In today’s rapidly changing global economy its easy to become stuck in old ways and become out dated. Moving jobs help us keep our careers on track and encourage us to be the best we can be. Today’s average employee will change jobs 12 times over their career (according to data by the Bureau of Labour statistics). Changing roles can improve many things in your career from increasing your salary to teaching you vital new skills. But how do you know it’s the right time to jump ship and move on. These 7 signs will help you gauge when the moment has come to move on in search of greener pastures.
You stop learning new skills
Part of being the best we can be is being put in an environment slightly out of our comfort zone. This challenges ourselves to continuously improve and develop and ultimately to become increasingly skilled at our professions as time goes on. When you begin an exciting new placement, its typical that you will be busy learning a number of new skills and procedures. As you become increasingly accustomed to your position, it’s natural that your work gets easier and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The warning sign is when you completely stop learning new things. Good employers continuous train and develop their staff to adapt and keep up with our fast changing world and falling into complacency holds us back from being the best that we can be. When you find that you have ‘mastered’ your position and having no more to learn it’s probably a good time to move to your next adventure.
You no longer find your work challenging
Part of learning new skills is getting a feel of challenge and the associated good feeling of success when you learn something new. This feel good factor helps remind us that we are developing our skill set and earning more than a wage from our current position. When you no longer learn new things the feel of a challenge becomes absent. Its around this time that we should search for the next challenge outside of our current role.
You dread Mondays
Dreading Mondays is a precursor to not enjoying what you do. If you are dreading the start of the next working week and the prospect of 5 days with uninterrupted time at work then you almost certainly don’t enjoy your job. Move down to sign 4 for confirmation.
You don’t enjoy what you are doing
“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” Marc Anthony
Work is only work when we don’t look forward to doing it. With more job variety in more places than any other time on earth there’s no excuse to not have a good source of income and have it by doing something you truly enjoy. Rather than us never enjoying our work, often people initially enjoy a position then become disillusioned or bored with their job over time. If this is you, it’s probably time to search for the next interesting pursuit.
You are bored
Boredom can be bought on by various reasons. It could be from sign 2, feeling that you are not challenged. Or it could be that you are just not interested anymore in your current industry. Take a little time out to meditate and reassess your goals and desires in life. If you realise your heart is no longer in your job then you can quickly move onto the next chapter in your career.
You feel insignificant
If the only reward we were gi9ven in exchange of performing a job or task was financial, then it would be impossible to continue our work. Humans need to feel a sense of having changed something in order to justify and task they do. Insignificance is something that can arise from poor management in a company. If your job becomes unnecessary but is still being done as an inefficiency in the system then it is time to move on to a productive use of your time.
You are underpaid
As we spend more time in our positions we become less sensitive to the value of our employment and the going financial rate for our position. By checking what salary new employers will offer you for the same role you can keep your salary in check with the current market value. When your employer refuses to keep up to the mark, consider moving to an employer that will.