Thinking About Switching Jobs? Listen to Rita

This one came in on a tip from Rita Schwab, of the MSSP Nexus Blog. Rita let me know about a great original post she wrote about career satisfaction — and lack thereof.

Rita begins with a great simile:

Being in a job that doesn’t fit is like going to work every day in really ugly clothes. No matter how hard you try, you never look or feel good.

She goes on to suggest answers to the question: “So why do so many of us find ourselves at some point in an ill-fitting job?”

Read them and see how many hit home with yourself or someone you know well.

Rita completes the simile by pointing out the obvious: “The good thing about jobs, like clothes, is that if you want to you can change them.”

I would add that, like clothes, some people will love a job someone else can’t stand. (The photo illustrates this, as apparently the photographer created and likes the outfit, despite the awkward framing and funny face from what seems to be a self-portrait outtake.)

She then concludes:

If you find yourself in an “ugly suit” job that is diminishing your sense of self-worth, career coaches recommend that you take time to discover what really motivates you, identify and break self-defeating behaviors, and give yourself permission to ask “what if.”

Being scared of change is okay. Allowing that fear to close your mind to other possibilities is not.

See MSSPNexus Blog: “Career Choices - Taking Time To Dream”

Photo credit: coma_high via flickr