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CRITICAL
HUDSON THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES

THINKING

Age and Aspirations:

How Female Managers View Their Careers
By: Margaretta Noonan, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer
Writer: Sharon McGowan
Research Director: Sanja Licina
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A G E A N D A S P I R AT I O N S : H O W F E M A L E M A N A G E R S V I E W T H E I R C A R E E R S
Do female managers at different stages of their careers define
success differently? Does their age affect whether they aspire to
a senior level position? Does it influence their ability to balance
work and non-work activities, or play a role in the obstacles to
career advancement that they face?

Do female managers at different stages of their careers define success differently? Does their age
affect whether they aspire to a senior level position? Does it influence their ability to balance work
and non-work activities, or play a role in the obstacles to career advancement that they face?

The answers to these questions can help companies devise strategies to retain and advance female
middle managers, which is becoming increasingly critical in light of the growing talent shortage.

To better understand the effect of age on the career aspirations of female middle managers, Hudson
conducted a research study in summer 2007 of more than 200 U.S. business professionals in three
[1]
age groups: 25–34, 35–44 and 45–54 years old . Hudson is a leading provider of permanent
recruitment, contract professionals and talent management services worldwide.

Overall, 77 percent of the female middle managers aspire to a senior management position, 10
percent do not, and 12 percent are unsure. Looking more closely at the survey results reveals that
the women’s age group affects their aspirations. Eighty-nine percent of those in the youngest age
group (25–34) aspire to an executive level position or higher, compared to 75 percent in the middle
age group (35–44) and only 58 percent in the oldest age group (45–54).

The percentage of those aspiring to the highest positions (CXO, president or partner) also declines
with age. One-third of the 25–34 year-old age group, compared with about 22 percent of the two
older age groups, name these top positions as the highest they would like to attain.

This data strongly suggests that as women age and advance in their careers, they no longer want the
top jobs. The pattern is very different for men: 85 percent of both the youngest age group (25–34)
and the middle age group (35–44) aspire to senior management positions. Three-quarters of those
in the 45–54 year-old age group want these executive-level positions.

One likely explanation of these findings is that the longer they are in the work world, the more clear it
becomes to women that they are not playing on a level field, and they adjust their aspirations accord-
ingly. In a September 2007 Harvard Business Review article, “Women and the Labyrinth of

[1] The respondents manage two or more people, work for companies with revenues of more than $10 million and earn between
$40,000 and $200,000 annually. In addition to the survey, in-depth interviews were conducted with a dozen female middle
managers and senior executives. A Web-based survey of more than 200 male middle managers supplemented the research.
 p3

Leadership,” authors Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli argue that women face complex and varied

A G E A N D A S P I R AT I O N S : H O W F E M A L E M A N A G E R S V I E W T H E I R C A R E E R S
impediments on their journey to attain top leadership positions.

“In truth, women are not turned away only as they reach the penultimate stage of a distinguished
career. They disappear in various numbers at many points leading up to that stage,” wrote Eagly
and Carli.

Recognizing that their counterparts in the middle management ranks are not attaining the positions
that they once aspired to, women pull themselves out of the race, the Hudson study suggests.

This data strongly suggests that as women age and advance in

their careers, they no longer want the top jobs.

Another possible interpretation for the diminishing aspirations of women in the older age groups is
that their priorities changed as they became wives and mothers.

Renee Sass provides an example. A classic overachiever, Sass got an MBA in finance and was
negotiating $100 million deals in Europe in her mid-20s. She worked up to 80-hour weeks when
she had to and traveled two-thirds of the time. She was on track to become the CFO at her
employer, a U.S. power company. And then she had her first child.

“I basically went to the chairman, who I was working closely with, and said, ‘In five years I don’t want
this corporate lifestyle. In five years, plan on me being gone.’ ” Because she had built her credibility
over a decade with the firm, she was able to switch from finance to a senior position in strategic
planning. She ultimately left the energy company and, after a year off, took a position with a smaller
start-up that gives her a chance to do challenging, creative work—financial and otherwise—while
providing her with the flexibility to teach college courses and spend time with her two young children.

“I have the dream life now, but part of it is that I’m not doing the traditional corporate executive role
anymore,” said Sass, 42. She acknowledged that there is a financial disadvantage to her choices, but
is willing to trade higher income to do what’s most important to her.

A g e m at t e r s

The results of the study demonstrate that women define success differently and have different goals
depending on the stage they are at in their career.

Overall, 73 percent of the women in the study define success based equally on their career and life
outside of work. However, younger women are much more likely to define success this way than
their older counterparts: 83 percent of women in the 25–34 age group define success based on a
combination of career and non-work life, compared to 68 percent of those 35–44, and 63 percent
of 45–54 year-olds. In all age groups, the majority of respondents who don’t define success based
equally on work and non-work say they define it mostly based on their career. The pattern is different
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for men. Sixty-seven percent of the youngest age group defines success based on a combination

A G E A N D A S P I R AT I O N S : H O W F E M A L E M A N A G E R S V I E W T H E I R C A R E E R S
of work and non-work, compared to 82 percent of the middle age group, and 74 percent of those
45–54.

The vast majority of the women in each age group say that their life is well balanced between work
and non-work activities. Younger women (25–34) are most likely to say this: 83 percent report they
have work-life balance, compared to about 75 percent of the older age groups.

Diane Shelgren’s experience tracks with this finding. Shelgren, executive vice president of strategy
and client development at Veritude, a staffing and talent management company, said that in her first
job and when she was in mid-management roles, she had work-life balance. “Then when I got into
officer-level executive roles, I would say my work/life balance got more and more out of control.”
This has partly been her own choice, “but also some of it has been because of the culture of the
organizations that I’ve been in,” she commented. Shelgren formerly worked at a consulting firm,
where she described the culture as “high pace” and “workaholic.” Other executives interviewed by
Hudson agreed that the demands of work increase as women progress in their careers.

Age plays a role when it comes to women’s next career step. Those in the 45–54 age group are
much less likely to want to stay at their current company than younger women. Only fifty-nine
percent of 45–54 year-old respondents say that they would like a promotion or a lateral move at
their current company, compared to 75 percent in the middle age group and 81 percent of
younger women.

Men ages 45–54 are much more likely to want to stay with their current employer than women in
the same age group. Seventy percent of male managers would like their next move to be a promo-
tion or lateral move at their current company.

Only 59% of 45-54 year-old respondents say that they would

like a promotion or a lateral move at their current company,
compared to 75% in the middle age group and 81% of younger
women.

Although a very high percentage of women have positive feelings about their jobs, these positive
feelings decline with age. Eighty-seven percent of the youngest women and 82 percent of those
35–44 are either completely or somewhat positive about their jobs, compared to 79 percent of
women ages 45–54.

“These findings suggest that employers need to revamp their retention strategies to lessen the
risk of losing the female middle managers with the most knowledge and experience,” said Robert
Morgan, co-president, Hudson Recruitment and Talent Management, North America.
Women in the 45–54 year-old age group overwhelmingly say that what they like most about their
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jobs is the opportunity to do interesting and challenging work. Forty-two percent selected this re-

A G E A N D A S P I R AT I O N S : H O W F E M A L E M A N A G E R S V I E W T H E I R C A R E E R S
sponse, compared to 30 percent who say they best like the work-life balance their job provides, and
14 percent who cite their compensation package.

“The findings suggest that by challenging these experienced women with interesting and complex
assignments, employers can both tackle difficult business issues and increase their job satisfaction,”
Morgan said.

A woman’s age group also influences the goals that she wants to achieve and the obstacles blocking
her way, the study found. While work-life balance ranks as the single most important goal for women
in the middle and older age groups, for younger women the most important goal is the opportunity
for growth and development. More than half of respondents 25–34 listed this opportunity as a top
goal, compared to 41 percent of 35–44 year-olds, and 30 percent of 45–54 year-olds.

The lesson for employers is that they must recognize women have different needs depending on
their age. Younger female managers crave the opportunity to grow on the job; older ones care most
about the ability to juggle competing demands effectively. To retain talented women, companies
must do a better job meeting their specific needs.

Regardless of which goals they deemed most important, women’s confidence that they can achieve
their career goals declines with age. More than half (54 percent) of those in the youngest age
group say it is “very likely” they will achieve their goals, compared to 49 percent of the middle group
(35–44) and only 35 percent of the oldest group (45–54). This decline does not occur for men;
about 40 percent of men in all three age groups say it is very likely they will achieve their goals.

Shelgren said that women are more likely to achieve their goals if they engage in a regular dialogue
with their employer about their career aspirations. “No matter where you are in your career,

Regardless of which goals they deemed most important, women’s

confidence that they can achieve their career goals declines
with age.

if you don’t sit down with your manager at least once a year and have a really good discussion about
performance and career development and what you want to do, I think you’re doing a disservice to
yourself and you’re doing a disservice to the organization,” she said.

The most frequently cited obstacle to career advancement for women in both the youngest (25–34)
and middle age groups (35–44) is their family responsibilities, the study found. Not surprisingly, the
percentage of men in these age groups who say the same thing is much lower. Women from 45–54
say that their greatest obstacle is their reluctance to participate in typically male networking activi-
ties, such as golf outings.
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On the flip side, the most significant source of support in advancing their careers for women manag-

A G E A N D A S P I R AT I O N S : H O W F E M A L E M A N A G E R S V I E W T H E I R C A R E E R S
ers across age groups is their husband/life partner. A close second for the youngest women are
colleagues and mentors at work (tied at 45 percent). Significantly fewer of those in the middle and
older age groups —about 30 percent—received the most support from mentors at work. This drop-off
as women reach a point in their careers when they are poised to advance to senior leadership
positions may help explain their inability to break through what many perceive as a glass ceiling.

The percentage of men in the younger and middle age groups who identify mentors at work as
an important source of support is about the same as for women. However, in the 45–54 age
group, 39 percent of men identify mentors, compared to only 30 percent of women.

“Formal mentoring programs for women from their mid-thirties to their mid-fifties could make an
important difference in advancing women middle managers into executive roles,” noted Morgan.
Despite the fact that women comprise half of all managers and professionals in the United States,
the percentage of women in corporate officer positions is declining. According to a Catalyst report,
the percentage in the Fortune 500 dropped from 16.4 to 15.6 percent between 2005 and 2006.
Catalyst studies career advancement for women.

Conclusion

An analysis of the results from Hudson’s study of female middle managers reveals that such factors
as their definition of success, career aspirations and job satisfaction differ based on their age group.
If employers take these differences into account when designing their retention strategies, they are
more likely to be successful as the competition for talent intensifies.