At a crossroads

benjy1000

Hi

I'm not sure what I'm looking to get out of this post to be honest. I'm a 26 year old professional in what everyone assumes is a great job and I'm on the pigs back and so on etc. I qualified in my profession at the start of the year but ever since I have got more and more fed up and unsettled with my job. I have worked in the same place for nearly 6 years now and I am desperate for a change. My salary is very very low, its a trainee salary really. My boss is taking the pee recession this recession that when I asked for more money. My workload and responsibilities have increased easily four fold over the years but my salary and take home pay have gone the other way. Since April I have started looking for new jobs and have applied for a good amount at this stage, got two interviews for jobs which on paper I was over qualified for but was for a lot more money than what I am currently on and still didn't get them! Its getting to the stage for the first time ever that I wake up in the morning and dread going to work and I am literally living for the weekend. I guess I thought at this stage I would have had a new job by now but it seems as far away as ever and its just getting me down at the minute.
I know with the recession and all that we should be grateful for a job but I feel like the last few years have just passed me by and I have no good memories of it. I'm at a crossroads now in the sense I don't know what to do now! Not a day goes by that I don't think of just quitting the job and going to NZ or Oz and then I start getting doubts of leaving a job here and going over there and not getting one and running out of money and coming home with my tail between my legs and to no job here. Its a cardinal sin with people I know to leave a job and not have another lined up:eek:
I suppose I'm looking for a bit of advice from people who have been in a similar frame of mind at one point or another? In a perfect world I THINK I would like to head travelling for a few months and then come back to a new job here. Luckily I have no financial or other responsibilities here which is something I always tell myself when work is peeing me of! I know I sound like an awful moaner but I'm not really:) its just at the minute work is sucking the life out of me! Someone just tell me to suck it up and get on with it and I'll be grand!!

StillWaters

I'm not going to tell you to suck it up. My advice is you have done your time, have experience on your CV, have the qualification, have no financial ties and have a travel bug. Go travel.

coconut5

You should go. Who cares about the 'leaving a good job' comments? In another few years, they'll be asking you, 'Did you never want to go travelling, no?' You can never win, so don't try to. Do what you want to do. I am in a similar situation, so I know it's scary, but sooner or later I will also have to take my own advice! Good luck.

doubtfir3

I would go...

Just my advice, but I would suggest that it could well be one of the best things you'll do in your life.. it will help personally and also professionally!

I was in a similar position to you a few years ago.. I worked until I was 21, then put myself through college and was self-employed all through college. When I left when I was 25, I had the opportunity to travel, see the world etc but decided not to do so as I would be leaving behind all the contacts I had built up in my business over the years.

I won't call it a mistake, but I'm now 33 and find that I feel that I have "missed out" a little on the opportunities that travel could have given to me..

I see friends who have travelled, and plenty more who haven't and in their own ways some are happy - others not.

There's no definitive answer for you on this OP but I would say to you that you're only 26... you can get other jobs, you might love travelling (or hate it!), you might settle in another country or equally miss home... but if it was me, I would take the chance and then in the future you'll have nothing to regret.

If you're worried about the job - at the end of the day it is only a job.. by your own admission one that doesn't pay particularly well, and you derive no satisfaction from...

Go with your gut and best of luck...

benjy1000

Thanks for the replies people!

Finally grew a pair and handed in my notice this morning and am currently in the process of booking a flight and WHV to New Zealand! Don't have any plan and don't even want one, just going to go and may come home in a month or 2 or a year or 2!

coconut5

benjy1000 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies people!

Finally grew a pair and handed in my notice this morning and am currently in the process of booking a flight and WHV to New Zealand! Don't have any plan and don't even want one, just going to go and may come home in a month or 2 or a year or 2!

That's great to hear, best of luck!

Yellow121

Yes Benjy, go have a great time. Some people realise they aren't happy in their chosen prefession but stick with it in the hope it gets better. It never gets better, they regret it and become angry old people.
Have fun in New Zealand and decide what interests you. Good luck!

doubtfir3

benjy1000 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies people!

Finally grew a pair and handed in my notice this morning and am currently in the process of booking a flight and WHV to New Zealand! Don't have any plan and don't even want one, just going to go and may come home in a month or 2 or a year or 2!

Congratulations! I'm really pleased for you.. I think you'll really enjoy the experience and most of all will be delighted that you made the move.... best of luck!