Career not in line with my values...?

shergal_farkey

Hi all,

Just throwing this out there to see what comes back...'a la boomerang' effect:

I have career-changed a couple of times and now work as an accountant. Growing up, I (think!) I was interested in creative pursuits (writing, the arts etc.) and spirituality and I have basically found myself having an existential crisis for years now where I find that I seem to have very little in common with those around me (never/rarely seem to meet people I click with in my line of work).

I often wonder if my difficulty in meeting like-minded people is to do with working in a field that I find brings me no joy/satisfaction (albeit I am proud of my achievements and the work that I put in).

I am now thinking about training as a counsellor with the hope and intention of finding more sincere and meaningful contact with people as I feel drained by my office life and feel sad that seems to be impossible to meet proper friends through my work. I consider myself to a person who has a lot of empathy for others and this type of work now seems to appeal to me for this reason (I think...).

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar? I avoided creative pursuits because I found them to be a little self-indulgent and that didn't feel quite right as a career either - not sure if I would have found my happiness there.

I have found most of my working life unsatisfying and I feel that I am not contributing to the world in the positive way that I would like to and I feel that my working relationships are very shallow and that I am not growing as an individual. I spend a lot of time thinking about this...

Can anyone else relate?

stinkle

I could have written your post word for word. Does it matter that I don't work as an accountant? I wouldn't worry about not clicking with the people you work with, that probably just reflects your circumstances and if you've career changed a bit then you most likely have a life outside the office, and not reliant on those friendships. I've seen "work best mates" situations end in tears too, so it's no harm to keep your distance but be professionally personable.

If you;re happy with your friends outside of work I wouldn't worry, my closest friends are all a mixed bunch of people, and our similarities arent based on our boring jobs. If you really want to make more friends then don't depend on work for it either. I love languages and used to do an evening course up until recently - it was great craic and I got to meet lots of people of all ages and backgrounds. If you want to do something creative then that might be an option for you, there are tons of evening courses out there and the new year is a good time to start.

I recently attended counselling (for job related stuff) and yes, working in that field seems really attractive to me. BUT I want to wait until my own work stress is dealt with before I commit to something like that - I'm scared I could be going into it for the wrong reasons.

One more thing - could your immediate situation be fixed? Like moving to a new firm/department? My own workplace is so stressful, but I'm hoping that when I get to move to a new group in a few months that I'll end up in a healthier environment, without actually needing a drastic career change. Any time spent in a toxic environment will affect your outlook on everything, so hopefully once you're in a happier place then the bigger picture will get brighter too

shergal_farkey

Thanks a lot for that...what line of work are you in if you don't mind me asking? The thing is that I find my discontent does affect me outside of work and I wonder why I put so much energy into something that has proved to be quite unsatisfying. I have always known that I wasn't a materialistic person either, but I wasn't quite sure how/where I fitted in.

I just don't want to spend a significant amount of my life in office anymore - I pretty much hate them now.

I am willing to completely abandon my previous qualifications at this stage.

PS I am interested in languages too for what it's worth!

stinkle

I'm in academia, can PM if you want me to be more specific. The politics of my workplace has been a point of discontent for me - there are times that it's like primary school again!

Overall, I'd say a lot of people are feeling the same - between job uncertainty and having to work harder when others have been let go, there's a lot of unhealthy pressure out there. I'm coming to the end of a training period, so I'm free to do whatever the hell I want after, provided there are jobs of course! But I really feel for slightly older people in my field, who have mortgages and kids. There just isn't the freedom to jack it all in, and the jobs that have come up have attracted heaps of applicants. If you have the freedom to try something else then great, go for it!

The language course thing was my escape from an equally bad job experience before - I was being taken for granted so much, and having to work extra hours to make up for lazy other people. I just wanted to have something different to do in the evenings, and to have a concrete "thing" to go to, as an excuse to not stay late. In the end I quit started in my current place and all was fine, but it was a brilliant evening course to do and sure it's something on the CV as well as broadening your horizons

tenchi-fan

I find I'm similar. I like creative things, however I'm not sure if I'm creative enough. I empathise with people but I'm not sure I could actually help them if I tried to turn my hand to councilling.

Just remember, the likes of Tesco, xtra-vision and callcentres are full of "creative" people, many of whom did "creative" subjects at college and just aren't talented enough (or creative enough) to get a creative job!

I think you should consider volunteer work in the evenings, or even finding some hobby that will fill the void for you.

But if you have a decent job in accounting I wouldn't pack it in just yet. If you are on really good money you might consider saving and taking a career break. If you have kids, see if your office will move you to "term time" or a 4-day week.

Another option is to move from a bean-counting accounting career towards a management or decision-making role which you will find more interesting. I know an accountant who likes starting new jobs, introducing a good accounting system, documenting it, and then moving on to his next challenge.

shergal_farkey

I think I have my heart set on leaving accounting at this stage - I really don't find my personality to be in line with these jobs and I feel quite suffocated in them. I have already invested some money in pursuing the counselling route - I'm not sure I am willing to give over years more of my life waiting to enjoy something that does not appear to be a fit for me. I cannot see myself progressing in the accounting field as I feel my heart is not in it and I struggle to be myself in these environments. ?.

tenchi-fan

shergal_farkey wrote: »

I think I have my heart set on leaving accounting at this stage - I really don't find my personality to be in line with these jobs and I feel quite suffocated in them. I have already invested some money in pursuing the counselling route - I'm not sure I am willing to give over years more of my life waiting to enjoy something that does not appear to be a fit for me. I cannot see myself progressing in the accounting field as I feel my heart is not in it and I struggle to be myself in these environments. ?.

Well, there ya go.

If you're looking for former accountants who had the same enlightenment as you, you are unlikely to find them in the accountancy forum. This thread might be better in the PI or work and jobs forum.