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Re: Ok, I'm asking for all you loonies for life advice
05/26/11 10:13 AM
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This may sound loony, but that's why you're in the bin, right? If you hate your job, you have three options:
- Suck it up. This sucks, because you'll be depressed every day, and if you have a family, you'll come home feeling depressed and consequently make their lives suck, too. However, it may be the only workable option depending on your circumstances.
- Demand better treatment. Whether this is workable or will deliver results depends greatly on your circumstances.
- Quit and find a better job. It's actually not as difficult as it might seem.
When I was young and naive, I took option 1 for far too long. I kept trying to convince myself that things would get better, and the company's fortunes would pick up, and I just needed to prove myself by putting in hard work. But it didn't. My wife knew I was depressed, and it weighed her down, too. On top of that I was getting fat.
Eventually I quit. I had a car loan, rent to pay, a wife to feed, and no job lined up to drop in to. But I had about six months' worth of pay (at my admittedly poor pay rate) in the bank. I only applied for jobs that looked interesting, and I was upfront about my demands in interviews. I was unemployed for about three months. I worried a bit, but I got to spend more time with my wife, and lose some weight, and had plenty of time to think.
I did get a better job that paid almost twice as much. I last a couple of years before I felt like I was getting screwed around more than I thought I should have to deal with, and started looking for other opportunities. This time I didn't quit first, but things weren't as bad as they'd been the previous time. I did find opportunities, and I took one.
I'm still in that position, and I'm treated with a good deal of respect. The company realises I'm very good at my job, and they can't replace me overnight. They also realise that when I got sick of getting tooled around in my two previous jobs I really did take option 3 (quit and find something better). This puts me in a good position if I need to pull option 2 - if I talk about leaving, they know it's not a hollow threat. If I'm not happy, I will have the head of department, head of HR, regional general manager and a board member coming to see how they can make things better for me.
So in summary, I guess I'm telling you to go out on a limb. If you're not being treated properly, quit and find something better. Do this until you're in a position where you can play the cards to your advantage. Remember the company doesn't own you - without employees they cease to be anything at all.
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