Career Tip Tuesday: Don’t Call it Quits

(Via Flickr/Beatplusmelody)

Sick of your job? You’re not alone. More than half of professionals that participated in a recent Accenture report were dissatisfied with their job. However, almost 70% of them planned on staying with their current company.

Since others are unhappy and unwilling to quit, it means it is unlikely that more positions will open up for you to fill somewhere else. Make sure you can identify what is making you unhappy at your job before putting in your two-weeks notice. Then take a step back and assess if you can do something about it (before joining the 12.7 million people currently unemployed).

Some of the main areas that brought dissatisfaction to professionals from the study and how you can deal with them are:

Low Salary

Ask for a raise if you have been at your current job for more than a year and have not received one; it’s time to start asking. If your company can’t offer you a raise, try to bargain for better benefits such as more vacation days, a bigger bonus at the end of the year, or other perks that can help alleviate some of the stress and make you feel better about showing up to work every day.

No Opportunities for Growth

If your responsibilities haven’t changed since last year, your career growth is suffering. Identify a challenging project and ask to complete it. Pick three skills you would like to gain in the next year and approach your boss to let him or her know how they can benefit the company. Follow up with your boss to update him or her of your progress in learning those new skills. Take it a step further and implement projects you can take on in the future that will strengthen your new skills.

Heavy Workload

Juggling your daily to do list may be keeping you from tackling the big projects that can help you get promoted. Take the most important projects and break them into mini projects that can be completed in a day. Sort and reply to the never-ending emails after lunch when you are less likely to have energy to be creative. When you head out at the end of the day, you will be pleased to have completed a fraction of an important project.

Long Hours

Talk to your boss about the possibility of telecommuting. Even being able to work from home and avoid the hassle of commuting can give you a fresh start and help you be more creative. Point out how telecommuting can help you avoid distractions and advance more on the big projects. If you can’t work from home ask for flextime. If you find yourself to be more efficient during the early hours of the day, ask to start an hour or two earlier.

Negative Coworkers

Don’t feed into coworker conversations that center around negativity. If you can’t avoid negative coworkers, have a close-knit circle of friends or family that will listen to your career dilemmas. This group can help you see the bright side of those challenges.

Quitting this job won’t guarantee you will be happy at the next. You have to be able to take your happiness into your own hands and identify the things that can keep you happy at your current job. Then, if a job opportunity presents itself you will know exactly what you need to succeed.