Amy Lindgren
Quiz: What’s more difficult than leaving a job you don’t love? Staying in that job, of course.
At a time when online job boards have made it seem simple to change employers, it can take Herculean effort not to browse the postings whenever your boss makes an unreasonable demand. Even more difficult is resisting the temptation to switch employment when promotions aren’t forthcoming: Job hopping is a well-known strategy for climbing the ladder faster.
So why should anyone keep a job they don’t love? Besides the fear that there isn’t another job out there, I count three reasons: To gain more experience in one’s field; to avoid the hassle of a job search; to leverage specific benefits such as tuition reimbursement.
And of course, the classic reason, which is to ride things out until you can retire. Since anyone trying to last until retirement doesn’t need encouragement to keep a job, I’ll focus on folks who are still building their careers.
For perspective, remember that we’ve just come through a period when employers were conducting bidding wars for some workers. For a brief window after COVID, offers were generous and seemingly abundant, making it feel like a no-brainer to keep switching jobs. Why wouldn’t you promote yourself, so to speak, by taking better and better positions?
The answer to that question was never really obvious, at least to me. In some cases, I watched while hard workers finally got the recognition they deserved as they sprang up three rungs on the career ladder. But in other cases I feared the worst as workers landed in jobs they barely understood, and not always with the support needed to succeed.
In all cases, I was running the checklist: Was the new job really better, or was the worker making the leap before knowing what could be possible if they stayed? Would they be vulnerable in the new workplace, having been last-hired? And if this was the second or third switch in a short time, were they developing a “bad brand,” so to speak?
If you’re in a stay-or-go quandary right now, these questions are relevant to your decision. But if you’re in a can’t-go situation because you perceive the job market won’t accommodate a switch, you might be feeling trapped.
What to do?
I’m going to argue for staying if you’re on the fence, and for making lemonade if you’re feeling trapped. In both cases, you’ll wake up to the same job next week as this week, so let’s look at the advantages that might bring.
First, and not insignificantly, deciding against job search removes a time-consuming task from your to-do list. Until you’ve done it, it’s hard to appreciate how much lighter you feel not facing online job boards and a pile of obligatory emails every day while you search for new work.
Next, knowing that you are staying lets you develop yourself in the job you have. Instead of splitting your attention with a job search, now you can focus on the resources around you. Can you cross-train for a new set of skills? Is there a committee you can join for contact with other departments? Perhaps you’ve been thinking about finishing your degree — is there tuition assistance available?
Intentionally staying put also frees you to set work goals. For example, have you considered becoming a manager? That could be as simple as waiting for other managers to quit, but in most cases it will require some planning.
This is a discussion best suited for your own manager or perhaps a mentor, but becoming a manager yourself might require leadership training or specific skills such as project management or scheduling, or an improvement in your understanding of budgets or human resources. You can make some educated guesses on what you’d need, but a better plan is to gather information and put yourself on a timeline.
Here’s how that could look. Goal: To be a manager in three years. Requirements: Leadership classes, project management training, supervision experience. Steps: Assign each of these to a specific year for completion. For example, take leadership classes in year one, supervise someone (even an intern) starting in year two, schedule project management cross-training in year three.
This is just an example, of course. You may have no interest in becoming a manager, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find something to shoot for over the next three or five years. Once you’ve identified the goal, your success will depend on staying in the job long enough to make it happen.
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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.
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