Hate Your Job? Learn From It
It’s not just that I dislike my current job (I do) but I’m so ready and pumped and jazzed to be in an agency working on ads that no matter how much better it was I don’t think I would be satisfied. Even if I was making what I deserve to make (which, my dear reader, I am not).
But I’ve been at this job almost two years and it seems like an eternity. I’m constantly asking myself, “How/Why am I still here?”
It can be pretty depressing. So, optimist that I am, I look at the positives and try to see what good can come of this:
1. Learning to live way below my means. This I realized right when I took the job. I tried to negotiate a higher salary (“It seems a little low to me,” didn’t work) and when that failed I knew I wouldn’t be making a lot of money. But I told myself, “I’ll finish my MA and then we’ll reassess what I want to do.” Well, it has definitely made me frugal and I have learned to live without buying unnecessary things. I am a financially responsible (some would say cheap) person. Thanks is part to this job.
2. I’m learning about the type of boss I will be. Looking at my boss’s boss has taught me a lot about how handling and managing other people in certain ways can have a very negative impact. I will NOT micromanage people working for me. I will TRUST them to do the work I give them. I will be FAIR and HUMAN towards them. I will not try to make them “happy” with patchwork rewards like “going to a movie” after they’ve busted their asses for weeks on end.
3. Office politics. This is huge. I’m learning the nuances of relating to people in different departments, how important those relationships can be during projects and even during the course of your career (referrals, networking, etc.). Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do if the person on the other end of the table doesn’t like you.
4. Dead weight. There are a couple of people at my work that are dead weight. Bloated contract, whatever you want to call it. Not only does it cost the company money, it slows down any processes that go through them. It makes others in the office bitter and creates a bad working environment.
5. Networking, Daniel-san, networking. This is HUGE. I’ve written about the importance of networking before and, guess what? Your job is where this happens. You may be surprised, but after you leave (or someone else leaves) you may get a phone call from a former coworker you never expected to hear from asking to get together and chat about this or that industry/job prospect/whatever. So keep your eyes open for good people, people you would want to work with in the future, who share your interests, etc.
What have you learned from your own shitty jobs?
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