You’re a brilliant, hard-working marketer and the only direction your career should be moving is up. That means every job you have should place you on the right path of developing and improving your career.
However, every job won’t be your dream job or something you want to do with the rest of your life. But how do you make the best out of every opportunity? If you’re feeling uneasy about your current job, how do you think logically and identify what exactly is leading to dissatisfaction? Does this mean you need to push through and stick with your job, or is time to move on?
You certainly should be pursuing something that you genuinely enjoy doing. If you’re constantly trying to persuade yourself that your job isn’t as bad as it is, don’t ignore this. However, it’s equally just as important to think long-term and avoid blindly jumping to another opportunity only to find yourself in the same position. While there are many reasons for quitting your job, there are many reasons to consider staying as well.
The Key to Growing Your Marketing Career to the Next Level
A Conversation with Marketing Headhunters: Should You Hang On?
How exactly do you navigate and direct yourself toward a satisfying and rewarding career?
As marketing headhunters, we know many marketers question if their job is the best place for them in the current stage of their career. Deciding whether or not to quit your job is tough, and we don’t recommend calling it quits until you’ve exhausted every option of improving your situation.
What feels like a terrible job now may not be permanent. In certain situations, it may be worthwhile to try to fix your job rather than quitting. Waiting and thinking it through gives you the chance to ensure that whatever decision you’re making is the best one.
You owe it to yourself to make the best of your career and build a livelihood that’s fulfilling. Let’s go over some signs that may indicate it’s time to quit, and how you can make the best of them and potentially fix these aspects:
1. You’re Being Presented with New Opportunities
Rather than hastily quitting your job, take time to explore the job market and which jobs you’re qualified for.
If a marketing recruiter is reaching out to you about job opportunities, there’s a reason. This is a sign that you’ve been successful and are the exact type of candidate they’re looking for. Companies need talented marketers and when you do a great job and continually improve your skills, you will inevitably get a call from a recruiter to get you to apply for a job. Conversations with marketing headhunters are an easy way to conduct market research into who’s hiring, what skills are in demand, how your skills fit in with them, and average salary ranges for certain roles.
If you’re being presented with a new opportunity, you probably want to jump on it and say farewell to your job. However, give it a lot of thought before you make a sudden decision. If you’re currently desiring change and new opportunities sound interesting, ask yourself – ‘have I proactively pursued advancement in this current job?’ Make sure you’ve learned as much as you can from your position and sought out changes for growth within your company. Specifically, make sure you are adding as much value as possible each and every day.
If you’re considering a new position, you should be confident that it will fulfill your needs more than your current one. Or else, it may be too late to turn back when you realize a new opportunity isn’t so great after all.
2. Your Gut Instincts Are Speaking to You
If you’re feeling bored or unhappy at work on a daily basis, don’t disregard those feelings – listening to your emotions and gut instincts is important. However, paying attention solely on your emotions can prevent you from making the smartest decisions.
What’s truly leading to your dissatisfaction? Is the job not what you imagined or have you reached a ceiling in terms of growth? Or is it that the work you’re tasked with is just more challenging than you expected? Making a distinction between these reasons is critical in making the right move.
Listen to your intuition, but don’t let it cloud your judgment. When you’re making a decision determining whether or not you should keep your job, logic should overrule emotion. Delving deeper into the real root of the issue with a logical perspective may reveal that it’s not the actual job that’s making you feel disheartened, or you may realize that certain aspects are able to be fixed, improving your perception of the job.
Navigating your career logically and strategically will prevent you from making impulsive decisions that set you back in your career. Establishing a concrete plan is critical in making sure you don’t run into any dead ends. If you ever do move on to a new role, you now have a better understanding of your career path and how to avoid being in a similar situation.
3. Lack of Upward Mobility
Have you gotten everything your current job has to offer? Have you proactively pursued new areas for growth within your company? Are you hitting the ceiling in terms of career growth and advancement opportunities?
We don’t mean advancement in terms of salary. As marketing recruiters, we emphasize that money should not be the only criteria used to determine whether or not you quit your job. Take into consideration more than just your paycheck to determine what your job is worth. If you’re considering leaving for a bigger paycheck, you’ll likely realize it isn’t even worth it.
Is the issue that there isn’t room to grow or is it that you haven’t proactively put in the effort to go to your boss and have a real conversation on improving your situation? By voicing your concerns to your boss, you may be able to take on new projects or focus on different priorities to grow your skill set. This way, you’ll be able to make a conscientious effort to make your current job a lot better.
You’re a talented marketer who’s capable of achieving great things, and deserve to feel good about what you’ve done and accomplished. Evaluate the quantifiable metrics and KPIs you’re accomplishing. If you aren’t done learning in your current job, stay to get the skills you need to make yourself marketable.
If you’re constantly taking on new projects and consistently exceeding goals with absolutely no mobility to move up or learn new skills, you should consider moving on to move your career forward.
4. You’re in a Bad Culture
A job involves more than your daily tasks and responsibilities. Your colleagues, manager, and every person you interact with are a major part of your environment and performance. However, if the workplace is toxic and discouraging, you won’t be able to perform at your best. You want to be in a collaborative, uplifting workplace that motivates you to learn and push forward great ideas and solutions.
Talk to your boss or HR about any of your concerns about the culture of the workplace. If you’ve attempted to make this aspect better and nothing’s improved, then it’s time to move on to something different.
Conclusion: Proactively Take Control of Your Career
If you’re feeling dissatisfied and unhappy with your job, is it because of the actual job or something else? Clearly understanding the difference will help you make smarter choices and reach your career goals. You want to evaluate factors like your boss, the workload, company culture, and growth opportunities. If it’s just one aspect you’d like to change, hang in there – if there’s a chance of it getting better, it’s worth sticking around.
You want to learn as much as you can and add value to the organization within every role so that you have a story to tell if you ever make a transition. Don’t shortchange your career as a result of not really evaluating why you are unhappy with the job or because of a lack of logical judgment. You want every part of your career journey to be strategic and be worthwhile. So, make sure you have a plan in place and strive to get the most out of every opportunity before making any final decisions.
The main lesson here is: don’t run away from a job because the work is “too hard” because you’re likely going to be in the same position in your next job. Instead, take charge of your career by setting your career goals, regularly evaluating where you are at the end of every year, and making a solid plan before your next big move. This will enable you to streamline your career path and be very intentional and methodical about every step you take.