Last night I was getting ready to start my Monday blog and I got caught up tweeting a friend of mine who had left a deliciously inviting tweet in cyberspace for a personal finance blogger.
Ivanka Trump: anyone out there hiring?!
This is not the famous Ivanka Trump, but a personal friend of mine who tweets anonymously. She’s not a new mom, nor is she the daughter of The Donald, but as long as Ivanka Trump is in the news, I may get some hits from people googling The Donald’s Wife. If you are reading this after searching for Ivanka Trump, you just got SEO pwn’d. Now back to the conversation.
My initial fear was that my friend had lost her job, so I asked.
@kevin_is_money: what happened to your job?
Ivanka Trump: I hate it. Help me find another?
Ah, the classic “I hate my job” case. Roughly 80% of people are dissatisfied with their jobs. Most of those people have no idea what to do to fix it, so they do nothing. I have a pretty good idea of how to tackle this problem, and you can be sure that “nothing” is nowhere near the list.
In fact, the solution can be broken down into three steps:
- Figure out what you want to do
- Acquire the necessary skills and/or training (if needed)
- Find a job
The most important thing about this list is that you do it in order. Most people, when they are unhappy with their work, go straight to step 3. See Ivanka Trump’s tweet above for a prime example.
Jumping past step one is often disastrous. A few examples of what might happen include: spending tens of thousands of dollars getting another college degree that qualifies you for yet another thing you don’t want to do; becoming unemployed and spending all day sleeping and watching TV in your mom’s basement because you don’t know what jobs to apply for; working a new job that you hate even more than your last job.
Many people embrace change when things are going bad because they find it difficult to envision something new being worse than what they had before. It’s important to remember that change can be for the better or for the worse. Are you listening 2008 presidential election? (Sorry Obama voters, I don’t care how you feel about him now; you elected someone who unashamedly ran on the “Hope and Change” platform, aka “At least I’m not that guy/party”)
Figure Out What You Want to Do
The hardest part of this list is the first step. If I had the solution to figuring out what someone should do with their life, I’d be swimming in a pool of $100 bills instead of writing this blog. Fortunately, it is much easier to figure out what you don’t want to do. This should be your first step.
Once you have defined what you don’t want to do, you may realize that you can tweak your current job and change it into something you don’t hate. Most bosses will realize that a happy employee is a productive employee, and if you recommend certain responsibility changes that will make you more happy and productive, any good boss will take your suggestions into consideration.
Once your job has changed, see if you enjoy it. If that fixed it, I accept tips via cash, check, or credit card. If it didn’t then try again to change the things you hate until you either find what you like or determine you must leave the company.
If you’ve determined that your current job cannot be salvaged, then you need to figure out what you want to do before you can find something else.
Unfortunately there is no single answer to this question; however, I do have a few ideas that might help people figure it out:
- Ask your closest friends and family members what they think you would love (This helped Tag decide to go to Nursing School)
- Read the ever popular “find your career” book What Color is Your Parachute?
- Learn more about yourself and your interests on a long, cheap vacation.
- Volunteer to better the world in the Peace Corps and hope you find something you love.
There are certainly thousands of other ways to figure out what you should do, but one of these might work for you. My only guarantee is that doing something is better than doing nothing.
Don’t waste any more time complaining about your current job. Transfer that effort into figuring out what you do want.
The Hard Part is Over
Once you’ve finally determined what you want to do, you may need to acquire skills to qualify yourself to work in that position.
This may include taking out more student loans, moving back in with mom and dad, selling your fancy new car, and many other seemingly terrible financial implications. It may also be very challenging and you may need to work harder in school than you’ve ever worked before.
And it will all be worth it.
A few years of financial hardship is a piece of cake if you can be sure to place yourself in that 20% of people who actually enjoy their work.
Finally, you just need to find a job. This can take some time and may not be simple, but unless your chosen career is Broadway Star or Professional Football Player, the passion you have for doing something you love will certainly give you an advantage over 80% of the applicants.
Good luck Ivanka Trump, and good luck to any of you who are unhappy with your job. Remember, finding what you want to do is the first step in what may be the most important decision making process of your entire life.
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Great post! The first step is so important, and I see people missing it so often. I have a lot of friends that graduated with a bachelor’s within the past couple of years that are working in jobs they hate, but haven’t actually spent any time thinking about what they want to do. And then when they get fed up, they quit, find a new job in the same field (usually reception/admin/etc.) because they have “experience” but it’s still a job they hate, because it’s not the job they hate as much as it is the work they hate.
I mean, sometimes the work environment can be toxic, so you just need the same job but at a different company, but more often than not, it’s because you’re doing work you dislike and that messes with the rest of your employment experience.
Maybe I’m being a little idealistic here, but when you’re in your 20s, with few responsibilities, 40 hours a week is way too much time to spend doing something you hate.
If I hated my job, I would try to start a business to replace the income that i made and then quit the job
Not that your friend was doing this…but I HATE listening to people complain about their job and do ZERO about it. Life is wayyyy too short to hate where you have to spend 8 to 10 hours a day.
Kevin, somtime I feel like your friend. I think that it so important to understand what is it that you want to do. It the right approach to the point. I will think about it sence I feel the same about my job
Hi Kevin- thank you for a great post. this is the situation I’m dealing with. In the last couple of months I change my job, and I must say- it is not easy, but it feel so good! once you know you gonna do it, you feel so much better!
Finding out what you want do is just a learning curve, in this process you figuring out what you don’t want until its clear
I agree with Evan: Life is too short and you have only one , so if you hate your job, do something about it. Take a break and find out what you really like and act accordingly.
ACT!!!
Hi Kevin,
As they say, you hit the nail right in the head. I see kids entering college taking courses that they see is in demand hoping that they’ll be able to land a good job and get a good pay but after working for some months or years, some of them quit and look for another job, go unemployed, or stay and suffer hoping for a miracle.
I agree with your solution. It’s simple and basic but so true. We really need to figure out first what we want to be doing, what is our passion. It’s our life after all.
Then we need to act. It certainly is a whole lot better than doing nothing.
Thanks for a great post!
I purport that 20% of those people hating their job have genuine reasons not to make the switch.
I further suspect that the balance 80% are lazy knucklehead whiners who are unmotivated to better their lot in life.
This is a good article. 100% of the survey respondents might benefit from it, 2% chance any of them will actually read it.
Ivanka Trump! (if it helps any)
Thanks for the advice, friend!
Step 1 is very important, you first to figure out what you want to do and apply it to yourself according to your capabilities.. You hate your job because you are not happy of what you are doing..That is actually the fact of hating your job! Anyways, thanks for this following tips and I appreciate it!
I went through the same dilemma… I believed I want to be a IT professional… I studied for 16 years to get the degree but it was a total disaster when I entered the market. I took a daring step, quit my job and became a freelance writer and now I am loving my job 🙂
Most of the people who hate their job is that they are not satisfied and there’s no contentment in life. I agree all the steps actually, know first what you want to do that makes you happy and contented. Thanks for this excellent tips, this is such a great help.
I was once hate my job before because I feel empty and numb, I don’t know what’s happening to me by that time but then I realize that all I need is to focus and concentrate. I’m now doing good right now and I’m thankful to myself. LOL.
Ha, that’s cool