How Do You Know When It’s the Right Time for You to Switch Jobs?
It’s fairly common for young professionals in the 21st century to transition between jobs frequently. It’s a culture of the times and isn’t questioned too much honestly so long as you spend the minimum acceptable tenure of one year at a specific job. And honestly, why shouldn’t you? Young professionals receive higher appraisals through switching positions rather than year on year increments at the same job. You could receive more varied experience, build your network, and truly find what works best for you. But are you sure you’re switching jobs for the right reasons?
A very popular metric for decision making on a job is also “fit”. Many young professionals want to work at companies that represent values they hold, and work with teams that reflect those values in their day-to-day operations. And as a result, many are found switching jobs every year in search for a better “fit”. But how do you know when you truly need to switch away from a company because of “fit” and when you aren’t just running away from your problems?
Unfortunately, people unwittingly switch jobs under the guise of “fit” whereas in reality, they just need to work through their problems. Now let me be clear, I am not advising you to stay in a toxic workplace and work through the pain. All I am asking is that you bring a more nuanced and resilient approach to solving problems of “fit”. You see, our world today is more polarized than ever, and this means that more often than not, we will run into people with differing opinions and work styles in our professional lives. And for the sake of our resume, and personal sanity, we can’t always run away. And so, it’s beneficial for all young professionals to learn the difference between a truly unforgiving work environment that must be escaped and one that can be worked upon to improve your relations.
Now, if you’ve decided to work on yourself and improve the things in your locus of control, what can help you do this? Yes, your friends can hear you vent about your crappy job and how misunderstood you are by your boss, but can they offer actionable and long-term solutions? In my opinion, friends and family can provide you with band aids, but the real cure is to prevent the hurt in the first place. Who better to provide you with objective and customized advice for your career than a life coach?
Building resilience in the workplace is not an easy feat. It requires consistent effort, to reflect on your own beliefs and behaviours, to implement positive and helpful strategies, to gather feedback and rework on all of the above. This is not something that one can achieve alone, simply because we as humans are not objective to ourselves, we’re heavily biased. A life coach can be your mentor, someone who’s specifically looking out for you, someone who can advise you on whether you need to buck up or whether you truly need to search for a new job. What’s better, is that if you do need to switch jobs for all the right reasons, a life coach is the one who can help you find the right job, hone the right skills, and make sure that you’re making the best of your professional potential.
Asking for help has never been easier, download the Evolve app today to connect with like-minded life coaches, who want nothing but the best for you!
About the author: Aditi Khatau is a first generation entrepreneur, passionate coach, and innovative disruptor. As a life long learner, Aditi founded Evolve with the intention of introducing the benefits of coaching to maximum people.
