Walking away is not the only solution when you find your work is no longer satisfying, says Andrew Taylor
I DON’T think I have ever looked like a man who spends his time making those little cut-out hand-in-hand paper dolls but that’s more or less what I used to do before I received my P45. I don’t beat myself up about it too much any more, because I reckon quite a number of people spend their time doing much the same. In fact, I think there is a fair case for claiming that lines of paper dolls are one of Britain’s main industrial products.
Well, all right, the paper dolls don’t exist, but they might as well. I used to trundle into work day after day, doing the same old job that I could have done without waking up. In fact, looking back, I suspect I sometimes did. I got quite good at it. And every day I churned out the same old stuff, each one beautifully shaped and exactly the same. They were television news stories, but they could just as easily have been sausages, daisy chains, or paper dolls.
By the time we get to our late forties, many of us are doing what we do, competently, reliably, and without the tiniest spark of enthusiasm. But, we keep telling ourselves, it pays the mortgage. We can’t afford to give it up; it might get better; and anyway, nobody else could do it quite like we do. But when they finally closed down the television channel and my job curled up and died, I was astonished at how relieved I felt.
That’s why the e-mail I received this week struck a chord. At first glance, the writer had the job description we all dream of — six-figure salary, makes his own management decisions, and gets lots of esteem from his colleagues. But like everything else that sounds too good to be true, it is, at least if you ask Tom, the man who’s lucky enough to have the job. Tom’s not his real name — since not liking your job isn’t quite the same as wanting to be sacked from it — but he wrote to Aftershock to ask for help in starting off in a new direction.
He works on the trading floor of a large bank. “I feel increasingly dissatisfied with my role,” he said. “I’m constantly under pressure, I see no way out, and the job is becoming more and more cut-throat. What was a fun job is becoming a drain, and I am starting to fear Monday mornings.”
Tom said he was looking for a complete change of direction, but he did not know where to turn for help and advice. He was thinking of teaching, or maybe taking a role in a small private company where his experience would be valued. It must be hard looking for sympathy with a job like Tom’s, and my first thought was that I should be so lucky as to be dissatisfied with £100,000 a year or more.
Then I remembered the paper dolls, and thought how similar Tom’s position was to the one I had been in — leaving aside the six figures, of course — and I thought how much I regretted not getting out of an unrewarding job much sooner than I had. “Jump, mate, before you’re pushed,” I thought to myself. “Find yourself something to enjoy and do that instead.”
Janet Davies runs Newlife network.co.uk, which is one of the best of the internet sites for advice on dealing with redundancies, opportunities, and new directions.
“Many people use the website to create an ‘exit plan’ while still in paid work,” she said. “Tom could find some inspiration on the Now What?, Charity Work, Working Abroad or Be Your Own Boss or Get a Trade sections.
“He could take a look at an adult gap year to get things into perspective or retrain for a completely new career but he might even consider just honing his skills in dealing with stress, conflict or a bullying boss, and keep his current job but bring it back into his control and enjoyment again.”
Richard Taylor, the managing director of Barnes Kavelle, a Bradford human-resources consultancy, also said Tom should think twice before he jumps. “If he explained to his employers what was making his life unfulfilling, they might simply tell him to go but, on the other hand, they might take steps to help him put it right.
If his organisation came to me to ask for help in encouraging him to stay, I would suggest they should try to find changes in what he does that would make it more rewarding. If that worked, it would be a much less drastic and more satisfying solution for everyone than simply walking away.”
I guess they are right. It’s foolish to stay in a job that you don’t find rewarding any more, but it’s even more foolish to throw everything away without looking carefully at possible ways of making it better. And there’s one other point.
I have another mate who has been saying for months that he is not happy. Something, he said, stopped him from handing in his notice. And then his friendly human-resources executive called him in to offer him a comforting redundancy package, and he tried not to smile as he walked into his new life, with his pension sorted and his bank account in a much healthier state. And that’s the best advice of all: just be lucky!
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