A recent article in USA Today described advancement challenges many Millennial and Generation Z workers face as Baby Boomers choose to stay longer in corporate management and leadership roles. According to a USA TODAY/LinkedIn survey of 1,019 working professionals, more than 40% of respondents in each age group (Gen Z workers are 18 to 23 years old, while Millennials are 24 to 38 years old) believe it is “difficult to move up in their fields because boomers are waiting longer to retire.” Are you part of the Baby Boomer generation that is still holding onto a corporate career? If so, are you worried there isn’t any other fulfilling career alternative at this stage of your professional life? Consider this:
The Problem
According to LinkedIn career expert Blair Decembrele, “This is the first time ever that five different generations are in America’s workforce at the same time.” Nonetheless, the advancement opportunity problem younger workers perceive – and experts are divided on whether it truly exists – is not necessarily your problem as a Baby Boomer. After all, you’ve worked hard to get where you are. You’ve contributed much and still have much to give. If your employer wants you to stay on board despite what USA Today called the “multigenerational traffic jam on the upper rungs of America’s career ladder,” good for you. If you enjoy what you do, and you still feel energized, respected and valued in the corporate environment, then by all means stay put. Your presence ultimately serves the corporation well as you mentor younger workers along the way.
But this traffic jam IS your problem if you are staying put not because you want to but because you believe you have to. If you are hanging on despite not feeling energized, respected and valued. If you don’t believe there is another career path to consider.
The good news – for you and for younger workers who might feel stuck behind you – is that there is, indeed, another path.
The Sales Consulting Alternative
Regardless of where you are on the corporate ladder or how many years you’ve spent in your corporate sales management career, fulfillment matters. You need to work with a sense of purpose. You need to know you are making a difference! Unfortunately, if you’re like most people, at some point the career you’ve been building, the career you’ve been passionate about, becomes a job. You work simply to be working. You hang on for the sake of hanging on. Perhaps most senior sales managers and leaders experience this. I did. And so did most of the outsourced sales consultants who now serve as Sales Xceleration fractional-time sales management Advisors.
But what I discovered, and what our Advisors discovered, too, is that where you are doesn’t have to be where you stay.
Instead, sales consulting, typically as an outsourced VP of Sales, provides many Baby Boomers – seasoned sales leaders, managers and executives – with a chance to use their expertise and experience by serving small to mid-sized businesses. “Older workers have wisdom to bring to the table,” says Steve Hatfield, global future of work leader for consulting firm Deloitte, as quoted by USA Today. And it is this wisdom that makes sales management professionals so valuable in their post-corporate careers as sales consultants.
Certainly, our Advisors have also discovered that serving smaller businesses can be more than merely professionally satisfying and financially rewarding; it can also be fulfilling to work with renewed passion and a sense of profound purpose.
For sales leaders feeling pressure from younger workers in a corporate logjam, sales consulting can be a post-corporate career path worth looking into.
The Bottom Line:
A career as a sales management consultant can be professionally fulfilling and financially rewarding. It can empower you to work and live with a sense of purpose as you serve businesses who need fractional-time outsourced sales leadership. So, if you are feeling pressured and unfulfilled in your current corporate role as a sales management professional, I invite you to learn more about the sales management consulting opportunity. Click Here or contact us today at 844.874.7253.