Take This Job And… Never Mind (What to do when you can’t quit)

There are times in your life when you’d like nothing more than to march into your boss’s office, arrogantly toss your resignation letter onto his desk and announce that he can take your job and shove it where the sun don’t shine!

Unfortunately, much as you might love to do that (in fact, you may spend quite a bit of your spare time imagining it), there are times when you simply can’t. If you’ve got rent or a mortgage, bills to pay and a family to feed, quitting your job sometimes just isn’t an option.

During the current economic climate, jobs in some fields are extremely difficult to come by. Once upon a time it may have been possible to simply walk away from one job and get another one within days, but many well-qualified people are out of work and have been for weeks, or even months, and are currently spending their days fruitlessly searching through the wanted ads instead of participating in the workforce.

So what do you do? You don’t seem to have much choice but to stick it out, but how can you do so without going insane?

Firstly, take an honest assessment of your job and work out what’s good about it. Think about it, this is a job you qualified for and a job you applied for, there must have been some point in your life when you actually thought it was a worthwhile job!

Maybe you hate your boss and don’t get along with most of your colleagues, but you may still enjoy the actual work you do. It is difficult coming into a workplace each day when you know you’re going to be surrounded by negativity and people who you just don’t connect with, but if you can learn to somehow tune out the people you’re around and learn instead to just focus on the work, you may find the days easier to get through.

Another option you may not have considered is changing your schedule so that you don’t have to spend as much time around the people who make your working life miserable. If you have a job that can be done at any time, perhaps you can ask your boss if it’s possible for you to work a different shift. Maybe you can find out if it’s possible to do some telecommuting, and work from your home computer. Doing so may enable you to actually get more work done, and produce higher quality work, as you’re not distracted by other people’s negativity.

Let’s say you hate the work you’re doing, and you wonder what on earth you thought you were doing qualifying for such tedious work, but you enjoy spending time with colleagues. Sure, the job might be a bore, but if you’ve got good people to spend your work days with, that goes some way towards making your job more pleasant. Naturally, you still need to do your work to the best of your ability, because the last thing you want is to be fired.

If this is the case, look at whether there are any possibilities for job change or promotion within your company. Maybe the reason you are dissatisfied with your job is because you have been stuck in the same position for far too long. If you applied for your job with the intention of moving up through the company and find you have merely stagnated, it could be time to ask yourself why. Maybe you’ve been using the excuse that it’s because your boss hates you, but take an honest look at your work performance. Have you been putting 100% into your job? Have you been demonstrating initiative? Enthusiasm? If you can’t honestly answer “Yes!” then you’ve gone a long way to understanding why you’re still stuck in the same position you’ve been in for the past three years.

If your dream job is a couple of rungs further up the company ladder, then start climbing! Get to work a little earlier in the morning, and use your initiative to come up with new ideas. If you’ve got through all your regular work, instead of chatting with colleagues at the water cooler, go and find out if there’s any extra projects or jobs you can take on. Once your boss sees that you’re keen to do more, his impression of you could start changing for the better.

Perhaps you’re stuck in a bad job because you lack the formal qualifications to get something better. If this is the case, look into taking some part time courses, or maybe attend night school or investigate online courses that interest you. Even if your spare time is very limited, if something is important to you, you’ll find the time to do it. Besides, having a future career goal in mind, and working towards something you’ll really enjoy, can help you get through the bad days at work. With greater qualifications you may find that it will be easier to get a job that you enjoy. And, if you continue to work well at your present position, you’ll also find that your boss will be happy to provide you with a good reference when you get into a position to quit your job.

Even when you are stuck in a situation you may feel is unbearable, there are often ways around it. Remember that the situation you are in now is not going to remain the same forever. The economic climate will improve, more jobs will become available, and if you never do manage to make things work in your current job, there’s always the possibility of a change in the future. However, with the right attitude you may actually find that there’s a workable solution to your job challenge right now, and find the job you once hated has become the job you love.