Working in a job I hate

From Season 1, Episode 2 of Just Ask Kathleen 

“I work in admin and absolutely hate it. I've changed employers before but always end up working in the same role. And the frustrating thing is that I feel like it's the only thing I'm qualified to do, and I'll be stuck in this loop forever. I've been off sick for a few weeks because it's impacting my mental health, and I'm dreading going back. I do have some interests I'd love to pursue, but money is a big barrier for me. Otherwise, I'd go to university. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut and not sure what to do.”

Kathleen           Okay. And that's a shame and how many people are in jobs that they hate? That's the sad reality. You see on Facebook, "Oh, thank goodness it's Friday. It's wine o'clock. Works over," and all that kind of stuff. If you’re doing something you love then you won't have to be posting all that stuff. But admin. Okay. So she hates it. The first thing I would do is I would say within that job, are there any aspects that you enjoy? Because I think within any job, there's usually one or two things. So it might be talking to the colleagues or it could be taking phone calls. You quite enjoy taking phone calls and it's so random and it's always different that you could quite enjoy that.

                        I would write down all the things in the admin post she has, anything at all that she enjoys, likes, get something from, even if it's just a small thing because it might help her build a picture of aspects of the work that she might want to carry on somewhere else. So if she does enjoy taking calls, it might be something to do with that, even volunteering with Samaritans or doing something where phoning people is part of the job, a big part of the job.

                        The other thing is that if you're really clear that you hate it and you also off sick because your mental health is being affected by it, you cannot continue doing that. It's absolutely imperative, and I know finances are difficult and that comes with its own worries and concerns, and it can affect mental health dramatically when people are financially unstable and just not knowing what they're going to do next.

                        But you're never going to keep good attendance at a job if you're really unhappy in it. It's impossible because your body's going to scream at you through symptoms until you do something else. So, it's counterproductive to think ‘I can just keep going with this because it earns me some money. I'll just keep going at this. I'll just keep going at this. I'll just keep going at this.’ Crash! Because if you're not happy and you're not being fulfilled, you're going to get ill anyway so that you have to withdraw and pull back from that job.

                        So, write down the things you know you love in the admin job. Write down the things you know you love to do outside of admin, and see if you can build a picture and a framework of things that you could imagine doing as an employee, bringing in these things.

                        So, there will be something. And I know she said there, "I do have some interests." Now, what did she say after that? You said, "I do have some interest," but could you not make money from them? Was that the vibe I was getting?

Emily:               She said that she does have some interests and she'd like to pursue them, university or college, but finances are a barrier.

Kathleen:          All right. Finances are a barrier. Okay. Right. So again, if she got into a job that was with a big employer, sometimes they offer continuing professional development or classes that enable you, courses rather, that enable you to get a foot on the rung of a college course that you can maybe do a night class or open learning. So it's about really just searching what companies she would like to work for, maybe ethically and morally she wants to work at different companies, quite specific, but it is about trusting that if you're really keen to get out there and do something else, you will find a way to do this.

                        What happens is we get clouded vision when we feel overwhelmed by other problems that are external but also linked. So the financial thing. We think, "Yeah, but I've got to worry. I've got to do it. I've got to do it. I've got to do it." But the more we do that, the cloudier our vision is. We're not really stopping and looking. So again, this is a good time to bring in a buddy. Bring in a friend who knows you well, but get her to bounce or him to bounce ideas. You can bounce ideas off each other and find a way to recognize what your qualities are, what skills you can bring to a workplace, and start rewriting your CV based on what you want to be doing.