If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development. Brian Tracey
Here is something I hear a lot…
“I’m so unhappy in my current role, however I can’t change because have no idea what I would like to do. I know that I can’t stay there anymore; I’m ready to just walk out”
Here’s what I say a lot …
“No work is not meant to make you unhappy, ill, depressed. No job is worth that.”
You have options and choices and of course some are going to be easier to take than others.
There’s also the fact that because you are so unhappy you may not be able to see choices and opportunities, yes that old saying ‘can’t see the wood from the trees’ rings true here.
Now, you could ‘choose’ to leave by walking out. You could. I know you would maybe love to do that at this time. But this is the option that will probably come back, and bite you in the buttocks later on when you are seeking a new position!
Trust me, if you ‘walk’ you may then find yourself ‘struggling’ when applying for a new positon.
It’s a real toughie to give your reasons to the question ‘why did you leave your last job’ on paper or in person at an interview, and if you leave an employer without no warning (i.e. there Friday and never to be seen again!) you will probably have lost the opportunity of a great reference! Your new employer will not want to know you are unreliable.
It took me a while to accept the ‘it’s easier to get a job when in a job’, and what sends alarm bells to employers and recruitment agencies is the vague reasons why you may have left you last position, or the gaps in your CV or application form.
And yet…
I sit on the fence with this one, your health and well-being is far more important than any job, if you’re incredibly unhappy, my first piece of advice to you would be declare your current role as temporary (even if you’re on a ’till death we will keep you here contract), think it’s ‘only temporary’.
Just begin by thinking ‘it’s not forever’!
Get up in the morning, it’s okay, its temporary.
It offers a relief and frees up your mind.
You however you and I both know that you will always need to eat! And for that you need pennies. If you’re genuinely unwell (depressed or stress) visit your GP. Talk it over with them. No shame. Have a look at or both great sites (in my humble opinion).
Now, other options are you able to hold in there a little bit longer? In fact, can you put a timeframe on when you will have your new career? One month? Two months? Longer if you need to make a transition that needs further training?
It might not feel like a big step forward, however it is: there are some people that work 30, 40 years in a role they loathe, you have all the power not to let this become you’re reality!
Right, but you still have no IDEA what to do.
If I were talking to you face to face , I would say to you ‘you know what you don’t want and sometimes that’s as good as knowing what you do want’.
Okay, you need to move into the role of explorer.
I would ask you: is there anything in your current role that you like or love to do? Do you hate the role or the organisation? At what point did you feel like walking? Is there anyone you can talk to at your current role about how you are feeling? Did you love it once? What was it you loved about it?
Maybe the best part about where you are, is the not knowing. I know I come from a completely different perspective however you are about to embark on a really exciting time. What an opportunity? Changing Career? New skills? New knowledge? That’s amazing.
A few suggestions for you…
- hire a career coach (before you are desperately trying to build a free online CV)
- phone a careers advice line
- research online or off different careers
- look for forums online of what careers excite you (there are forums for everything, and you’re only looking)
- Speak to people: tell people you want a change
Carry out a personal inventory of YOU (your values, preferences, skills, strengths, weaknesses, must haves, mustn’t haves, identity, goals, future, relationships)
Here a few career questions that will get you thinking in the right direction:
- Where have you been up till now?
- How do you spend your free time?
- Is there a link between your hobby to what you would like to get paid to do?
- What is the most important factor to you in paid work?
- What to you want to gain from work?
- What do you want to give back from working?
- How have you changed over the past 10, 20 years – does your current role allow for all the personal change?
- What motivates you to get up in the morning?
- What would motivate you more?