Lack of Career Direction

DublinGuy11

Basically, my career has come to a bit of a stall. Normally I am very level headed and take things in my stride but due to a lack of progression in the last year or so in my career, I have made a couple of decisions which in hindsight I am beginning to regret. I feel my career is now stalling, it is making me slightly panic and I don’t like the fact that I am begrudging others their own success. I see people who this time last year I was ahead of, now passing me by and it is ever so slightly eating away at me.

Until early this year I had been working in a role which, while it provided great experience, I never felt I was particularly suited to. Coupled with the fact that people in that area where progressing at a quicker rate than I was, I began to get steadily more aggrieved with my position and where I was or wasn’t going. As a result, I sought out and moved to another position within the same organisation in order to get new experience in a different area. This role however has turned out to be nothing like I had expected and I now am looking back and regretting making the move. Maybe I am looking at my previous role through rose tinted glasses but I now feel that if maybe I had stuck it out a little longer I would have progressed there and that maybe I moved too soon. When I speak rationally to myself, I know I made the move to this new position because I didn’t feel I was suited to the previous role. However, as the new role has not turned out as I had hoped, I am regretting my decision.

So basically I feel I am a stuck in a bit of a rut. I am unsure what career path I actually want to take and I am also resenting the fact that other colleagues are progressing and passing me by while I feel my own career is beginning to stall. Have others found themselves in a position where they are unsure what direction they want their career to go? Has a slight state of panic taken over you and if so, how did you react? If you have been resentful of others progression, how have you dealt with it?

Tiddlypeeps

You will have a difficult time progressing in a job you don't like, because it's very difficult to perform well in a job you don't like doing. So it's unlikely you would have progressed much in the job you moved from since you didn't like it either, so dwelling on weather you should have stayed isn't going to achieve much.

What are you goals? You say you want to progress, but to what end? Is a bigger pay cheque all you are after, do you need more responsibility to feel content. A promotion from your current role will likely still have you doing most of the same day to day tasks as you are currently doing, but with more responsibility. So if you don't like your current role, why do you think it would be more enjoyable if you were promoted to a higher position?

You should probably stop focusing on progressing within a job you don't like and start focusing on looking for a job you do like.

DublinGuy11

good questions tiddlypeeps - tbh I just don't want to feel like I am lagging behind my peers within work. But while they all seem to know what direction their career is taking and are working towards fixed goals, I am still working out what path I want my future career to take. So while I thought I was doing the right thing by moving into a new position to try get some new experience, now that the role has turned out not to be what I had expected, I realize I am more fixated with getting promoted and feeling like I am progressing, have more responsibility and also more money. I am aware these are my own issues, just wondering how others have dealt with similar type things in the past.

ndez

Don't worry about your peers so much. Everyone has his/her own path and pace. The fact that you are now behind, doesn't necessarily mean you are worse professional than them. Climbing up the career ladder is not a sprint but a marathon. Are you uncomfortable with just your current position, or do you question the overall choice of your career? If your intuition/heart tells you that this is not the best career for you, my advice is to focus more on things that interest you the most.That doesn't mean leaving your job, but merely searching for new opportunities and fresh ideas during your free time. If this is the career you always wanted, then you need to find a position/niche within it that will allow you to unleash your full potential and express yourself more freely.

As the first reply pointed, doing a job you don't like is like hitting a wall. Eventually it drains all your energy and you become apathetic towards life.