Career dread is pushing some young professionals off the corporate ladder | Canada Voices

Emma Verbisky counts herself lucky: She landed full-time employment after graduating with a master’s in urban planning.

“That’s something a lot of my peers struggled with,” says Verbisky, 25, in Toronto. “People think you apply to a job on LinkedIn and you’re going to hear back. You have the education, the skills, but it’s so much harder than just [hitting] that submission button.”

Even after you’ve passed that hurdle, she adds, you’re trying to build a career in a world of work that operates very differently to how you thought it would.

“You watch movies and shows and you see these co-workers getting along, going for drinks after work, they’re great friends and they love collaborating,” she says. “It’s unfortunate, but one of my job experiences was the opposite of that. It’s very competitive now. A lot of companies almost [pit] you against each other. You’re being ranked, your end-of-year compensation depends on if you did more than Johnny did. It’s not what I thought it would be.”

The challenges Verbisky experienced getting her professional start reflect the mismatch between young professionals’ expectations and the current reality of the work world – and it’s leaving them feeling demoralized, unmotivated and more likely to opt out of the corporate ladder than try to climb it.

According to Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, which polled more than 23,000 young professionals around the world, folks in their twenties and thirties are early to mid-career and looking for a “trifecta” of financial compensation, meaningful work and a sense of well-being, which traditional workplaces aren’t always equipped to offer – especially in a challenging economic landscape.

According to the report, “without financial security, Gen Zs and millennials are less likely to have a positive sense of well-being and less likely to feel their work is meaningful. But financial insecurity is on the rise since last year with nearly half of Gen Zs (48 per cent) and millennials (46 per cent) saying they do not feel financially secure.”

Ultimately, these persistent feelings led Verbisky to bet on herself: In addition to working as a content creator, she recently left her corporate job to launch Young Professionals Social, a community designed to help Torontonians looking to find jobs and advance their careers. This new role has given her ample insight into the pain points other young professionals are feeling in 2026.

“Leadership is one. A lot of leaders are in their roles because they’ve been there so long, and they’re not realizing the changes that are needed,” Verbisky says. “Another one is pay. They’re expecting a raise, and that’s not met. And, people just want that hybrid work model.”

There’s also a common sense of “feeling just like a number,” she says, pointing to everything from the sudden alienation you feel when you hand in your two week notice to the trend of companies cutting budgets for team building. AI, and its potential to make some jobs obsolete, is also a worry.

The mounting challenges can result in a lack of confidence in their career futures, especially for young professionals in corporate – something Amanda Tobe, a Toronto-based organizational psychologist, regularly hears from her clients.

“In our group psychology practice, where career counselling makes up about half of our work, we hear widespread job dissatisfaction from young professionals aged 25 to 45 across Ontario,” Taub says. “Even when they’re performing well and appear successful on paper, many describe feeling constrained, disengaged and uncertain that their work reflects who they are or where they’re headed.”

A common theme is the feeling that there is a mismatch between who they are and their desire to fully express that, and a rigid workplace that doesn’t make space for them to do so. As a result, young professionals can feel stuck, turning to fantasies about starting over and searching for new opportunities.

“What’s interesting is that part of this feeling of not being seen isn’t just about leadership or culture, it’s also about skill gaps,” she says. “Many clients are deeply capable but hesitant to speak up. We spend a lot of time helping young professionals build assertiveness, manage up and clearly articulate their needs and values.

“There’s often a real disconnect with managers, driven by fear of being perceived as difficult or ungrateful.”

Layered on top of all this is the stress of a competitive job market and a move away from career flexibility (including the slow death of remote work). As a result, millennials and Gen Z are “stuck between wanting alignment and wanting security,” Taub says.

They don’t believe in staying in a job that makes you miserable, but they’re also keenly aware of just how tough it is out there right now. The net effect is two phenomena relatively unique to this cohort of workers: The “strategic pause,” where you might take a sabbatical rather than a promotion, and the “entrepreneurial impulse” driving a rise in side-hustles.

“This cohort isn’t rejecting work; they’re rejecting work that feels misaligned with how they want to live,” Taub says. “They’re not afraid of hard work. They’re afraid of waking up ten years from now and realizing they ignored what mattered.”

So what is a disillusioned young professional feeling stuck to do? Taub suggests starting by getting specific. Dissatisfaction usually comes down to concrete factors, such as compensation, impact, leadership, culture or potential for growth. Figuring out the specific reason for a feeling of misalignment can make it easier to see opportunities for change.

“What we see clinically is that inaction tends to deepen feelings of heaviness and resignation. Small, intentional steps – even one or two hours a week spent exploring options, having conversations or updating how you present yourself professionally – can restore a sense of momentum.”

You don’t need to have every last detail figured out to start feeling unstuck, Taub adds. “You need evidence that you still have choices.”