Most people, assuming they start work after college and continue working until they retire, will do so for, give or take, a third of their entire lives. That is a very long time indeed, and this is why it is so important to have a job that suits you, that you enjoy, and that you can stick with for as long as you can.
It’s also why the opposite is true. If you have a job you dislike for any reason, or you feel that it doesn’t suit your talents or personality, then what is the point in wasting a third of your life doing it? Instead, it would be much better to find a new job, one that works better for you. Although you certainly don’t have to stay in the same job or even sector for your entire working life, finding a position that you can stay in for at least a little while without it making you miserable and depressed is a good thing to look for, and something that far too few people take the time to do.
If you’re considering whether to take the plunge and find yourself a new job but that scary idea of uncertainty is stopping you from making changes in your life that you might need to, read on; there are some good reasons to make the change even if it does scare you.
You Feel Blue Every Night
There is a real phenomenon called ‘the Sunday night blues’. It’s the idea that, after a weekend at home, you don’t feel like going back to work on Monday. You might even feel quite down about it, and that’s the case whether you enjoy your job or not.
When you truly don’t enjoy it, though, and you might even say you hate it, that Sunday night feeling happens every evening. You can’t enjoy your downtime because you’re constantly worrying about having to head back to your office or another place of work the next day. So even when you’re not at work, your job is robbing you of your enjoyment in your personal life.
If you find that you’re feeling anxious every night because you have to go back to work the next day, it might be time to find a new job.
You Need Flexible Working
More and more businesses are able to offer their employees flexible working when it is required. Apart from working from home, it is also possible to be part of a job share, to work part-time, to start earlier and finish earlier (or start later and finish later), and so on. For many, as long as the work is done by the deadline set, and as long as meetings are attended where necessary, when that work is done is much less important.
Flexible working is ideal for those who want to have a little more freedom in their lives. It’s great for parents who know they can always be around for their kids when they come home from school or have a school play or sporting match, for example.
If your place of work doesn’t allow for flexible working, even though you’ve explained why you need it and how you and your employer would benefit from it, you’ll have to make a choice. You can either stick with the job and be sad that you’re missing out on other things, or that you have to work at your least productive times, or you can look for something else. The latter is a happier option.
Your Skills Aren’t Appreciated
We all have different skills, and ideally, those skills will be put to good use in whatever job it is we are working in. If you have skills but they aren’t appreciated, or you’re being asked to carry out tasks that don’t suit what you can do, why not look for a job where your knowledge, qualifications, and expertise will be used to their full advantage?
After all, you spend your time working for your degree. You put effort into gaining your MBA after checking the online MBA listings to make sure you were attending the right school. You worked hard to gain experience so you could progress in your career. If none of this seems to matter to your current employer, despite you ensuring that they are well aware of what you can do, you shouldn’t waste your talents.
This is the ideal time to think carefully about what you are doing now and what you want to do in the future. Perhaps the reason your skills aren’t being utilized is beacause the job you’re in doesn’t require them. In that case, search for one that does.
You Aren’t Productive
When your productivity suffers at work, it could be because you don’t enjoy your work. You are always going to put a lot more effort into a job you love rather than one you hate, even if you still work hard. This is why it’s so much better to find a job you enjoy.
Everyone wants to do well in their work, but if your dislike of your job is causing your productivity to plummet, it makes so much more sense to find a job that you can really do well in because you want to, not just because you feel you have to.
You Don’t Like Your Work Colleagues
Then again, maybe you love your work. Perhaps you do feel appreciated and you don’t dread having to go back each morning. Maybe the thing that’s causing you a problem is your colleagues. It could even be just one colleague in particular.
Even if you think you can get over this issue and still do your work, you’ll start to worry. You have to spend a lot of time with these people, and if you don’t like them or they make life hard for you, it is better to look for a new job than stick around and become more and more miserable.
Of course, if you are being bullied at work, you must tell a superior; something should be done about this. But if you just don’t like the people you are working with, looking elsewhere might be a good option.
