Flustered to discover that no job is perfect? Why your dream career seems impossible to find after you've tested a few jobs
What is the perfect job | Work is created because the people paying don't want to do that work | People who quit make replacements take up terrible jobs | Quitting is escapism from reality that no job is perfect
This article targets employees who has tried a few jobs and struggle to accept that a perfect job cannot be found.
The content below is incredibly suitable and applicable if we describe you in the next sentence. The profile mirrors you if you had interviewed, tried a few jobs and realised somewhere during your work probation that you can't find an "attractive-enough" job that pays well, easy to do, doesn't leave you feeling exhausted and doesn't consume all your time.
Should you fit this profile, you are then likely extremely agitated and somewhat confused why your hunt for a perfect job has turned out so poorly. Possibly, you could even be about to surrender your search for a perfect job.
Yes, this is you now. (Otherwise we won't have held your attention until this second paragraph.)
We want to share the reasons why no job is perfect through this article and convince you that the ideal job is an imagination.
Jobs are designed to put people to work on repetitive tasks, irreversibly spend hours of human life and shoulder responsibilities that bosses and company owners do not want to do themselves.
Employees do mundane tasks, spending time at work and taking on duties. These activities could be done by anyone, yet no one wants to do them - unless they are paid. If jobs had no compensation and zero benefits, companies will be barren.
The very fact that bosses and business owners are willing to pay salaries and go as far as to design luxurious offices (cozy work areas, orthopaedic chairs, height adjustable standing desks, unlimited snacks, meals in office pantry) and attractive benefits (generous paid time off, promise of work life balance, work-from-home setups, Uber transport allowances, big bonuses and more) is testament to the fact that jobs suck and the top ranked officers will not do these jobs.
Interview Question Team
Bosses spend lots of money to keep employees contented to continue to work for the company.
These benefits are made to make employees feel that the company cares by increasing job satisfaction. And so employees are convinced to feel obligated to slog and churn work.
Jobs designed for the regular rank and file workers can never be exciting and dreamy. Jobs are far from perfect. Work is created because the people paying don't want to do that work. The easy, highly paid work in your dream job is an illusion of paradise. Rather, jobs are social constructs to establish an agreed transaction, i.e. work for money.
Resigning employees who quit before you joined makes work harder for you as the next person who takes up the same job
When you quit, do you give attention and be considerate to the replacement who will be taking over? No. You just want out now.
You want to stop all your job duties, relinquish all burdens and get started preparing for your next job. You won't be extra careful to make sure your handover is top-tier perfect or dedicate full effort to train the person who is going to assume your current role. There will not be new documentation or creation of new teaching material. You won't give the valuable, detailed feedback your trainee needs to excel. You simply don't care whether the next in-charge is competent or not. In 2 weeks (or whatever your notice period is), you will exit and no longer be an employee.
Interview Question Team
The very fact that a position is made vacant because of a job hopper who resigned causes work to be more difficult for the next employee who takes over. The nonchalant ("don't care") attitude of the leaving employee is a large source of unhappiness in people.
The behaviours of the leaving employee is outside your locus of control and an external factor to you as a fresh joiner. You can only assume the role with whatever scraps. This results in an absent of a career coach in your professional life, leaving you directionless and alone to navigate in a brand new work environment.
In absence of complete training, your colleagues and bosses will also be oblivious to your competence until you make mistakes, putting expectations on you based on the job title you are assigned with. This could be unfair, but you are cornered and left with no choice. Your predecessor has left or is merely clearing all his annual leave and shows up at work inconsistently. You clearly have no resource. You are new, you have no friends, and you don't know where to look for answers. There is now a fundamental mismatch in the expectations and ability of the newcomer.
Your job then becomes incredibly challenging (a nice way of saying impossibly hard) when you takeover.
Looking at this situation practically, your new job is imperfect. Sometimes it even leads to the fact for the newcomer to immediately look for another job and greener pasture, leaving bad references in the company he only stayed in for a short while. This behaviour to quit to find somewhere else better and a job closer to the ideal career situation creates an unappealing vicious cycle of job dissatisfaction.
Interview Question Team
Quitting is escapism and an easy way out instead of coming to realisation that no job is perfect
Every job requires some level of effort on our part and there are always things about the work itself that may not be ideal or even enjoyable for us. However, if you're working at something that isn't fulfilling for you, you are in a job you cannot tolerate, then chances are that you'll never truly enjoy what you do. You feel crappy. No money can ever feel enough for you. You likely seek to quit to "escape from it all".
A dream career path sometimes going through the motions and grinding through tough times.
There are ups and downs to life, and the same applies in your journey to earn your career goal - a fancy job title, a high paying job or even early retirement.
When you quit because you cannot find a perfect job, you are taking the easy way out. You may hope to find a boss who will cherish your strengths, think you are invaluable and pay you above your market rate. As you progress into deeper interview rounds, the truth leaks and chances that interviewers accidentally blurt out their censored thoughts increases. Some interviewers may paint a beautiful garden, but it takes just one person to say the opposite to ruin the dream.
Interview Question Team
But as a piece of carer advice, you are luckier than you think you are if you receive your regular wage increases and maintain that your one percentage point increase in salary outpaces economic inflation. HR is exists to protect the company's revenue, and you are an employee, which is a cost to them.
There are always going to be people who don't like their jobs or bosses. They may complain about how much they're paid or how hard their work is. But you shouldn't let them get to you. If you feel unhappy at work, suck it up or speak out. The first option allows you to retain your job that other interview candidates are struggling to find and fighting so hard for. You can continue bringing home a paycheck and still have some real satisfaction from having cash in the pocket. Taking the second option, you'll probably find someone else who feels just as bad as you do and you both can cry and complain together in the unemployment line very soon.
Interview Question Team
Job security isn't always there. Some people are laid off from their jobs or lose them to downsizing. Many workers may hold multiple part-time positions while they try to find full-time work. Others may be able to change careers but only at great expense (education). It is a luxury to be able to quit whenever you want, but look around, people quit everyday, yet no famous examples exist of employees who has found the perfect job.