Portfolio Careers
High Earners Want More Out of Life
This report was commissioned by exec-appointments.com and details findings of qualitative and quantitative
research with UK residents with income of £50K or more per annum.
The object of the qualitative research was to gain insight and understanding into some of the issues
associated with high-earners' views towards career progression and a portfolio career.
These issues were subsequently quantified by collecting a larger sample.
A consumer database containing individuals in social group AB, earning at least £50K per annum, was purchased
for this research project and sampled at random (apart from a quota that was placed on the ratio of males to
females). As a safeguard, all respondents also had to confirm to their interviewer that they had an income
of £50K or more per annum.
Motivating High-Earners
- 97% of these high-earners rank at least some aspect of life as more important in motivating them in their careers than financial reward.
- The top 3 aspects of life that rank above financial reward are: Job satisfaction (69%), Family life (50%) and Job enjoyment (31%).
- Money comes first for only 3% of these high-earning individuals.
- In general, the men in the sample selected a wider variety of aspects of life compared to women (60% of which chose just one aspect of life) - more men (77%) chose job satisfaction, compared to women (50%), but equal proportions of men and women chose family life (both 50%) and flexibility (both 27%).
- More men (30%) chose work environment, compared to women (13%); more men chose having control over their lives (13%); and more men chose variety (24%), compared to women (3%); and finally none of the women selected choice, whereas 10% of men did.
- But in contrast to this, only the men in the sample say that none of these aspects of life are more important to them than financial reward from their careers.
Collectively, most of the sample (57%) have one or two aspects of their life that they rank as more important than financial reward - but 40% have 3 or more aspects of life that they rank as more important.
Perhaps surprisingly, there is no significant difference according to the age of the respondent and which aspects of life they rank as more important than financial reward.
Money Where the Mouth is?
Further evidence of this attitude about the importance of financial reward against other aspects of
life comes from the fact that 81% of these high-earners say they would be willing to sacrifice some
of their current salary before money became the number one priority for them - only 19% said they
would not sacrifice any of their current salary.
Indeed, 67% said they would sacrifice 10% or more of their current salary - even on £50K per annum,
this is a sacrifice of £5K and is not an insignificant amount of money.
The most common amount to sacrifice is between 10-19% of current salary, selected by 30% of the sample.
But 11% of these high earners would sacrifice as much as 50% or more of their salary before money became
the number one priority for them - 4% would sacrifice 90% or more of their current salary.
There is no significant difference according to the gender, age or the portfolio career status
of the respondent and whether or not they would be willing to sacrifice their current salary before
money became a number one priority for them.
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The Appeal of a Portfolio Career
- Collectively, 70% of these high-earners either already have or would welcome a lifestyle where they had several non-full-time, senior-level jobs in a variety of areas – in other words, a portfolio-type career.
- 16% already have such a portfolio career lifestyle - and this includes twice as many men (19%), compared to women (10%), and more of those aged 50 or older (27%), compared to those younger than this (7%).
- 54% do not have such a career but would welcome one, and more women (30%) say they would welcome such a lifestyle immediately, compared to men (21%), whereas more men (36%) say they would welcome such a career later in life, compared to women (17%).
- Only 17% of the sample say they are not interested in such a portfolio career lifestyle and another 13% think it is not relevant to them in their particular line of work.
Access to A Portfolio Career
- Networking with personal contacts is deemed to be the most suitable way of finding such portfolio-type career opportunities, and is considered to be an appropriate mechanism by 63% of the sample – indeed, those that already enjoy a portfolio career lifestyle agree.
- 38% of these high-earners think it is appropriate to take no action at all and to let such opportunities present themselves, but almost as many (36%) do not think this is an appropriate way to arrive at relevant opportunities.
- There is also a high degree of ignorance amongst these high-earners about the relevance of many typical sources of recruitment information and their specific relevance to portfolio career-type opportunities (all recruitment sources have between 16-26% of the sample that are unsure).
- Opinion differs according to age, with more of the younger respondents thinking headhunters and recruitment agencies are appropriate sources, compared to those aged 50 or older.
Suitability of Internet Recruitment Sites
- Only 4% of these high-earners (all of which are men) think all recruitment websites cater for people looking for senior-level positions. 16% think most recruitment sites do, and 26% think only a minority do cater for them.
- But a significant amount (23% - almost 1 in 4) think none of the existing recruitment websites are suitable places to find senior-level positions – and this applies especially to women (40%), compared to men (16%).
- Yet 31%, the largest percentage, admit they do not know how suitable recruitment websites are at catering for senior-level candidates like themselves, as they have no experience of using them – and especially the men (35%), compared to the women (20%) – and those aged 50 or older (38%), compared to those younger than this (25%).
- When it comes to portfolio careers specifically, internet recruitment sites are thought to be an appropriate place to look for relevant opportunities by 41% of these highflyers – but inappropriate by 35%, and another 24% are not sure if internet sites are appropriate or not – and this applies especially to those aged 50 or older (33%), compared to those younger than this (15%).
- However, more of those that already enjoy a portfolio career lifestyle rate internet recruitment sites and the national newspapers above recruitment agencies as suitable places to find relevant portfolio-type career opportunities.
Conclusions
The mood amongst top earners is clearly changing - the demand for job satisfaction, flexibility and choice -
point to portfolio working as a viable and attractive alternative. The quest for more fulfilment in life
is clearly not limited by the need to earn more - in fact the willingness to sacrifice substantial income
is remarkable.
Confusion about how to go about developing a portfolio career is not surprising. As the workplace becomes
more global in nature, traditional ‘word of mouth’ networking becomes less and less effective.
The internet is becoming the place where people connect.
exec-appointments.com provides a refreshing and uncomplicated way to start the journey to a portfolio
career, or to find new opportunities to consider. It also gives employers an interesting and effective
method for reaching people who are not actively looking for a career change - but would be willing to
consider a move if an interesting and satisfying opportunity was available.
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