Career Certainty?
By Daryl CapuanoCareer Happiness“I can’t leave my job to something so uncertain.” so spoke a career counseling client who worked at a large corporation.
“Alyssa” had just finished telling me how much she hated her job. She didn’t like the people. Several of her co-workers were the adult equivalent of mean girls and her boss was the Queen B of the hive. She didn’t like her work. She didn’t like her company.
Alyssa did have a work dream. And, it wasn’t a crazy one. Alyssa was 30 years old. No children. Moderate car payments and student loans. She had some savings. She had already figured out that she could devote 4 solid months to work on her business without bringing in any money. She was also not above getting a waitressing or coffee shop job if she could be “certain” that her business would grow.
I don’t know her industry that well. But, I do have a pretty developed sense about business plans and what makes sense. I’m the first to talk clients out of jumping ship if I think their plans won’t work. But, Alyssa discussed her plan and it made sense to me. The start up costs were minimal. She had genuine leads on potential clients. Her friend had the high likelihood of landing an “anchor” client (one big enough to provide some sense of security. It sounded solid to me.
But, success is not certain. It never is.
I then asked Alyssa about her current job.
Were the people going to same the same? “Yes, as far as I can tell.” Then you are certain to dislike the people.
Will the boss stay the same? “She’s not going anywhere.” Then you are certain to hate your boss.
Will the company get better or worse? “Seems like it is on the decline.” Then, guess what? Even your job certainty is not particularly certain.
Sounds like the only certainty you have is that you’ll continue to hate your job. She understood.