Career aspirations have been on my mind a lot lately. I know as a personal finance blogger I should have major career aspirations that involve making lots of money and gaining lots of power.
But I don’t.
In fact, I hate working in the corporate world. I am blessed to have the job I have, and am very grateful for the paycheck, but I do not feel fulfilled in my job.
Because it is does not fulfill me, I no longer consider my current position my career path. Thinking of doing the same job 20 or 30 years into the future literally makes me want to cry. In fact, doing it for another 2-3 years makes me feel jittery. I just do not enjoy the work, the industry, or the point of the job.
I’ve worked in this position for 2 years now. It’s solid experience and I’ve been lucky to learn a lot and pick up new skills and certification. That’s great, but it’s all in something I don’t enjoy doing. I did not start in my current position but was moved there and trained because I knew some about the work already. At this point in the business they would like me to further specialize in this field.
I don’t want to.
I’m now at a career crossroads. My company is now at a position where it’s growing and stable. I don’t worry about getting paid like I did in the beginning and the stability is nice. However, I’m bored, resentful, and tired of the work I do. This isn’t good for me and my mental state and it’s not good for the company. They should have someone who is passionate or who at least likes the work. I feel guilty for filling the position at the same time that I hate it.
So now I’m at a place where I need to decide what to do. Do I keep working there for a certain amount of time? Do I make a date to leave? Do I look for other work? Do I quit to go back to school? Do I try to ramp up blogging and find a virtual assistant job? Do I find something part time that I enjoy more?
It seems scary to consider any of those when it would involve giving up a full time job with health benefits. I’m torn by fear, hate for my job, and a desire to break free. Hello, quarter-life crisis.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow I feel like I wrote this post. I’ve been in my current position for 2 years (it’ll be 3 this June), and even though I also have picked up many skills and certifications, I just DO NOT see myself doing this for 20 to 30 more years.
I’m unsure of what I want to do as well. They are very reliant on me. We are a small firm but make a decent amount of money (and almost ALL of it is profit, we have almost no overhead).
Whatever you do sounds like they are very profitable at least.
It sucks to be in this position so if you figure it out, let me know!
I will definitely let you know what I am end up doing. I guess I just feel bad because I really like the people I work with (I don’t dislike anyone) and it’s a really great environment. I just don’t know if I see myself doing this for 30 more years.
One of the worst things you can do is run to another job without taking the time to figure it out. Take the time now to figure out what you want to do next. Maybe trying it out before you take the leap may make sense. Don’t change until you spent the time figuring out your career.
I’m going to take some time sure. But I’m very unhappy with my current job so I probably won’t be able to emotionally stay there for too much longer.
One thing I encourage you to do is NOT quit, but get laid off instead. Get the WARN offer, severance, and COBRA to give you some cushion to do something else.
Maybe shoot for 5 years at your company and then reevaluate? Anybody thinking about 20 years at the same place is going to go insane!
Sam