You may have been unhappy for a while in your role, well there’s never been a better time to change that. In the spirit of the "New Year, New Career" mentality we thought it best to help you know when enough is enough in your current role.
There are many signs that your current role is not serving you, we’ve collected a roundup of the most common, and usually ignored, reasons why your role is not right for you.
Work-worry
Do Sundays get you unusually down in the dumps? Does your alarm go off every morning to a groan? Then you’re in the wrong job. It’s always been widely accepted that people HATE Mondays, that’s just humans we love our short-lived yet important weekends, but you should not be dreading Tuesday through Friday either. It’s not all about hating your job, you might be underwhelmed at the project you’ve been given, or working alongside someone you don’t get on with. Hating going to work is the most valid reason not to work there anymore.
Over-qualified?
Often there are times when circumstance beats desire, you may have taken a job through urgency factors such as redundancy, coming back from a long break, that is below your skillset or you may have been stuck in a role for several years without much progression. Don’t waste time in a role that isn’t serving your brain, boredom is one of the biggest factors in unhappiness. You’ll find yourself procrastinating, dragging your heels, and feeling all around demotivated.
We recommend speaking with your employer first, as it may be that you have just been overlooked and they would be more than happy to give more responsibility to you, but if they aren’t, it’s time to look elsewhere.
Underpaid?
Have you been in your role a while without any signs of a conversation regarding your pay? Companies should be actively progressing not only your skills but as these develop, your salary. Historically the best way to access a higher pay level was to get a new job and this still may be true. It’s not all about money, but you deserve to be paid accordingly especially if you are a dedicated worker. Again, a conversation with your employer, if you want to stay at the company, is the way to approach this, but if being underpaid is just one in a long list of reasons why you want to move then it’s time to move on.
Culture change
If you have been in your role a while, you will have likely seen a lot of people come and go (depending on the type of work you are in) you may even have an entirely new team to work with or a new manager, it’s no secret that not everyone gets along, especially in a close-knit environment. If you find yourself increasingly unhappy due to the people surrounding you on your working day it’s time to move. We spend a 1/3 of our lives at work, we usually see the people we work with more than our own families/friends on a weekly basis so, although you will likely never love everyone you work with, it’s important that it doesn’t factor in your unhappiness.
You’re reading this.
This blog sparked interest somewhere in your brain for you to click and read this far. If any of these points ring too true in your mind then it’s time to consider a change, even if you just want to see what’s out there for you.