The Career Stall — Issue #05
It’s not you. The game changed.
ONE STORY, ONE SIGNAL, ONE TOOL, ONE QUESTION - EVERY WEEK
Issue # 05 - THE CAREER STALL
I see a lot of coaching clients who feel stuck. The reasons vary, but the emotional weight is the same: a sense of boredom, the realization that there’s no growth opportunity, or just a feeling that something is “off” and a shift is needed. And almost always, there’s anxiety, depression or fear. Or all three.
I’ve seen this across age groups, genders, career stages and industries. It feels bigger than any one client’s experience. It’s a real trend worth paying attention to.
A Coaching Story
💬 A de-identified composite scenario based on my coaching experiences. This story does not reflect the experience of any particular individual or organization in any way.
My client was a mid-career engineer and leader at her organization. She had checked every box that indicated a strong career trajectory: a history of strong performance reviews, a resume showing progressive leadership responsibility, 12 years of loyalty to one organization, and consistent messages that she was “on track.”
She had been passed over for promotion three times. When she finally asked why, the answer was stunning.
Her performance was evaluated highly. Her potential to advance was not. No one could tell her why, or would.
In our coaching sessions, we talked through what that brought up: frustration, anger, shame and a sense that the goalposts hadn’t just moved. She wasn’t even playing in the same game as her peers who were advancing.
I asked her what she thought the problem was. She paused for a long time. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get promoted here,” she said. “Maybe I need to look elsewhere.”
We spent several sessions working through the pros and cons of staying versus leaving, and what was really driving her sense that she needed a change. In the end, she chose to search for a new role at a higher leadership level, at a different organization. She found one, and took it with more excitement than she’d felt in years.
The Changing World of Work
📊 A key data point and my insights about what it means to the changing world of work around us.
Her story isn’t unusual. Not even close.
65% of professionals say they feel stuck in their current roles heading into 2025. That’s 2 in 3 workers. Among women, it’s 68%. Among men, 62%. In tech, 73%. Career opportunity ratings on Glassdoor dropped 3% from 2022 to 2024, suggesting the stall is getting worse, not better. (Glassdoor Worklife Trends 2025)
That number flattens something important. The stall looks completely different depending on where you are in your career. (Nordic Journal of Transitions, Careers and Guidance)
Early career: AI is already eliminating entry-level roles. 51% of organizations say generative AI has already reduced their need for junior positions. Fewer on-ramps means fewer mentorship pipelines. The bottom rung is disappearing before people even get a foothold.
Mid-career (35–55): Organizations have flattened dramatically since COVID, cutting middle management and eliminating the promotion rungs that used to exist. Add the performance-versus-potential gap (women score 8.3% lower on assessments of potential to advance, despite strong performance ratings, making them 14% less likely to be promoted) and you get an invisible plateau that is genuinely difficult to name, let alone fix. (MIT Sloan Management Review)
Senior (50+): What was once a headwind becomes structural. 64% of workers over 50 have witnessed or experienced age discrimination. 16% have been passed over for promotion in favor of less-experienced younger colleagues. (AARP Age Discrimination Survey 2025/2026)
The word “stall” covers three distinct problems. Each calls for a different response.
That matters, because the strategies that help someone early in their career find traction look nothing like what works for someone who has been doing excellent work for 15 years and still isn’t advancing. Getting the diagnosis right is the first move.
This Week’s Resource
⚙️ A framework, tool, tip, AI prompt or skill that you can save and put to use immediately.
The performance-versus-potential gap is one of the least-talked-about forces in professional advancement. Women in mid-career feel it most acutely. This MIT Sloan piece names the mechanism clearly. Once you see it, it’s hard to unsee it.
Women Are Less Likely Than Men to Be Promoted. Here’s One Reason Why. — MIT Sloan Management Review (This is a great article to learn more about the performance-versus-potential gap.)
📌 And if you want tools to help you address your own sense of being stuck, the Fixing a Career Stall Bundle, is available here.
A Powerful Coaching Question
🤔 This week’s high-value coaching question for you to consider in whatever way you like to reflect.
Stepping back from the day-to-day: over the past two or three years, have you been building toward something? Or just holding steady and calling it strategy?
Inspiration for the Week
“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.”
Søren Kierkegaard
Before You Go
I'm curious: what kind of career stall are you seeing most right now, in yourself or in the people around you? Hit reply and tell me.
Until next week,
