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I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. Being back in the office today may remind you of how much you’d still like to be on vacation. Or at another job. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Unfortunately, we sometimes wait a little too long to decide to make a career change. We wait until things feel unbearable before we begin our search. And suddenly, it can feel like time has already run out.

Our patience is low. Anxiety is high. We’d do anything to just not have to go to that job one more day.

When you get into this frame of mind, you may start to search for jobs you wouldn’t normally look for. You know, jobs you could have done 10 years ago. Positions that require few skills and little of your true talents. They may even pay much less.

You know you can land one of these jobs quickly, and it will buy you time. You’ll be able to work there for a few months while you keep searching for your next real gig.

But, I bet when you interview for that easy, temporary job – you don’t tell them your plans. You can’t. They’d never hire you if they knew you weren’t planning to stick around.

If you take that temporary job, it will take a weight off your shoulders and give you time to start looking for your real dream job. But, what will you tell your next employer when you interview? Will you say that you’re only been working at your job for a month, but are looking for something new?

You could tell them how awful your last manager was and how you ran from the building when it was practically burning down. They’d understand, right? Wrong.

This entire plan has three flaws that I want you to consider before running from your job:

  1. It doesn’t look good to stay at a job for just a few months. It makes it harder for you to be considered for another job and it creates a story on your resume that you’ll be forced to explain time and time again in the future. And, if you decide to stay at your temporary job for a year, you’ve delayed your real job search by a year. That’s also not helpful.
  2. It puts you in a position to talk negatively about your previous and current employers. You’ll want to explain why your last job was so bad. Then, you’ll want to explain why this so-so job is temporary. This is never good. You don’t want to spend your time in an interview explaining what was wrong at your last (or current) job. Even if your reasoning is completely sound, it creates a poor reflection on you. This is something you want to avoid.
  3. It takes away your negotiating power. You want to make more money in your next job. But, if your dream job knows you’re in a helpless, dead end situation right now, they’re not going to offer you the same competitive salary. They don’t have to. They know you don’t have a lot of options. They realize you ran away from your last job, and you need them more than they need you.

I know it can be hard, but if you can, try to devote your energy to finding your dream job now rather than searching for a temporary solution. Even though a temporary job seems like a solution, it can often delay you arriving at your dream job for months or years longer than necessary.

Finding a good job is a job in itself. Set aside time each day to work on your job search. In just a few months, you could be in a better situation. You’ll find something you really enjoy more. It will use your skills, and might even pay more. In this sense, your patience will truly pay off.


Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland



Author: Angela Copeland


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