February can give two feelings; the feeling of love or the lack there of; talking about your work, of course! We can use this month to reflect on if we are feeling the love towards the work we do daily. Are you ready to start your workday or do you dread it from the moment you wake up? If you’re dreading it, there could be some areas to reflect on to see if it is an issue that can be fixed or if it’s time to move on. As specialty chemical recruiters, we often get to take a look into candidate’s professional lives to see what is keeping them happy in their jobs and what is making them want to look else where for work.
Reflect and take action
Pin point what is causing your job to feel less than desirable. Often, we start to feel a disliking towards our job when it becomes boring. If your tasks start to feel menial or too repetitive, it might be time to shake it up. Attend webinars or classes to stay up to date and educated in your field. Continuing to learn will keep it exciting. Ask for new projects or to help in new areas. Add a little variety to what your current tasks are. Keep your work space clean so that you don’t feel low energy due to the clutter. Find music or podcasts to listen to that keeps you energized. Reward yourself with breaks. Take vacations and time off when needed. Turn off your work notifications when you leave for the day to allow yourself to disconnect and breath to be refreshed and ready again by the next morning. Don’t be afraid to talk to your boss about how you can mix up your day to day work or continue to learn or jump into new opportunities within your current company.
When it is time to start looking?
If you have tried to make your job more enjoyable or if it is outside factors that you do not have control over, it may be time to start looking for other opportunities. Reasons could be a disconnect in company culture from what you prefer or a lack of potential to grow any further. Be sure to think through if it is time to move on or if there is anything that could be changed to help your situation before leaving your job. When it is time to move on, start to prepare yourself for job searching. Update your resume and LinkedIn profile. Make sure to have your LinkedIn profile completely filled out and keyword heavy to increase your chances of coming up in recruiter or hiring manager searches. Turn on the open to work feature to let recruiters know that you are open to opportunities. Reach out to a recruiter in your space, such as a chemical recruiter, to partner with them for opportunities that you could be a fit for. Be sure to have an appropriate space for video interviewing as those have become more and more popular since the start of the pandemic. Decide on what you are looking to get out of from a new opportunity. That could be a path of growth, company culture, a new location, etc. Prepare yourself to jump into an opportunity that you will love.
We spend a large portions of our lives working. With that much time, we better make sure we are content with the work we do. If you don’t love your job, before jumping ship, see if there is anything that can be done to make it as exciting as when you first took the opportunity. However, if it is time to move on, think and prepare yourself to make the next best move in your career that you will love.
-Written by Brooke Hughes: Researcher for Chemical Recruiters & Finance Recruiters