What to Do When You Dislike Your Job

Let’s face it, we’re not always going to be in our dream job, and at times, we might even dislike the job we’re in or the company we work for. Rather than view your job experience as a waste of time, or hate every minute you’re at work, there are ways to make it more tolerable and even beneficial for you and your career.

If you find yourself disliking your job, here are five things to focus on to improve your work experience.

Aspects of the job you enjoy. Rather than think about how much you dislike your job, focus your attention on the parts of the job that you appreciate. There are many things in our work that we cannot control but we can shape the way we think about our work and focus on the positives.

Building good relationships. Developing effective working relationships is a skill that transfers well to other jobs. Use your unpleasant experience to leaner to work with a variety of people with a variety of skill sets. This experience will serve you well wherever you end up in your career.

Expanding your skills. Your job, even if you hate it, can provide opportunities to develop and expand your skill set, either through on-the-job training, courses or classes, or by moving to another department. Take advantage of these opportunities to grow in your knowledge of the industry and to develop new skills that can be useful in another job.

The challenge of staying positive. It can be difficult to stay positive in a job you dislike and, yet, a positive approach to you job and career is critical to future success. Being in a job that challenges your ability to be positive will help you in future jobs, and help you develop the strategies necessary to maintaining a positive approach to whatever your job (or life) throws at you.

Building character. Like the challenge of staying positive, is the opportunity a job you dislike provides for building character by getting up daily and heading off to do great work and build positive relationships despite how you feel about your job. Take this as a challenge to deepen your character and you’ll become a better person and a better employee.  

5 Ways to Widen and Deepen Your Network

An important, and sometimes overlooked aspect to growing your career is the ability to widen and deepen your network. By that we mean increasing the number of individuals who are part of your network and developing those relationships, so they move beyond a superficial level.

This can seem like a daunting task, particularly for introverts, but there are some strategies we can take to become better at developing a meaningful and helpful network.

Make your plans known to your friends and colleagues. Beginning with your current network is the most effective way to start but it’s important to be clear about what you’re looking for. Once you know what you need and what your questions are, take some time to meet with some trusted friends and coworkers. They will likely be able to refer you to someone they know who could be of assistance. Ask for an introduction, too, and that can help break the ice, especially for introverts.

Then follow-up with a meeting. Get in touch with those recommended contacts and invite them to meet you for a coffee. If you haven’t been introduced by your friend or colleague, be sure to name-drop and let them know that “our mutual friend Jim from XYZ Company” suggested we meet up. Be clear about the purpose of your meeting, though, and state an objective: “I’d love to hear your perspective on starting a business now versus pursuing an MBA.”

Offer some value to your new contact. When you meet up, be sure to prepare in advance to be of service. Bring a product sample that might be of interest to the person you’re meeting or be prepared to refer them some business or help build their network by connecting them with a friend or colleague. And leave the meeting with a plan to stay in contact. 

Be grateful. Be sure to express appreciation to your friends and colleagues for referring you to their network and thank your new contacts for taking the time to meet with you and for providing you with some guidance and advice.

Finally, develop a plan to stay in touch with your network through regular coffee or lunch meetups, or by connecting through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social platforms.

Expanding your network and deepening the quality of those relationships will benefit your career in the long-term, wherever your career path leads.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: The 3 Best Ways to Avoid Career Burnout

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• The 3 Best Ways to Avoid Career Burnout:"I've seen many high-potential individuals burn out in a flame of glory because they couldn't pace themselves. Don't be that person! Your hard work and long hours are only worth it if you can enjoy yourself throughout the process."

• 9 CEOs Share Their Favorite Productivity Hacks: "Here are nine tricks successful CEOs use to squeeze more productivity out of themselves and their employees."

• How Building Relationships Helps Build Business: "A big part of building successful relationships in the workplace is hiring the right people, but even more important—and often more challenging—is being able to surrender control over every aspect of the business."

• 5 Tweaks to Your Daily Routine to Double Energy & Productivity: "If you desire to create more energy and become more productive, start with addressing the tiny and everyday habits before adding more complex tactics to your life."
• 9 Bad Habits That Can Lead to Unhappiness: "Changing your habits in the name of greater happiness is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. But it’s also important for another reason—taking control of your happiness makes everyone around you happier, too."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Deal with That Co-Worker Who Drives You Crazy

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to Deal with That Co-Worker Who Drives You Crazy:"tiptoeing around the real problem only means that the person on the receiving end is either confused, misinformed, or insulted."

• 7 Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills: "Keep in mind, your speaking is not about you proving your brilliance, winning raving fans, making yourself 'right' or making others 'wrong'—it’s about making things better."

• How I Fired My Co-Founder, CEO and Close Friend: "We were severely misaligned in our vision for the company: I wanted to grow strategically, perfecting one product before launching another; he wanted to expand into new categories, and fast."

• Brene Brown on Why Employees Should Be Prepared for Failure: "The intention of this approach isn't to be mean; it's about setting the expectation that your employees inevitably will fall short at some point. In the long run, that should help make them stronger workers."
• 13 Ways to Build Lasting Relationships With Customers: "In the current business climate where every customer is bombarded with digital messaging, remember that a personal touch counts."

5 Steps to Evaluate Your Career Over the Holidays

Over the last several weeks we've discussed some things you can do to enhance your career and your network over the holidays. Today, we'll think about the current state of your career and job and take some time to evaluate where you stand.

Here are five things to consider:

1. Are you learning? Do you have opportunities to learn new skills and develop the ones you have? You'll enjoy your career much more if you're not bored and have the chance to branch out and learn more.

2. Are you developing relationships? Very few of us have no need to interact with others on the job and so it's important that we're developing effective and productive working relationships. Our job is often a place to develop new friendships, as well as expand our our network.

3. Do you have opportunities for advancement? Work can feel frustrating if we seem trapped in our current job and have no opportunities to advance or to move into other more challenging roles.

4. How do you feel on Sunday night? When you're thinking about going to work on Monday morning how do you feel? Do you feel stressed out or are you dreading going into work? If you look forward to the challenges awaiting you that is a good sign that you're in a good place.

5. Are you applying your strengths? You'll enjoy your work much more when you are able to apply your strength and skills, those things you do well, to your job. If you're unable to utilize your strengths at work it is probably a good indication that you're in the wrong position.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 3 Tips to Identify Your Life Purpose

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 3 Tips to Identify Your Life Purpose: "Look for a unifying thread or pattern that's consistent throughout your past experience that's also consistent with your passion and skills."


• How to Follow Your Dreams and Pay the Bills: "Whichever path you end up taking, make sure you make an informed decision and understand the short- and long-term financial implications. Choosing a career for its intrinsic reward is fine – as long as you can repay your debt and cover your bills."


• 5 Habits of People Who Always Get Promoted: "A large part of any business is helping people work together well. Super-employees make that a top priority. They look at relationships as something that’s critical to success in the business."


• You Don't Need a Promotion to Grow at Work: "Expanding your influence through actively mentoring others, building internal communities of practice, or stepping up to represent your organization with external bodies can forge satisfying new frontiers without changing roles."


• 10 Steps to Millennial Financial Success: "The biggest monthly expenses that most millennials have are rent and transportation. Making some sacrifices to keep those bills as low as possible can have a huge impact."

5 Keys to Career Happiness

Are you happy with your career? Unfortunately, many of us spend a great deal of time and energy

complaining about our job or our boss to anyone who will listen.

Instead of complaining let's consider 5 keys to job satisfaction and career happiness.

1. Your work is meaningful. The company you work for and the position you fill helps to bring value to the world. In other words, your work is not unethical or promotes products or services that do harm.

2. You have work-life balance. The job you do allows you time to relax with family, engage with your hobbies, and does not cause you to be in a constant state of stress.

3. You are fairly compensated. This is obvious but you'll feel better about your work if you feel that you are valued and paid appropriately for the value you bring to your job.

4. You have valuable relationships at work. Many long-lasting friendships start as co-worker relationships. It's much easier to enjoy your job if you enjoy those you work with.

5. You have opportunities to advance and develop your skills. It's easy to feel stuck in a job or career if we see no opportunity to advance or move up. A satisfying job allows you to continually grow, learn, and develop.

Consider these keys to help evaluate your current situation and determine whether it's time to change your job or change your attitude.

How to Network Better This Year

It is important to continue to build your network for several different reasons: individuals in your network can help you gain new skills through informal training or mentoring, important members of your network can recommend you for that promotion, and, if you are looking for new work, your network can provide you with job leads.

So, what steps can you take to build your network this year? Take these three steps to start.

1. Never Eat Alone. This is the title of a fantastic book by Keith Ferrazzi and advice to follow. Make sure to eat your lunch in the work cafeteria so you can get to know others in your workplace. Or invite someone new out to lunch on a regular basis. This is a great way to begin to expand your network and be inspired by what others know and are working on.

2. Attend a Conference. Take some time out in the first few months of the year to attend a conference relevant to your career aspirations. Conferences provide a great opportunity to develop new relationships and connections and are also a great place to recharge those batteries and get motivated.

3. Connect on LinkedIn. Set a goal to add several new contacts on LinkedIn every week. Ask those you know to make some introductions, if necessary.

And check out these 10 Networking Tips. 

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Building Authentic Relationships

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In this video networking expert Keith Ferrazzi is interviewed at NextShark and states that "living your life to build relationships authentically makes you a better person. And it’s not just better for the world but better for you. Your blood pressure goes down, your ulcers are fewer, and you breathe easier."

Learn more in the video below:

 

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Happiness, Dream Boards, and Sustainable Careers

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 5 Ways to Form Authentic Connections at Work: "Make sure you’re constantly striving to be a servant leader – a team’s success isn’t your glory moment, but is instead that of the people directly involved."

• How to Be Happy at Work: "We all want a few universal things. We want to make an impact on the world. We want to master what we do and strive for excellence. However, that’s really hard if we’re not on the right path and our job doesn’t bring us to life."                                                      
• Why You Need a Dream Board: "With dreams, you've got to think big. And just when you think you've thought big enough, it may be time to think even bigger. The point isn't to come up with realistic things -- it's to come with big, crazy, huge dreams that you can hope for."


• Craft a Sustainable Career: "Embrace the fact that you are the pilot of your career. No one else has direct access to your ambitions, interests, and values, and no one is going to take you by the hand and help you create a fulfilling career. The more you practice career crafting, the better you get at it."


• 4 Reasons Even Employed People Need to Network: "Continuing to build new relationships and nurture existing contacts after you're employed can be hugely beneficial to you as members of your network grow into the next phases of their career." 

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• Improve Your Networking Skills  -- Right Now: "Try to listen more than you talk, be thoughtful in your interactions and generous with your time when you can."


• How to Have a Year that Matters: "Rugged individualism is nice in theory, but the truth is: if you're going to make a difference, you're probably not going to make it happen all by your lonesome. So who are your mentors and allies, friends and peers? Who's at your back, manning your sails, crewing your boat?"


• How to Be a Career Prepper: "Begin seeking opportunities to meet people who work outside your company and build mutually beneficial long-term relationships. Also begin creating a personal reputation of excellence, on- and off-line."


• 4 Ways to Figure Out Your Future: "For one week, invest an hour every day to research. Check out top job lists, browse career exploration sites, or just read your favorite section of the newspaper. Your goal? Write down any career that catches your attention. This exercise can stretch your vision of what opportunities actually exist."


• Why You're Not a Leader: "True leadership isn’t found seeking the spotlight, but seeking to shine the spotlight on others. The best leaders only use 'I' when accepting responsibility for failures. Likewise, they are quick to use 'we' when referring to successes."