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Mid-career is no longer a defined set of years, due to extended lifespans.

People in mid-career experience challenges, including finding balance and managing burnout.

Mid-career professionals have particular strengths due to their life and work experience.

The median age of employees in the U.S. is now in the 40s, with tens of millions of individuals existing in what can be called “mid-career,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). That said, with people living longer, and as a result working longer, the timeframe for what can be considered “mid-career” is extending: “The number of employed Americans 65 and older ballooned more than 33% between 2015 and 2024, according to a CNBC analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By comparison, the labor force for all workers 16 or older has increased less than 9% during the same time period” (Harring, 2025).

Mid-career, then, is more of a mindset than a clearly defined stage. While individuals in early career (first and second jobs and figuring out work, first homes, and adulthood) and late career (moving into retirement, second and third act careers, legacy building, health and financial planning) tend to experience some similar, though certainly not universal, milestones, those in mid-career share a broad range of experiences from parenting to aging parent caretaking to management roles to stepping out of the workforce and more.

While true at any stage, the lack of a uniform experience makes uniform prescriptions for navigating this “messy middle” challenging at best. And with more individuals in this mid-career stage exploring opportunities to pivot roles and even entire careers, it behooves the mid-career individual to identify both the inherent challenges and the strengths of this stage of work and life. If mid-career is a mindset, how can you best leverage that mindset for future growth and intentionally stepping into what comes next?

Challenges: Burnout, Balance, and Boundaries

If there is one phrase that might sum up the mid-career experience, it’s balance, or lack thereof (Infurna, et al., 2020). Many in this stage are trying to balance career with family, raising kids with aging parents, and the multifaceted balancing act of increasing career and life responsibilities. At the same time, there is a high potential for burnout due to these competing priorities and the fact that many have been doing this work for an extended period of time. You may be in your third or fourth decade of working and still have multiple decades to go before retirement. You may have to take a step back from your professional identity to maintain your caretaking responsibilities. You might be considering a career pivot in order to reinvigorate your work life, while recognizing there will be associated impacts on your personal life.

The word "boundaries" gets thrown around a lot as a catch-all for work and life problems. When things feel out of balance, we are instructed to set firmer boundaries. When approaching burnout, we are told we need better boundaries to manage the impacts. Certainly, no one is ever going to care more about your career and life than you, so the work of setting boundaries starts with you. At the same time, when people are putting off retirement because they can’t afford to pay their bills, we need to have a larger conversation organizationally and societally about the super-human feats required to exist in today’s world.

Strengths of the Mid-Career Mindset

The good news is that those in mid-career have experience that they can draw upon during this challenging time. Whether you are looking for your next role or trying to manage multiple competing priorities, consider how you can leverage the following strengths to your advantage.

Clarity of purpose. Unlike early-career individuals, those in mid-career are more likely to understand who they are, their values, their interests, and their purpose. You are much more likely to know yourself in your mid-40s than you are in your mid-20s, simply because you have had more life and work experience. Lean into that as you are making decisions about what happens now and what comes next. What roles are you best suited for, and what most aligns with what matters to you? As you are trying to balance competing priorities, what is most important to you right now, and what can you let go of in this season?

Adaptability. In this AI-driven, rapidly changing world, one of the most important skillsets for any employee is that of adaptability. Mid-career individuals have this skill set in spades, from changing work roles, life roles, raising children, elder care, working and living through a global pandemic, and more. You know how to work and live through change and have done so successfully. If you’re looking for a new role, be prepared to share these stories with potential employers. And as you manage work and life changes, remind yourself that your ability to adapt is a strength.

Resiliency. Mid-career individuals have been through some things. You have more than likely experienced loss, whether personal or professional. You may have gone through a layoff, missed out on a promotion, lost friends or family members. And you have come out on the other side. Much like adaptability, your resiliency is a strength for potential employers, and it’s a strength for you to lean on when inevitable new challenges appear. After the last decade, none of us should be surprised by change. It’s how you manage and respond to it that makes the difference.

Multitask-Orientation. In general, being a “multitasker” is seen as someone who is distracted and unable to focus (American, 2006). But in this case, you have, in fact, managed to raise kids and do your job. You have managed a household and budgets and led team meetings. You have worked from home while homeschooling kids through a global pandemic. You might not have done it all well, but you know how to prioritize and get things done, which is a value add to employers. And while this current stage of life might lack the urgency of those previous experiences, you can apply the knowledge you learned from them to make your life easier, now.

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Mid-career can lack a clear definition and be challenging both personally and professionally, but you will spend more time here than in any other stage. This is the time to use all the knowledge, experience, and skills you have gained to your advantage.

American Psychological Association. (2006, March 20). Multitasking: Switching costs. https://www.apa.org/topics/research/multitasking

Harring, E. (2025, February 2). Why more retirement age Americans keep working. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/02/why-more-retirement-age-americans-keep-…

Infurna, F. J., Gerstorf, D., & Lachman, M. E. (2020). Midlife in the 2020s: Opportunities and challenges. American Psychologist, 75(4), 470–485. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000591

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025, January 29). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11b.htm

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