Being stuck in a job you don’t love can be draining, both emotionally and mentally. We often stay because of the money, we don’t venture out because of the fear of losing the financial safety-net that we have. Having a job means that you will be getting money every month, but quitting makes everything seem uncertain.
You probably ask yourself what you’re doing there in the first place every day you walk in there. You look in the mirror during the breaks and think that soon you will get out of there. But, when is soon? What is it that you don’t like about the job? There are many reasons for you to feel that way, like:
- It’s not the work you thought it would be.
- Your role suddenly switched.
- You don’t enjoy it anymore.
- You think you should be in a different industry altogether.
Or it could be something that has nothing to do with the job but the company and the people you work with, if that is the case, then most times quitting does seem like the best thing to do. We will focus on what to do when your job, your role in the company, makes you feel unsatisfied.
You may feel like there’s no other option but to quit but wait. Whatever situation you’re in, know that there’s always something you can do about it, take a step back and analyze your situation. Take stock of the situation, and then draft your resignation letter if you have to.
Assess Your Current Role
Begin by asking yourself about the aspects of your current role that you like. If there is something that you enjoy, then that is the proverbial silver lining in your doom feeling job. This is basically a mental exercise that allows you to see beyond your current understanding of the problem. It helps you get to the root cause of your unhappiness with your job. Sometimes there’s more to what meets the eye, even with ourselves.
During this self-assessment exercise, write down certain things like:
- What do you like about your current role?
- What skills are you able to use?
- What connections are you able to form?
- What benefits are you able to enjoy?
- Is it challenging enough?
- Do you get to learn new things?
- Does it feel rewarding?
After the evaluation and looking at every aspect of your job responsibilities in detail, move on to the aspects of your role you dislike. Understand the underlying event that triggered the unhappiness if you used to enjoy the job before. If you never liked the job, then that’s a different case altogether. Ask yourself things like:
- Do you hate a task because it’s not part of your skillset?
- Is the work redundant?
- Do you feel being left behind by your colleagues because you’re misplaced?
- Is the work more than you can handle?
When you know what you like and what you don’t, you get to compare if the positives are more than the negatives. If they aren’t, then see if you can find a workaround for the stuff you don’t like.
Final Thoughts
Never quit a job before finding an alternative or a plan to work on after you quit, unless there is no other way. Sometimes we feel unhappy because of some small issue, which can easily be resolved by talking to our superiors or changing a few things around. Before taking the decision to quit the job, make sure that the thing bothering you isn’t inside you rather than the job.