Why We Stay in Jobs We Hate
Beep… beep… beep.. your alarm beckons you to a new day. As you reach across the bed to turn it off, how do you feel? Besides tired, I mean. Why do we stay in jobs we hate?
Do you sigh just a little because you’d rather sleep? Or, do you let out a gut-wrenching, wake-up-the-neighborhood kind of sigh because you can’t bear the thought of going to work?
If it’s the latter—there’s a good chance you may officially hate your job. Worse yet, if you’re a manager, you may have important members on your team that may hate their job! But how can you identify who they are and alleviate a surprise 2 week notice? If you place an importance on tenure of your key employees, keep reading.
People may hate their job because of their boss, their co-workers, non-sustainable long hours, the boredom, or more– but the question is… “why do we stay in jobs we hate?”
We stay in jobs we hate because we are in debt
CNBC recently reported that the average American has a credit card balance of $6,375. This is up nearly 3 percent from last year, according to Experian’s annual study on the state of credit and debt in America. 43% of Americans have been carrying a credit card debt for over two years.
As much as Americans try not to overspend, we live in the age of credit cards, Apple Pay, Amazon One Click and more. We are inundated with social media posts about fabulous vacations, homes, and cars.
To stay afloat, the average American needs to maintain a well-paying job–continuously. Most households need to maintain two well-paying jobs and incomes. After years of spending to income level, we get “used” to a certain lifestyle; and over time, many of us start to feel trapped. We are trapped by our poor spending decisions of the past.
We stay in jobs we hate because it takes too much time to get a new job
It takes time and effort to get a new job—lots of it. We don’t have the luxury of being out of work for months at a time to job search, especially when it’s uncertain how long it will take to find new employment. Talent Works reports (in Sept 2017), that it takes over 200 applications to land a job as an HR or administrative assistant. They also report that, on average, a person has an 8.3% probability of getting a job interview from one job application.
We stay in jobs we hate because they work for our family
Perhaps you really don’t like your job, but it’s flexible. Perhaps you have gotten to know your boss really well and she understands that family comes first. Perhaps you have gotten to a point where you have lots of vacation, and can’t bear the thought of starting over. Maybe it’s the fact that the job is remote, has great hours, or childcare. Whatever it is, it seems to work for the family. So, we stay.
Getting out of the cycle
If you feel trapped in a job you hate, take a small step forward EVERY DAY. Each day, think of one thing that could move you forward in your career. It might be signing up for training, working on a resume or cover letter, updating your LinkedIn profile, or getting the word out among trusted contacts that you are open to new possibilities.
Artemis Consultants can help. We match employers with employees who are a good fit to the position, but we also want the employee to love their position and be motivated to do their best work. I invite you to visit Artemis Consultants for a complete list of services offered.
