Career Survival Guide: Part 2 – Assessment
It can be a life changing, emotionally charged move to leave your current position. There is always risk in making a job change. Even in-depth interview processes cannot completely prepare you for the very real experience of working for a new boss, in a new environment, and a new culture. In completing my MBA, the most important concept I will always remember is “minimize risk, maximize profit”. So how will we know when it is worth taking on the risk of leaving our current positon, and taking on personal risk?
An element I would like to stress, is “how do you feel about your current job?” This is a consideration that is often overlooked. This is especially so with us males. When working for a Fortune 500 company I had first-hand experience seeing what the emotional toll looks like when one is miserable in their job. I recall a manager who was demoted from a director positon to a non-management positon. I could see in body language, and demeanor the pain he was going through. He went from being an optimistic, happy human being to literally a walking zombie. He would drag his body around the offices. His energy dropped. I could see the pain in his face, and posture. He was miserable. To my knowledge this manager is still at the same company. He stuck it out. Was it worth it to hang in there? I will never know for sure, but the last photo I saw of him, he still looked miserable. To me this is a waste of a life.
Below is a check list of things to look for that can help you assess how bad your situation might be:
You feel your energy drop as you think about your job in the evenings, or weekends.
You find that your opinion is always in the minority in department meetings.
You fill out your performance review, and use “Exceeds Expectations”, but your boss rates you “Needs Improvement”
You feel you cannot do right by your boss regardless of your decisions.
You find your job stress carries over to evenings, and weekends.
You are feeling you are not getting support from your management
You have felt for a long time you don’t trust your boss
You have consistently gotten “meets or exceeds expectations” on your reviews, but your new supervisor rates you as “needs improvement”
You are in constant worry around frequent, and regular job lay-offs. (A move may not be as risky as you think. And yes, I have been there.)
You suffer from Sunday night blues as you think about going back to your job Monday.
Your peers seem to focus on the negative most of the time.
There is a department meeting, and you are not invited. (Red flag.)
You are given a performance improvement plan that you realize is impossible to meet (start looking NOW)
If you have said yes to several of the points above, please consider speaking with a professional. A Career Counselor, Transition Coach, or Career coach can provide great value in sorting out your situation, and helping you arrive at the best decision. The above is a partial list, and I hope it will trigger some thinking around job satisfaction for a free assessment send an email to [email protected] and request “Job Satisfaction Survey”.
It can be a life changing, emotionally charged move to leave your current position. There is always risk in making a job change. Even in-depth interview processes cannot completely prepare you for the very real experience of working for a new boss, in a new environment, and a new culture. In completing my MBA, the most important concept I will always remember is “minimize risk, maximize profit”. So how will we know when it is worth taking on the risk of leaving our current positon, and taking on personal risk?
An element I would like to stress, is “how do you feel about your current job?” This is a consideration that is often overlooked. This is especially so with us males. When working for a Fortune 500 company I had first-hand experience seeing what the emotional toll looks like when one is miserable in their job. I recall a manager who was demoted from a director positon to a non-management positon. I could see in body language, and demeanor the pain he was going through. He went from being an optimistic, happy human being to literally a walking zombie. He would drag his body around the offices. His energy dropped. I could see the pain in his face, and posture. He was miserable. To my knowledge this manager is still at the same company. He stuck it out. Was it worth it to hang in there? I will never know for sure, but the last photo I saw of him, he still looked miserable. To me this is a waste of a life.
Below is a check list of things to look for that can help you assess how bad your situation might be:
You feel your energy drop as you think about your job in the evenings, or weekends.
You find that your opinion is always in the minority in department meetings.
You fill out your performance review, and use “Exceeds Expectations”, but your boss rates you “Needs Improvement”
You feel you cannot do right by your boss regardless of your decisions.
You find your job stress carries over to evenings, and weekends.
You are feeling you are not getting support from your management
You have felt for a long time you don’t trust your boss
You have consistently gotten “meets or exceeds expectations” on your reviews, but your new supervisor rates you as “needs improvement”
You are in constant worry around frequent, and regular job lay-offs. (A move may not be as risky as you think. And yes, I have been there.)
You suffer from Sunday night blues as you think about going back to your job Monday.
Your peers seem to focus on the negative most of the time.
There is a department meeting, and you are not invited. (Red flag.)
You are given a performance improvement plan that you realize is impossible to meet (start looking NOW)
If you have said yes to several of the points above, please consider speaking with a professional. A Career Counselor, Transition Coach, or Career coach can provide great value in sorting out your situation, and helping you arrive at the best decision. The above is a partial list, and I hope it will trigger some thinking around job satisfaction for a free assessment send an email to [email protected] and request “Job Satisfaction Survey”.
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