Is Your Job Wasting Your Talent?

Almost everyone who starts a new job has a learning curve to climb. If nothing else, there are new names and faces to memorize. Procedures work a little differently at every company.

Sometimes it takes months to learn the ropes at a new job and sometimes you pick everything up quickly.

There is something satisfying about feeling that you finally know your way around a new job. You can sleep a little more easily when you know that the major parts of the job have become familiar and that you're not going to embarrass yourself at work by doing or saying something stupid.

At the same time, the only way we learn new things and grow our muscles is by climbing bigger and bigger hills all the time.

When your job isn't giving you bigger hills to climb, that's a problem!

Not only can the job become deadly boring very quickly when the only things you get to do all day are things you've done a million times before, but something even worse than boredom happens when you're stuck in a job that doesn't ask enough of you.

Your muscles start to weaken. You forget how to surmount big and thorny problems. You fall into a routine where you don't have to think. That's not good for you! 

Time keeps marching on. Since the only thing you will ever have to sell to a new employer or client is the quality of the experiences you've accumulated so far, every year or half-year that passes while you aren't learning something new is a kind of theft from you.

You can't make up that time. You won't get those six months or those five years to do over again. 

There is an old question asked of job-seekers and working people: "Have you really had twenty years of experience -- or one year of experience, repeated twenty times?"

That is a question we all have to ask ourselves, and often.

When you're working in a job that stresses you out and drives you crazy, you'll know it. You can't avoid the realization that something has to change.

When you work in a job where your muscles aren't growing, you might not notice the problem so readily. You might get complacent and say "Well, the job is second nature by this point, but I can hang out here for awhile."

While you are hanging out at a job that doesn't use your talents, you aren't growing. You are shrinking. The world is moving on, and exciting projects are taking place in every part of the world. Why aren't you out there making them happen?

Here are five signs your talent is going to waste in your current job:

Nobody Knows What You're Capable Of  -- or they know, but don't care

Sometimes you can see better solutions to business problems than your boss can, but that won't help anybody unless your manager lets you act on your ideas! Not every manager has enough confidence to empower his or her team members.

Sometimes people don't want to see what you're capable of, because they themselves are already at the top of their game (or above it).

Your Boss Won't Let You Stretch

Our client Maggie presented a sales training plan to her boss. Maggie showed us her plan and it was amazing: simple, elegant and practical.

For no investment apart from Maggie's time and a small cost for printing, Maggie offered to train her company's new salespeople on the company's products, pricing and sales processes at monthly brown-bag training sessions.

Maggie's boss looked at her proposal. He said "Put it on ice."

Maggie called us to say "My boss told me to put my plan on ice -- meaning to sit on it and do nothing. He's afraid to give me that much visibility. If I train the new salespeople and the VPs hear about it, I might outshine my boss. It's time for me to get a new job!"

The Path Ahead Looks Bleak

During your first year in a job that has Dead End written all over it, you might hope against hope that a brighter future awaits you on your job.

Once you pass the 12-month mark with no positive changes, it's time to face reality.

The real world is changing and growing right outside your office walls. If you don't see a forward path for yourself at your job, why spend your precious brain and heart cells there? 

You'd Be Happy to Align with the Mission -- If There Were One

Brandon is the Manager of Quality Control in his company. Brandon told us "My CEO always talks about the mission. But what is our mission? He never says what it is. The company seems very confused to me. A handful of top executives make all the decisions, and they can't even agree on a plan." 

"Does this job still light your flame?" we asked him.

"No," he said. "I've  been resisting a job search because it seems like a pain, but at this point I'm learning nothing and I resent that. Life is for living, right?"

Your Resume is Frozen in Time

If you pull out your resume right now and look at it, are there two or three high-impact new stories you can add to your resume since the last time you updated it? If not, your job is sucking away your mojo and hurting your brand!

When you realize that your job is a flame-snuffer instead of a flame-grower, don't panic! You can take your time deciding what to do next. You can spend two or three months building your escape plan.

First, retrace your steps. Write, tell or draw your life story to get the learning from it. Start at the beginning. Where were you born? What was your childhood like? We call this process Reclaiming Your Path.

You'll get a ton of learning just by reflecting on the path you've followed in your life so far.

If you take the time to walk back through your history and think about the jobs you've held, you'll get a powerful "Aha!" or two about the kind of work that turns you on versus the kind that doesn't.

You don't have to perform the same job over and over again at different organizations. Why not try something a little different - or very different - from the jobs you've held so far?

The people whose muscles keep growing are the people who try new things all the time. They feel the same fear you feel but they walk through it. They've learned through experience that the little clutch of terror in their stomach doesn't last long.

The minute you step through that fear you're going to get the benefit of your move outside your comfort zone. Your confidence will grow, and your credibility will, too!

You have to make a conscious choice to change your situation for the better, even if it looks like a daunting project now. Your big move will get easier and easier with every step you take.  

Maybe it's time for you to leave the talent-wasting job behind and step into your power. I hope so. The rest of us are right behind you, cheering! 

Get the Job You Deserve!

Our company is called Human Workplace. Our mission is to reinvent work for people.

If you're stuck in the wrong job, check out the 12-Week Virtual Course Job-Hunt While You're Working. It starts on Saturday, August first and continues for 12 weeks.

The virtual course Job-Hunt While You're Working will teach you the steps to launching an under-the-radar job search and getting a great job before you give notice at your current job!

If you're a full-time job-seeker, check out our flagship job search course, Get the Job You Deserve.

This popular course comes in a fast four-week edition, standard 12-week edition and an Advanced edition for job-seekers who want to get the full Human Workplace methodology down including all the bells and whistles!

Launching on August first for the first time is our new Four-Week Virtual Course Repair Your Battered Self-Esteem.

FREE COURSE OFFER!

When you enroll in any Human Workplace 12-Week Virtual Course beginning August first, you'll receive your choice of any Four-Week Virtual Course (including Repair Your Battered Self-Esteem) for free! 

Reach us with your questions here!