You Are Happy At Work. Why Change Jobs Now?

When you lose your job you know you need to start a job search.  When you are miserable at work, you know the only way out is to look for something else. The hardest move to make is when you are relatively happy doing your job, your pay is good and your teammates and you get along well.  In the past people stayed at jobs like that and never left.  My father stayed with GE for 25 years.  I stayed at AT&T for 15 years.  Today 5 years at one company is a long time.  How do you know when it is time to make that extra effort to look for a new job?  Here is a list of 10 situations where you are pretty happy at work, but you see that it might be time for a change.

1. You have been in the same position for 3+years. You love the work and are good at it.  You feel grateful to be where you are.  Your manager loves your work but when potential promotions come up no one thinks of you.  When you ask about it you are told that they need you in the job you have.  You feel happy that you are needed but stuck.
2. You like the work you are doing but you are not learning and growing. You see other jobs descriptions that would use your strengths but there are parts of them you have only a little experience in.  You would like to make a change but aren’t sure they would hire you so you do not make the effort. You think you might have plateaued.
3. Your job takes a lot of focus and attention. You are well paid, but you know you are not using your strengths.  You want a job that would be interesting and use your strengths so that work would be less stressful.  You feel very tired because the job you are doing requires intense focus and attention and that takes a lot of energy. You would like a new job but have no energy to look for anything else.
4. Your job is not challenging. It is easy and you are well paid. You see ways that you could help your department by using your strengths.  You make suggestions to your boss about projects you could do.  Your manager is not interested in implementing your ideas.
5. When you started the job you loved it. It was challenging and interesting.  Now a couple of years later the job is routine and you are somewhat bored with it. The pay is good.  You think, “Why rock the boat?”
6. Your suggested improvements to the way you and your colleagues do the work are never utilized. There is always a reason why it won’t work but when you disagree you are told to stop whining. The job isn’t terrible, but you are frustrated that your suggestions are not taken seriously.
7. After a reorg you get a job that is not what you want to be doing. You can do the job but it is not the best use of your talents.  There are jobs in the organization you could do that interest you but when you asked about them, you are told the right people are already in those positions.  You tell yourself you will wait for one of those positions that interest you to become available. You wonder if you are wasting your time.
8. You can’t see a career path for you in the organization you are in. You like your job but when you review your next steps for your career you can’t see a place for you.  You aren’t sure when or how you leave so you keep stalling.
9. You have no vision for the future in your current position. When you were hired you had lots of ideas about what you were going to do.  You implemented those ideas successfully and now you have no vision for the future.  You try to come up with ideas, but it hasn’t been fruitful.  You think it might be time for a new challenge, but you are not sure what you want to be doing.
10. You and your manager worked well together. She helped you to learn and grow in your position and you really appreciated that.  Now your manager has left and a new manager has been hired.  You and your new manager have had a difficult time understanding one another. You see that her ideas will take the department in a different direction and you don’t agree with the change.  Your plan is to wait her out.  You are sure her plan will fail but so far it hasn’t and her manager supports her work.  You are not sure your plan of waiting her out is a good one.

Have you ever been in one of these situations?  A coach can help you to figure out how and when to leave your job, if that is what you want to do.  Perhaps you aren’t sure whether want to leave or not.  Again, a coach can help you make that decision.  Often just talking to someone who has no agenda except your success is helpful.  If you would like to talk about your situation with me to see if coaching would be right for you, call me at 781-598-0388 or email me at asparker@asparker.com