Blog: Career Management

What to do when you hate your job?

In an earlier post on job satisfaction – “have you lost that loving feeling” – I presented three reasons to stay and three reasons to leave your present job.

Well here are additional options to consider before making that critical career decision. It is based on the principle that there are only two things you can change: you can change YOU or you can change IT.

Changing YOU refers to changing things that are under your control. Changing IT refers to changing any of the influencing forces or people in your life and work. It is basically everything that isn’t you.

The choice of whether to change IT or YOU is up to you, and it can be difficult to determine what is the best route to take. A lot of times we make the wrong choice and try to change IT when we should be changing something about ourselves, and vice versa.

So, to stop hating and start liking your job, you can:

1. Alter your attitude toward the company or the circumstances.
   Try to find new and better ways of interacting with coworkers and even your boss. Mentally readjust and try to make peace with the situation. That’s changing YOU!
2. Change your work environment even in small ways.
   But be mindful of what is allowed and what’s not. I’ve seen cubicles decorated with pictures and drawing; people at their computers working intently with earphones; an inexpensive pool for championship sports events that generated great excitement. That’s changing IT.
3. Accept what you can’t change, change what you can and know the difference.
   Respect final decisions that cannot be changed and also realize you can impact decisions that are in progress. Then figure out how you or your team can influence the situation. That’s changing YOU and IT.
4. Do nothing.
   Stoically endure the situation. Whine and complain hoping somehow things will miraculously get better. I’ve never seen this work. I doubt you have either! That’s not changing YOU and not changing IT.

Career Success Tip:

Changing YOU is not necessarily preferable to changing IT – nor is the opposite true. It depends on the situation. However, once you are aware of a specific YOU or specific IT option or both, you will see situations differently and you will have a much more satisfactory experience. You will no longer feel that you are just a cog in the wheel at work. Rather you will believe that you do have some control over your career. What a great feeling that is to have.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?