Time to make sober decisions

Time to make sober decisions

Words by Francis Kahihu: kahihucareers@gmail.com

How do you feel when you reflect on yourself at your current workplace? Does your heartrate increase at the thought of hanging on at your current place of work for another 12 months, or are you at peace due to the satisfaction you derive? What are some of the fears and concerns that you harbor as the year starts and have you taken necessary measures to mitigate against the impact of such worries?

The start of the year provides us with an opportunity to make decisions that would shape our career engagements for the rest of the year. It is an opportunity for us to put to action those feelings we may have had over the last one year as we considered measures to improve on the level of satisfaction at our places of work. Throughout last year, you may have lived a lie by pretending to be comfortable and happy at your place of work even when you were deeply hurting from within. You may have persevered with the hope that by the close of the year you would have found a better opportunity to work.

In case the above scenarios represent your kind of experiences, it is never too late to make a shift for the sake of salvaging your life. There is no reason to live through a career or job that only serves to torture your mind year after year. It might just be the season for you to make the decision to move on either from your current employer or career. You will however want to share your concerns with a trusted friend who would help you evaluate the merits of your concerns, just in case you have no valid reasons to take drastic steps.

It is a fact today that many people are stuck in the wrong careers due to limited relevant opportunities in the marketplace. Do you feel like you are at the right career? Are you where you always wanted to be or do you constantly feel like a ‘work in progress’? It is at a point like this that you need to decide whether you would want to be in the wrong career throughout your life or would want to actually have a drastic career change. As many people are in jobs that are outside of their desired careers, there have been cases of others finding careers in their jobs. If all the jobs you find are in certain career paths, way outside your dream career field, you may as well want to decide whether a career shift is the better option. This would help you settle from feelings of guilt for being in the wrong career.

Alternatively, you could be in the right career but hooked up to the wrong employer. It could be that you just don’t seem to click with the employer in terms of expectations, values or remuneration. In this case, ditching your career due to challenges with one employer is never the wise thing to do. Do not hate a career because of an employer. You can always change employers and stick to your desired career. The start of the year provides you with an opportunity to make that shift as many employers would be seeking for new staff. It also serves as a good reason to interview panelists when you move at this time since many people desire new beginnings at the start of the year hence fewer suspicions.

Finally, thinking through salaries and benefits, the number one reason why many people indicate dissatisfaction at their workplaces, you would for sure want to consider your level and reason for satisfaction or otherwise at this point. Might you be feeling dissatisfied because other colleagues also indicate lack of satisfaction? What might you be pegging your lack of satisfaction on? Might it be that you are actually over paid bearing in mind the kind and quality of outputs you deliver? In thinking about the salary question, there are several factors that you need to consider among them your job description, your actual work engagements and the other benefits that accrue from your employment. These could include opportunities for personal development, medical cover and exposure to a vast team that supports creativity, a recipe for self actualisation.

As a parting shot, do not just leave your job because of your dissatisfaction with the salary. Take time to quantify the other benefits as well. In case you feel like your salary does meet your expenses (hopefully not resulting from poor personal financial management), then you could initiate a discussion with your employer for a hike. Alternatively, you could seek for extra engagements that could earn you some more cash on the side. Starting a business that requires less of your actual daily involvement could be a place to start.