Helping professionals escape unfulfilling (city) jobs

There are plenty of sites out there dedicated to helping professionals find their next professional job — The Ladders, for instance, which focuses on matching high-paying jobs with qualified earners. What’s less common is to see a site that helps those professionals leave their current career track and find something more fulfilling. Such, however, is precisely the premise behind London-based Escape the City, whose mission is to “liberate talented people from corporate jobs that don’t excite them,” in the site’s own words. Toward that end, the company — which was started by two such former management consultants — has built an online platform that aims to connect ambitious and talented but unsatisfied people with “exciting career changes, innovative business start-ups and epic adventures.” Employers with approved life-changing opportunities can list them on the site, while Escape the City’s more than 17,000 members can use it to connect, reflect and find their new path. A coaching program, meanwhile, provides support and guidance during the transition. Escape the City’s success stories so far include Jennifer, an ex-KPMG staffer who has since gone on to found a social enterprise in Tanzania. Ultimately, Escape the City plans to introduce revenue streams focused on helping to connect organisations with exciting open positions and members interested in filling them. Some 70 percent of young professionals don’t find their current job interesting, Escape the City says, and 30 percent are actively looking for alternatives. Fifty-seven percent intend to leave their current position within a year. Who will help the disillusioned Generation G masses find fulfillment in your neck of the woods…? Spotted by Charlotte Symington