10 signs you are unhappy in your job – and what you can do about it

Career

Do you hate Monday mornings? Clock watch most afternoons at work? Read 10 signs you are unhappy in your job – and what you can do about it. 

Most people find themselves on the wrong work path at some point in their lives. And for many of us it’s because we ‘fall’ into our first career path when we’re younger, without any clear idea of what we are good at or motivated by.

10 signs you are unhappy in your job

Does this sound familiar? If so, here are 10 signs you may be in the wrong job from career and confidence coach Fiona Clark from Inspired Mums:

  1. Your job does not play to your natural strengths and skills, so it feels like hard work every day.
  2. Your self-belief is being drained away, week after week.
  3. You feel like you are on an emotional rollercoaster – and work is bringing out the worst emotions in you, such as frustration, anger, boredom or anxiety.
  4. You have a toxic relationship with your boss that is undermining your confidence – this is number one reason people leave their jobs!
  5. You have lost your energy, motivation and drive at work and don’t feel passionate about the purpose of the company your work for.
  6. Your body is telling you that you are stressed through headaches, muscle tension and poor sleeping patterns.
  7. Don’t feel you belong because your personal values don’t fit with the company culture or you don’t get on with colleagues.
  8. You experience the ‘Sunday night dread’ before every working week and live for your holidays.
  9. You feel undervalued and unappreciated – receiving any praise or recognition for the hard work you put in.
  10. You feel stuck unhappy in your career rut, simply because you don’t know what else to do.

What can you do about it?

So what can you do if you’re not happy in your job? Before you start composing your resignation letter, it’s wise to make sure that it’s not them, it’s you. Could you, for example, but suffering from career burnout?

If you’re sure it’s the job, not you, it’s still worth having a pause before you leap into a new job hunt, and ask yourself a few questions first – not least whether you’re confident you really know what your authentic career identity is.

Take our Career Audit right now

To find out what you should be doing instead, we recommend taking our popular Career Audit – a 15-page printable PDF workbook that takes you through a carefully designed series of insightful, psychological exercises designed to help you achieve genuine change, with tasks and next steps to complete.

You can download our Career Audit and get started right now here.

When you’re ready, start your job hunt

There are a lot of career opportunities out there, just waiting to be discovered. Once you know what you want to do next and are ready to go, make sure you get your resignation letter right. Then start your job hunt with these useful resources to guide you:

Not confident about your LinkedIn profile? Get professional help to write one recruiters will love. 

If you have a question you’d like Fiona to answer, please email her or call her on 07789 597209. If you feel you’ve lost your sense of career direction or lack confidence, contact Fiona for a FREE 30 minute 1-2-1 consultation. 

Need more advice? Download Inspired Mums’ free e-book For mums stuck in a career rut – 8 steps to finding work you love on their website.

Photo by Johannes Plenio