You’ve stopped learning
The sense of achievement at work mostly comes from learning new skills and applying them successfully. Every job has a learning curve, and possibly a learning dead-end. If you’ve stopped learning at work, despite your numerous attempts to seek out opportunities to learn, it might be time to leave.
If you feel that you’re no longer learning new skills, and all your responsibilities are redundant and repetitive, seek for career resources within your organization first. Look around within your company and discover additional responsibilities you can take on. Or ask the HR department if there is a professional development program tailored for your position. If your company is unwilling to provide the necessary opportunities for you to thrive, then it’s time to move on.
You dread your work
Everyone dislike certain aspects of work – the long hours, crazy commute, or repetitive tasks. But there is a certain different between disliking and dreading your work. If every Sunday night drives you crazy just thinking about going to work the morning after; if you stare at the clock every 10 minutes until 5 pm everyday; or if you have the urge to just drive past your company and never come back every morning, you probably hate your job.
The time that you start to dread going to work is when you should consider a new job. When disliking turns to dreading, consider finding new work opportunities. If your job makes you feel sad, self-hating, and question everything you’re doing with your life, it’s time to move on.
You feel entirely lost
There are days when ideas just aren’t coming up, you try harder and harder every time to resolve each creative barrier. Anyone could find their job difficult at first, for it takes some time to get familiarized with the job. But if you face harsh obstacles every day and can’t seem to get better at it, you might not be suitable for the job.
Before you move onto other directions, try things that will ignite the spark between you and your job, such as taking a course, a workshop, or further career training to advance your skills. However, if you’re still totally blank afterwards and don’t understand what you’re doing at all, you may need to look at more suitable options.
You’re stuck with the same salary for years
Your salary should at least keep up with the market inflation. Statistics Canada says wages increased by 14% in the 30 years between 1981 and 2011. Due to an average of 2% annual increase in the cost of living, you should receive 2% salary increase per year over the last five years. For each year you didn’t get a raise, you received a 2% pay cut.
If you’ve been working in the same position within the same company for years and haven’t received a raise, despite asking for one, it’s probably time to go. If you don’t see any potential pay raise or promotions at your current position, it’s time to move on.
You’re compromising your morals
If you feel that you’re moving toward the dark side, without having any desire to do so, you should either stand your ground, or change the ground you’re standing on. If your company is forcing you to do things against your moral standards such as serving clients unjustly, or making profit from the legal grey area, you should be able to step out and follow your own standards.
Sometimes at work we are asked to do things that we’re not comfortable with, like being asked to do public speaking, socialize with strangers, or organize events you’ve never had experience with — which is a step outside your comfort zone that’s beneficial for you career in the future. However, if you’re being put in ethical, moral, or illegal dilemmas, no job is worth betraying your own moral grounds.
As the largest career college in Canada with 50 campuses across the country, Academy of Learning College attributes the growth in our success to identifying the gap between the formal education available and the realities of the working world. We fulfill the needs of learners by developing customized programs for each student, while meeting the requirements for convenient and effective training at an affordable cost. Browse our program list by province and find the best program that suits your needs!