It is a natural progression for many individuals to feel vacuumed and dissatisfied with their profession at some point in life. We see a lot of people suffering with discontentment with their jobs and careers. Many reasons might contribute to you feeling stuck in your career path. Maybe the initial pay scale or the working style of this job were attractive to you. But over a period of time, ambition sets in, pushing you to reach for more.
Analyzing what is leaving you behind can be a difficult task given the bias inherent in all of us. However, the current competitive marketspace magnified by recession does not allow any individual enough time for recovery. So, before you seriously lag, follow the tips below to pull yourself out of this dissatisfying work zone and gain back your strength.
Analyze – What’s Making You Lag?
What is the cause of your lagging career? A business needs rapid development. But if you are stuck at a point, you may soon become replaceable. Sit down and try to pen down all those areas that bring hindrances to your happy work-life.
- Why has the job become more a basis of living than a way of life for you?
- Did you sign up for this job without a full understanding of its market requirements or efforts required?
- Maybe you are hoping for a promotion but your performance is not up to the mark. You need to examine yourself to bring positive changes to your work life.
- Do you want more self-time or more occupied in work?
Better to be farsighted in order to avoid such issues again in future. Whatever the issue is, you need to puzzle it out and fix it immediately.
360-degree Feedback and Consultation
If you really want to progress and be successful, never miss out on collecting feedback. You can ask your colleagues as well as your boss to give feedback on your work and attitude. Although you can go for self-analysis but you may miss out on some aspects that others can point out better.
Sometimes even after investing time and effort, you are unable to understand why something is not working. But your close ones and well-wishers can tell you honestly. Otherwise, job-hopping will only leave you with more dissatisfaction. Thus, taking such feedback seriously and sorting out issues will work wonders. Also, count on your trustworthy colleagues for consultation. You can consult your co-workers to advise you to get out of this “stuck” zone.
Enhance Your Skill Set
After knowing your weak points, you need to take the next step. You cannot expect a change whilst following the same style. If you are lagging a specific skill for promotion or self-enhancement, go for it. The market outside is full of opportunities to learn new skills and talents. Also, the more skills you have, the more likely you are to create options for yourself. If you are unsure where to go for incorporating these skills inside you, the below-mentioned training platforms are most suitable-
- edX– a place to learn or enhance any of the skill you own. Be it content writing, marketing, digital media etc. Here, almost 140 leading institutions from all over the world offer a variety of courses.
- Udemy– it’s an online portal where you can register and start polishing any of your skills. Reach out to the website to know an ocean of skills offered by them.
- Knightsbridge Trading Academy– They offer online courses to those interested in financial trading. You will come to know new ways to enhance your business.
Personality Development
You need to be a better version of yourself tomorrow. This is the need of the contemporary competitive market where no one is less than you. If you see your colleagues in a better position, analyze his or her personality. What is something in their professional tone that brings them to this position? And is the core cause of you being stuck at your career, your weak personality? The way you engage with your clients, your skills in handling interpersonal relations, the way you communicate – every aspect matters. Know the requirements of your job and develop your personality accordingly. Maybe your firm requires you to be a smart speaker which you feel you are not. Go for personality tests and see where you stand and where you are expected to stand.
Set Your Priorities and Values
Sometimes it happens that your priorities and values don’t match with your company’s. You may miss out on focusing on it out of excitement when you received your joining letter. But now that you feel lost somewhere, you may notice it.
Pen down your expectations from a job. If your needs do not coincide with that of your company’s, it might be time for a new job search. Try bringing change to your role and work environment. If you still feel it’s unworthy, take your job search seriously and move on.
Stay Updated
A lot happens these days and you can easily peep into the outside world via the internet to stay alert regarding important information relevant to your field. Stay updated with new skills in the market. Ask yourself if you are up-to-date with the happenings around the globe. If not, bring this habit in your daily schedule.
Build Your Network
Apart from all the aforementioned steps for a satisfying career, this aspect is inevitable. No matter where you work, building a network is mandatory to a bigger goal. You need to know people around and people need to know you. Suppose you decide to change your firm or build your own – it will only help to have at least few people know about you and vouch for you. It is never too late to enlarge your network. Keep increasing and expanding your reach via social media channels and different ways to communicate. To learn these skills, you may also reach up to online learning platforms like Knightsbridge Trading Academy, Udemy, or edX.
Alternative Job Search
After trying all the above, if you still feel dissatisfied with your work profile then maybe it’s time for a change. It is not easy to bid adieu to your current firm and enter a new one. But career has to take priority over comfort and ease.
Make sure you are positive enough to jump the ship and go through the adjusting phase of a new employee. This is only an option when the rest of the options fail to fulfil your goals. If you take this step without proper analysis, you may end up in a vicious cycle of discontentment. Consult all your close ones before taking such a step.
When searching for a new job, make sure the new one includes everything in your priority list.
Conclusion
We hope these eight steps to move on from a phase of career stagnation have helped you!
Uma Rajagopal has been managing the posting of content for multiple platforms since 2021, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune. Her role ensures that content is published accurately and efficiently across these diverse publications.