There are millions of people around the world who go to work every day dreading their job and wishing they were somewhere else. A recent Gallup poll showed that only 13 percent of respondents were actively engaged in their jobs. This can result in an immeasurable cost to your psyche and human spirit.
You spend about one-third of your time at work, so you need to be happy there. While it’s unrealistic to expect to always love every minute of your job, it is realistic to genuinely enjoy your work most of the time.
Time for a Change
The longer you stay in a job you hate, the more unhappy, bitter and resentful you become – and the constant strain will infiltrate into every aspect of your life. This can damage:
- Your health: The dread of going to work every day is stressful, which can seriously threaten your health. It’s time to leave if you are continuously experiencing such stress-related symptoms as headaches, infections, indigestion, insomnia or depression.
- Your career: Your reputation is your most valuable professional asset. If you begin to lose the respect of your boss or colleagues, it’s time to move on.
- Your relationships: Work-related unhappiness will spill over into your personal relationships. An unhappy or unfulfilled person is no fun to work or live with.
- Your self-respect: Poor relationships at work, lack of job satisfaction, and the knowledge that you’re not living up to your full potential attack your self-esteem and erode your confidence. Make a change before this happens.
It can become a lose-lose situation. The employment relationship may deteriorate to such a degree that the decision to leave will be made by your employer. It’s always better to depart on your own terms.
- If possible, job hunt while you’re still employed. Employers generally prefer to hire people who are already employed. Plus, finding another job usually takes a lot more time than you think. Hiring managers know in theory that some jobs are so terrible that a reasonable person may quit with nothing else lined up. Or, things happen that are beyond an employee’s control, such as a merger or a corporate restructure. But, it can be hard to tell from the outside if a situation truly reached that level or whether a person’s bar for frustration is just too low.
- Don’t search on company time – and especially not from your work computer. You may think that no one will find out, but companies do look at employees’ web histories. Try to complete all job search activities from outside your office. Also, it’s fine to tell a prospective employer that you don’t want your current employer contacted as a reference, since they don’t know that you’re looking.
If you’re considering a job change, now is the time to partner with a professional recruiter who specializes in your field and can guide you through this critical transition. For more information, read our related posts or contact the PrideStaff Fresno team today.