Ask Maynard: How Do I Get Over Career Frustration?

In a previous Ask Maynard post, Kibria Ghulam asked the question:

“How I can avoid frustration when [the] market is slow and things are not going in right direction?”

Hi Kibria,

Thank you for asking this question. The real thing to do is to turn frustration into motivation to make oneself better.

If things aren’t working and people aren’t chasing you, ask why. Figure out what you can do to make yourself better and a more sought-after candidate.

Now is the time to take an assessment of where you are, and how the world values you. Regardless of whether these are slow times or fast times, there are companies all over the world that need talent. What’s your magic or your best skill set? Is it in demand? If not, you’ll have to assess why that is and strive to correct it.

Don’t blame the market, or others. The kind of frustration that leads to anger and discontent will not serve you well. Leverage your frustration to inspire you to take a different approach and build your skills and competencies. You want to ensure that you are a valuable resource in any market, which will help you through the upswings and downturns throughout your entire career.

Of course it’s easier when everybody is hiring and growth is rampant, but you can’t look at the more difficult periods as barriers. In fact, you must look at them as opportunities. Some of the best companies were started in slow times: Southwest, GE, Cisco and Salesforce.

A few pieces of advice:

• Work to get voted onto the team every day. The most important thing is to keep getting smarter and better. 
• Instead of just seeking new jobs, seek advice. Who has a job you’d love to have? Ask them how they got there and what their needs are now.
• If you can’t land your dream job at your dream company, go after a job at same company, but be open to accepting a lesser job. Once there, you can grow into a more coveted role.

I know it might not seem it when things are slow, but there’s nothing but opportunity out there. You just have to find it. Good luck!