A Clear Horizon in 2019
The end of the year it’s a time to re-think and reflect everything that happened in the past year. It’s time to think about our careers and the next steps that we want to take in the next year. Well, I started 2018 extremely unhappy with my job and that feeling had been with me for years. I knew it was time to make a change, but I wasn’t sure of which path to follow.
Throughout the years I had been dedicating my time in building skills and experience, getting a proper qualification and attending networking events to build a strong network in order to learn from the most experienced people in the field but also to meet people at the same career level as myself to share insecurities and doubts about my career.
Even thinking that I was doing what I was supposed to, there was still a part of me extremely unhappy with my work situation. After some thoughts, I came to realise the company I was working for wasn’t the right cultural fit for me. There was no career development, total lack of investment in training, poor recognition from management (and I’m not talking here about money), unfair treatment or favouritism and lack of leadership and mentorship (boss culture). The company was facing lots of problem in terms of staff such as: high turnover, fraud, disciplinaries, high absence and poor employee engagement. I’d say that one of the most difficulties part of working in HR is because you wear both hats at the same time. You see things going wrong, but you also feel that things are going wrong.
If I was you reading my story, I would have thought: “Why an HR professional working in such a toxic environment did not take any actions to improve it?” If we were in a conversation, I’d say to you: “Believe me I did it”. One of the greatest lessons from this experience is that there are some people above you that are not interested so it was time to look for a company that was interested.
I can say that one of my strengths is persistence and I did persist for seven years, trying to improve the companies’ environment with different HR actions and ideas. I came to realise that if you are not happy where you are, if the company does not recognise your efforts and the leadership does not appreciate your work, it’s time to leave and find a company that values your skills and people who want someone like you in their team.
In 2018, the “Science for work” website published an article that shows an evidence-based approach of the employees’ turnover. This article findings indicate that the concept “people leave bosses not jobs” is partially true, but they also leave companies “if they feel things are not being handled fairly at work”, employer fails to encourage employee development and poor teamwork or positive atmosphere.
Being in a stable work for so many years and away from the job market really scared me to make the right move. It is a big decision but to everyone out there in a similar situation give yourself a chance in 2019. Look for what you want in terms of company and work environment. It sounds very cliché, but the new beginning is in your hands.
Happy New year!!
References
https://scienceforwork.com/blog/evidence-based-employee-turnover/
