Adunola Adeshola Contributor
You might utterly dread going to work every morning despite having a decent job that looks good on paper. Or, even though you’re ready to land a new job somewhere else, you might hate your job some days, while other days aren’t so bad. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, hating your job might be hurting your job search and costing you job offers.
Here’s how to know if your feelings about your current job are impacting your job search:
You can’t separate your skills from your experience.
When you’re unhappy at work, it’s easy to focus on everything that’s missing. Maybe your current company isn’t as up to speed on the latest technology as your previous companies. Maybe every new idea you suggest seems to fall flat because leadership likes doing things a certain way. Maybe your current team is known for starting but never finishing anything, and it makes you want to flip a table.
Still, while all of those things might be true, your dissatisfaction with your current job might be hindering your job search if you have a hard time seeing the skills you’ve gained and the results you’ve brought to the table in spite of your less than pleasant experience at work. You may not like how things have panned out, but if you’re an ambitious, driven high-achiever, then odds are you’ve found some way to make an impact and deliver great work. But, if you aren’t able to communicate that in your resume because of how much you hate your job, then it’s costing you job offers.
You don’t have high hopes for your next job.
This can sometimes occur when you’ve been at the same company for so long you’ve forgotten better companies exist. It can also happen when you’ve worked at a string of companies that have repeatedly disappointed you. Either way, because companies have let you down, it can be tempting to assume that all companies are the same.
Of course, there are no perfect companies. Not to mention, there are plenty of companies that could care less about their employees. But, there are just as many companies that do care about their employees and that have healthy work environments their employees enjoy. However, if you let your poor experiences at past companies stop you from even trying to find a company that matches your values and career goals, then you’ll be stuck accepting opportunities that aren't any better.
Your interview presence is giving it away.
By this point, you’ve likely heard of how unprofessional it is to speak ill of your current or previous companies, and you might do your best to not say anything negative about your current employer. Still, if you feel strongly about how much you hate your current job, your words might say otherwise, while your body language might show it.
On top of that, if you haven’t been able to acknowledge the skills you’ve gained while working there, then you may be tempted to brush over or downplay your contributions in your current role when you could be highlighting those skills to further add to why you’d be a great fit for the next position you desire. These mistakes aren’t necessarily detrimental, but it certainly isn’t helping you stand out ahead of other candidates who aren’t letting how much they hate their job get in the way of landing a new one.
You might not have even noticed that you were making any of these mistakes. But, as a career coach who’s worked with high-achievers in dozens of industries, it’s a common issue that tends to fly under the radar. To fix this, the first thing you need to do is make peace with how things have panned out at your current job. Then, decide not to let anything you’ve experienced stop you from getting a better job than the one you want to leave. Once you do, you'll be in a better place to make better choices as you pursue the next opportunity in your career.
Adunola Adeshola coaches high-achievers on how to take their careers to the next level. She is the author of the guide https://employeeredefined.lpages.co/free-guide-zero-interviews-to-job-offers/" aria-label="How to Go From Zero Interviews to Dream Job Offers" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 56, 145);cursor:pointer;background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:none">https://employeeredefined.lpages.co/free-guide-zero-interviews-to-job-offers/" style="box-sizing:border-box">How to Go From Zero Interviews to Dream Job Offers.