By | Serena Kappes | www.themuse.com
At some point in your career, you’re likely to feel like you’re in a rut. Maybe you took a job for the money thinking that it’s temporary, and five years later, you’re still there. Or you’ve signed on for a position you were told was one thing and suddenly you realize you’re wearing 20 hats—and hardly any of them are the ones you thought you’d be wearing.
Though you may feel stuck when these career roadblocks crop up, there are concrete ways to circumvent them. Here are seven common career mistakes that can trip you up and how, with some proactive work, you can overcome them and tackle your current job (and future jobs) with renewed perspective and purpose.
1. Taking a Job for the Money—Then Feeling Like You Can’t Leave
A lucrative job can sometimes be like a siren song: It pulls you in because the money is too attractive to resist, but then you find yourself in a role that makes you unhappy. For instance, you took a role as a consultant because the pay is high, but now you don’t have any work-life balance because your career is all-encompassing.
“At certain ages and certain stages, your career is number one. [But as you’re] building your career, you’ll start looking toward your overall life goals: ‘How does the job or career that I’ve selected fit into all the other things that I want in life?’” explains Bonnie Diamond, career management consultant at global career management agency Right Management.
What to do if you land in a high-paying job that is affecting your overall quality of life? Diamond recommends creating an exit plan, a budget, and a timeline. “You may say, ‘I’ll work really hard at this job for the next two years and sock away money so that I can look for a career change that will give me more satisfaction on the personal side.’”
