Where do you start when you’re unhappy in your job?

Apparently there are over 70% of the UK population who are unhappy in their job. If this is true, it begs the question, ‘why don’t they do something about it?’ Well in my experience, many who are not happy will do something about it but not necessarily in the right way. What many unhappy employees do is scan through various job boards looking for a job description and a salary that appeals. This scattergun approach rarely works and more than anything else, it’s time consuming, depressing and reactive.

Effective job searching requires a proactive approach and begins with your answer to this simple question...”Who am I?”

Sounds a bit deep and self indulgent I know, but until you can answer this question there’s a strong likelihood that you will end up going around in circles with no direction or purpose.

The answer to this question comes through gaining a good understanding of your values (i.e. what is really important to you about work), your interests, passion and the skills you enjoy using. Then it’s a case of matching these attributes that make you stick to fields that appeal to you. Once you can identify the type of role you would like to play in a particular field, then you can start your focussed job hunt.

This approach is far more effective than trying to pinpoint a specific job title. There are 3 reasons for this:

• it makes your job search too narrow, as humans we’re much more flexible than to be reduced down to being good for only one role.
• there are so many job titles out there that it would be impossible to know the title of every role that exists, and two jobs with the same title may require totally different tasks.
• your future role may not even have a title...yet!

However, it’s not so easy to identify your work values and skills and interests. If it was, you would have done it already and you’d be well on your way to identifying work that gives you fulfilment and satisfaction. That’s why it’s good to get professional help from a Career Coach who can help you to identify them. A good Career Coach will also be able to help you to identify and challenge the barriers that are preventing you from moving forward and taking action. Trust me, you do have them and if they aren't challenged it will be virtually impossible to move forward at the speed you wish.

That said, a Career Coach cannot simply pick you up and place you in your ideal job. If that was possible I’d be living on an island in the Caribbean drinking rum and coke all day. You are responsible for taking the necessary positive action. Your Coach is there to ask the right questions and hold your hand along the journey. It could be the missing piece of your puzzle.