“Get a better job” is a common New Year’s resolution and one of the reasons why Career Counseling Connecticut gets so many calls after January 1 of each year.
The terms “job” and “career” are often interchangeable. But for purposes here, I’ll suggest that getting a new job means staying in one’s field but in a different situation. Switching companies but doing the same general thing is the most common way that Career Counseling Connecticut’s clients “get a better job.”
Or so they think.
Jennifer was an office manager for a growing insurance firm in New Haven county. She really liked her work when she started. The company had three agents and her, She was right out of college and got the job because one of the three agents was her Uncle. They all got along well. It felt like a family as they often ate lunch together. Her work as office manager was really a combination of being a secretary-receptionist-errand -task person. As the company grew, the atmosphere changed. There were now 12 agents and a couple of other support staff. The family feel had gone.
Jennifer came to Career Counseling Connecticut at the start of the year a few years ago hoping to “get a better job.” When we discussed her work activities, it became clear that she never really liked any of her actual work. “It was fine.” She just liked working in what had been a friendly culture. As soon as the culture changed and she started focusing on her work more, she realized that (1) she had no real skills (2) she was completely bored with her work and (3) through our interaction, realized she had no career path.
Could she get lucky and recreate her first situation? Maybe. But she had already discovered that finding such a job was like finding a needle in a haystack.
But if she had a skill, she would be able to create her career. That was our work, Having completed training in human resources, Jennifer is now happily employed at a growingand fun start up in the New Haven area.