What to do When You Hate Your Job
“I hate my job.”
”I hate my company.”
“I hate my boss.”
If you’ve said any of those, or some combination, before, don’t worry. People tend to hate one thing or another about the work that they do. While this is a fairly common experience, it doesn’t make it any less of a difficult thing to handle.
Each of us spends roughly half of our waking hours at work, five days a week. If your career doesn’t leave you feeling fulfilled and satisfied, it can have a significantly negative impact on how you view and approach your day-to-day responsibilities.
While the idea of quitting your job and moving on to something that doesn’t make you clench your fists and grind your teeth certainly sounds appealing, the reality is that not everyone has the luxury to pack up their desks and wave goodbye to their bosses when things get tough.
So, what can you do if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of hating your job?
Assess Your Situation
This may seem like an obvious first step, but it’s one that is most often overlooked. It’s easy to neglect to take the time to determine what the source of your unhappiness is when you’re so wrapped in with just how miserable you are.
Assessing your situation means taking the time to sit down and begin asking yourself some pretty tough questions. Do you only dislike certain aspects of your job, or you do hate the work that you’re doing entirely? Is your boss supportive of your career growth, or not? Do your values align with the company’s mission, vision, and values? Do you feel engaged with your work?
This sort of self analysis won’t happen overnight; it’s a process of being brutally honest with yourself. However, with some luck, it will help lay the necessary groundwork for you to approach the next steps. Whether that means re-assessing your current position and finding ways to make it work or resigning entirely, the hope is to come at it with a clear head and renewed sense of focus.
Have Tough Conversations
Once you’ve managed to identify what exactly has brought you to this point, it’s time to take what you’ve learned and have that difficult conversation with your boss. If your work is too overwhelming, or you feel like you’re not being fairly compensated for the amount and quality of work that you do, it’s important for you to talk these out with your boss (or bosses) to see if any adjustments can be made.
All too often, I’ve seen employees get hired, settle into their position, not bring forward any complaints which leads to their manager thinking that everything going great, only to then be caught completely off guard when that employee resigns and explains just how miserable they’ve been the entire time.
Yes, it is absolutely the job of your boss to support, advise, and encourage you every step of the way, but it is most certainly not their responsibility to read your mind. If something is making you unhappy, it’s up to you to take the initiative and speak up. Managers cannot change what they don’t know needs to change.
From my experience, employers are absolutely willing to go that extra mile to keep top talent around. So as intimidating as it may be to initiate that conversation, you may be pleasantly surprised with the end result, especially if it means that both you and your manager come up with some unique solutions and you find increased happiness in your role.
Switch Your Perspective & Do Your Best Work
How many times have you heard someone complain about their role, and hear someone else tell them to just, “stay positive!”? As much as I tend to dislike cliché statements like that, they do hold some value. I honestly do believe that a quick shift in your perspective can help make a massive difference in how you view and approach your work.
When you’re unhappy with the work you’re doing, it’s incredibly easy to feel like you’re just biding your time, coasting, and putting in minimal effort until you can finally escape. This negative attitude won’t make the job easier. In fact, it will only serve to make things worse, as this feeling of being trapped will just fester beneath the surface until you simply can’t take it anymore.
So, instead of looking at each day as just another time slot that you need to fill in order to get paid and go home, try approaching it as a chance to continue refining your skills. My dad always told me to learn on someone else’s dime - get the experience, skills, and connections you need in order to be successful, and parlay that into a career of your choice elsewhere.
The best way to do this is to put your all into everything you do. It may seem like a counterintuitive approach, especially when you don’t like what you’re doing in the first place, but by continuing to turn in high-quality work, you can lift your mood and go home each night feeling good about the work you did that day. And when the challenge is getting through eight hours at a job you hate, it’s at least something positive.
And if all else fails, here’s
How to quit your job
“I love a good quitting story. It makes me feel like I have control over my own life. Gives me hope. Maybe I will have one of my own someday.””
If switching your perspective didn’t work, or through your own self-assessment or conversations with your manager, you’ve come to the conclusion that it is in fact time for you to look elsewhere for fulfilling and purposeful employment, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind.
1. Don’t just quit your job. The frustrations of any job can sometimes feel like it’s too much to handle, but it’s still never a good idea to quit without having a solid alternative lined up in the wings. Start the process by slowly dusting off your LinkedIn profile, updating your resume and CV, and establishing connections with people who can help you get to where you want to be. The job search will take some time, especially with the current record unemployment rates across North America, but you will eventually find something that does bring that sense of purpose back to your work.
2. Be careful about what you say and to whom. You’ve found a new cushy position that excites, gone through the interview process, and have been offered a role. Congratulations! While you may want to shout this from the rooftops, make sure you don’t broadcast the fact that you hated your last job. Not only will that company check your past employer for references, but importantly, they are looking for prospective employees that will build up their business and reputation, not tear them down. It may be cathartic to talk trash during the interview, or even after you’re hired, but that says more about you as a person than it does the company you’re leaving.
3. Resign with class. We’ve all seen those videos on YouTube of people quitting their jobs in spectacular fashion. It’s incredibly cathartic to live vicariously through these people, but this approach comes with its own set of risks. Pursuing a scorched-Earth policy can not only potentially cost you future opportunities if word gets to your new prospective employer, but you also run the risk of burning every bridge you’ve built during your time with your soon to be former employer. A better way to approach this is to resign gracefully by providing your two weeks notice, offer to provide assistance during the transition, and leave the company with no hard feelings. And if they offer you an exit interview, use that time with HR or your boss to not only address the areas you felt could use improvement, but also the areas that they were doing well in and could continue developing further.
One thing to remember is that while not everyone finds purpose or deep meaning in their employment (for many, it’s simply a means to fund the things they want to do outside of work), life is simply too short to be in a job that doesn’t bring you joy. If you’re not happy, it’s important to understand why, and then change the circumstances surrounding that.
