s: only 19 percent of women expect to earn a salary of $40,000 vs. 35 percent of men. Entrepreneurial edge Consistent with their desire to make an impact on the world and have flexibility, women of the Millennium Generation also share a strong entrepreneurial spirit. The Millennium Generation Studies found that nearly half of female Millennials are “very” or “somewhat” likely to start their own business or work for themselves one day, while an additional three percent have already started their own business. Across all generations, more women are channeling their entrepreneurial energies into running their own businesses. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research (NFWBO), as of 2004, there were an estimated 10.6 million privately held firms that are at least 50-percent women-owned – a number that accounts for nearly half (47.7 percent) of all privately held firms in the country . The Center also estimates that the number of female-driven firms grew 28.1 percent from 1997 to 2004, which is three times the growth rate of all U.S. privately-held employer firms, which grew 9.1 percent. Whether women of the new Millennium Generation decide to be their own bosses, or go on to work with other employers, one thing is for sure: they will require a healthy combination of both community-oriented work and job flexibility. R. Bradley Alderfer, J.D., CFP®, CLU, ChFC, CLTC is a Financial Representative with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network the marketing name for the sales and distribution arm of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, Wisconsin, its affiliates and subsidiaries. Financial Representative is an agent of NM based in Manchester, NH. To contact Mr. Alderfer, please call (603)206-6025, e-mail him at brad.alderfer@nmfn.com or visit his Web site at www.nmfn.com/bradalderfer. 1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2002) 2 Girija Kaimal (2003), Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, “Gen-X Meets Gen-Y,” p. 36, 38 3 Girija Kaimal (2003), Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, “Gen-X Meets Gen-Y,” p. 36, 38 4 The Millennium Generation Studies, Northwestern Mutual, Conducted by Harris Interactive (2004) 5 Center for Women’s Business Research, www.nfwbo.org (2004) 5 Center for Women’s Business Research, www.nfwbo.org (2004)