Task #59 - Leave a Job You Hate

Here is one of the biggest tasks that I managed to complete over the last few years (but it is not the biggest - I will leave that story for another day). This task was successfully completed at the very beginning of 2010....

At the time I was working as a Sales Assistant for WH Smiths in Manchester Airport, and had been doing so for nearly 7 years. I had gone into the job as a means to earn some money on the weekends while I was studying at college, and then also during University. When I graduated in 2007 I decided that it was time to look for a job relating to my Computer Science degree, but after a few months I hadn't had any interviews so decided to go full time until something came along. Over time though I got lazy and the job hunt died off. I was comfortable in the job, and the people I worked with made it worthwhile getting up at 4am every morning to start the early morning shifts. As the months went by though these early shifts, and the feeling of being overworked and underpaid, wore me down to the point where I couldn't stand going in to work every day.

Anyway, come the end of 2009 a job came up at a school around the corner from where I lived. It was working in the IT department, but it still wasn't exactly the kind of job I was looking for. I decided to apply for it anyway because what was the worst that would happen? The evening of the interview I received a call back to inform me that I hadn't been successful in the interview. However, the next day I received another call to ask if I'd be interested in a temporary 6 month contract, with the possibility of it becoming long term after a probationary period. Of course I was interested! It wasn't exactly the area of employment my degree was aimed at, but it was a foot in the door in my eyes. The difficulty in the decision was that there was the possibility that 6 months down the line I'd be looking for work again, but I ignored that concern for the sake of getting some work experience in the area I'd studied 3 long years for. It was hard to say goodbye to most of the people I had worked with, but I couldn't stand working there any longer.

As it turned out I was offered a full time position in the job, but I was only in that role for a further 6 months before another opportunity became available for the same employer. I stayed in that job for around 3 and a half years, and in November 2013 I moved jobs again for a promotion to where I am now. I did enjoy the job I was in but the long commute, and feeling unchallenged at times meant I had to move on.

So what did I learn from all of this? To take a leap of faith every now and again! If I had stayed in my original job, I would have been driven insane. I was feeling slightly depressed at the thought that I'd wasted 3 years of my life studying only to be stuck in a job where I wasn't using any of the skills I'd learnt. Don't get me wrong, the work I was doing was enjoyable at times, and the people I worked with were great, but it wasn't enough to make me happy working there. Now, because of that initial decision 4 years ago, I'm in a job where I am challenged, and have more responsibility so I am a lot happier.

So that's my little lesson learnt, and even more importantly....Task #59 completed!