“Am I at the right company? Am I in the right job? Is this going to be my future?”
These questions are especially causing great mental suffering for career professionals. They might be searching for job satisfaction while juggling between family and intense financial burden. What should you do if you have the above thoughts? Let’s break it down into a few parts.
1) Addressing your career dilemma
Career dilemma is more than just frustration at projects, people management or achieving KPIs. It is a very strong feeling of “Am I missing something?”. It is absolutely normal that you are doing absolutely well at work, but at the same time, you feel some part of you is missing. You can’t feel the thrill and satisfaction at work .You feel these are the default actions and solutions. Even professionals who work for years would feel so, thus, it is fine to have such feelings. It is likely to come with the next question “is this really what I want to do in the next 5 years, 10 years? 20 years?” Fret not, write down your feelings.
2) Actions to improve satisfaction
The first step to improve the situation is: FACE IT. You need to learn to acknowledge and find out what is the root cause of all these feelings. Write down every single line of your professional discontent that comes across your mind. “Is it your job?”, “Is it your boss?”, “Is it your learning curve?” etc. Depending on your questions, the prescription for each is different. There is no one-size fits all solution for everyone. The key here is to always do reflection, regularly.
Next, it would be making small changes daily. When we mention changes, we are focusing on controllable factors, things that we can change. All these changes are to bring more fulfillment at work to yourself. For instance, getting to work earlier, and ending the work earlier. Or, changing your routine of work, by getting some smaller tasks done first, and focus on bigger tasks in the afternoon. You could also talk to your superior, to get a different work arrangement. 3 days working from home, and 2 days working in the office. All these small steps might not seem relevant or have a direct big impact, but it will definitely change your outlook at work. If it were uncontrollable factors, then we need to change our mindset to adapt. The ask here is to get yourself comfortable at work, on your own discretion.
Lastly, you could focus on learning. Learning could be horizontal (to acquire and widen different skill sets) or vertical (to learn more in depth to become expertise). The job today might not be relevant for tomorrow, hence, it is essential for you to keep learning, to stay relevant, and become assets for your employer. Of course, it is best that you are interested in what you are doing and learning.
3) Lay out your plan B
If you are still uncertain or getting bored at work, then you need to think of options. First option is making changes internally within the organisation. Asking for promotion (with more new roles and responsibilities) is an obvious solution, but you could opt for horizontal movement. For instance, if you are in a sales-based role, you could offer to take projects in a marketing role. Perhaps that making a lateral move, will allow you to grow more, and have lesser discontent, then you will be rejuvenated.
4) Time for change?
If the above mentioned ways do not have apparent effect, it could be a strong signal that you need to make. When you have a feeling deep in your mind, to ask for a change, please do not ignore it. Many people might be fearful of making a dramatic change in career, as the future seems uncertain. They might be worrying that it could be a worse off decision to leave where they are. Be honest with yourself, what are the push and pull factors in your career path? Push factors refer to the discontent at work that forces you to the edge of leaving; pull factors are the attractions or aspects that you are looking forward to. If you have what it takes, personality, skill sets, and expertise that could fulfill the market needs, you do not have to be afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone.
Personal Sharing:
To share on the background, I pursued Accounting & Finance in university, and started my career journey on the typical/ designated path- being an external auditor and working as a bank analyst. But soon after, i realized i fall into the career dilemma.
- Addressing career dilemma: Equipped with professional knowledge, working in the relevant big MNCs, but I did not feel happy at all. I kept asking myself, is this going to be my life in the next few years?
- Actions to improve satisfaction: I wrote down my discontent at night, and hoped to have positive energy at work on the next day, but it failed every time. I asked for different work arrangements, trying to learn new skill sets (but I did not feel happy at all, it was stress, it was not the productive push). I had a few one-on-one sessions with my boss, to give feedback on my concern, but effort was in vain.
- Lay out plan B: I set a few choices, to go to the competitors in the same industry, or to step out of comfort zones to go for a completely new industry.
- Time for change: I was a freshman in the market, hence, I applied for hundreds of job applications, went for tens of interviews and case study. Eventually, I got offered a management trainee role at Unilever.
BUT, things did not go smoothly, as another tough decision came. The management trainee role was scheduled to start in another 3 weeks time, and the notice period for my bank role was 3 months. There was not any buyout available from Unilever. I took the leap of faith, buying myself out from the bank (by making a 2.5 months payment in lieu of notice). It was only my 20s, but I struggled on making changes for a long time
I asked myself:
If not now, then when is next?
Today: I am still working in the FMCG industry, and enjoying every single day at work. It was no regret buying myself out. I would be unhappy, if I were still stuck in the same role like back then.
The Bottom Line:
You must not wait for your boss to tell you what your next role/task/job is. Go create it!
If you are not happy, perhaps it is time for you to change.