As the new year gets underway, workers across the U.S. are setting ambitious career goals, but many face challenges. According to research from Jobseeker, the most common obstacles to workers’ career resolutions are job market competition and limited resources. Additionally, AI adoption is expected to help workers overcome these challenges, and skills development—as well as work-life balance—are top priorities for 2025.
Approximately 85% of respondents say they set career resolutions for 2025, and younger people are more likely than older workers to set career-based resolutions. Still, many workers fall short of achieving their objectives. In 2024, only 9% of respondents say they completed all their career-based resolutions for the year. Four in 10 (41%) workers had only managed to achieve half of their objectives or fewer.
More than half (58%) of those in entry- or mid-level roles reported achieving most or all their goals during the year. This increased to 68% for senior-level employees, 66% for managers and team leaders, and 71% for directors and C-level executives.
The most popular priorities for career development in 2025 are skills development and work life balance. Both hard and soft skills development are high on the agenda for employees, indicating that workers feel the need to continue adding skills to remain relevant and competitive in the job market.
- Developing hard skills is the top priority for US employees, with 53% of survey respondents mentioning this as one of their top three career resolutions for 2025.
- Almost as many respondents (44%) wish to improve their soft skills in the coming year.
- Nearly half of US workers (48%) want to focus on improving their work-life balance in 2025.
- Baby boomers are more focused on work-life balance than any other group (71%), while they’re also more likely to prioritize their mental health (45%, vs 8% overall).
- Younger workers are more likely to prioritize promotion and defining a clear career path in the coming year than those from older generations, perhaps reflecting the career stage they find themselves at.
- When it comes to seniority, entry-level employees are far more likely to mention “switching jobs” (40%, compared to 29% overall).
While career resolutions are popular among U.S. workers, there are plenty of obstacles to completing them. For 2025, the expected obstacles stem from competition, resources, and work-life balance. Job market competition and limited resources (both 60%) were the most frequently mentioned challenges to achieving 2025 career resolutions. Work-life balance was also a concern, with more than half of workers (54%) anticipating that this could get in the way of achieving their objectives. Job market competition poses a significant challenge for senior-level employees (66%) and managers (69%). Entry-level employees (67%) and business owners (71%) cite limited resources as their biggest obstacle, while directors (76%) struggle most with maintaining work-life balance.
There are also generational differences when it comes to the perceived obstacles to achieving career resolutions in 2025. Gen Z, millennial, and Gen X workers are far more likely to mention job market competition and limited resources than baby boomers, with just 40% and 38% of those ages 60 and older mentioning these issues. Lack of time was perceived as the biggest threat to Boomers not completing their 2025 career plans (50%). Unclear goals potentially prevent career advancement for 34% of Gen Z workers and 38% of millennials, while Gen X and boomers are more confident about the clarity of their plans, with just 27% and 17% mentioning unclear goals.
With limited resources viewed as a genuine obstacle to achieving career resolutions in 2025, perhaps AI can offer solutions for U.S. workers. Indeed, 85% of respondents said they planned to use AI in their work in the coming year, while studies show AI-related skills are among the fastest-growing job skills in the U.S. All this indicates AI’s growing influence, with it increasingly considered a solution to the challenges facing the workforce.
Younger workers are far more likely to be comfortable using AI in their work than older workers, with 88% of Gen Z and millennial workers planning to use it, compared with 74% and 52% of Gen X and boomers, respectively. Automation tools (49%) and data analysis or visualization tools (46%) were the most common uses of AI among workers.
More than nine out 10 U.S. workers would like to use AI to help them achieve their career goals in 2025. By far the most common expected use of AI in helping workers with their career development in 2025 was to help improve skills (57% of those who plan to use AI for their career development). Boomers are less likely to use AI. However, those who plan to are more likely to use AI for “improving skills” than other groups (59%).
