The person most responsible for your career.
The person most responsible for your career is you. It’s up to you to make the choices and take action to have the career you want.
The average American spends almost 1800 hours per year at work according to the OECD. Most people I know in professional environments work way more than that. Work is a significant part of your life, and the way you spend it impacts every other part of your life. If you crave something different in your career, it’s up to you to make it happen.
A group of Goldman Sachs investment banking interns recently conducted an informal survey about what work is like for them. They reported working 95 hours per week on average. Most of them reported being victims of workplace abuse and suffering declining mental health. Goldman Sachs has a responsibility to look into this further and make things better where needed. Ultimately, the interns are responsible for how they spend their careers both in the short and long term. It’s well known that investment banking is lucrative. It’s also well known that investment bankers work long, hard hours. These interns likely understood intellectually how tough it would be before they started. Now they know through experience. They are responsible for their choices and where they go next in their careers.
I bet your working conditions aren’t this extreme. Even so, I talk to people all the time who are dissatisfied with their jobs and careers. They crave something different. The specifics are different depending on the person. Do any of these examples describe you?
Working too many hours while missing out on other parts of life
Wanting more fulfilling job responsibilities
Desiring career advancement or to take on a greater scope
Wanting to make more money
Craving drastic career change
Disliking how you are treated by managers or peers
This list could go on. Employee engagement surveys show that there are large numbers of workers who are missing something in their jobs and careers. Only 39% of workers are actively engaged while 14% are actively disengaged according to Gallup.
Even though people are missing something in their careers, they often choose not to do anything about it. A recent Linkedin Worker’s Index reports that 74% of survey respondents are currently “sheltering in place” in their current jobs for the paycheck, benefits or other perks.
I talk to people all the time who struggle with taking action to improve their careers. Even the smallest actions can feel risky. They are afraid of losing what they have even though they aren’t satisfied. Even something like having a conversation with a manager about reasonable work-life boundaries can seem like a huge risk to them.
If you choose not to take action, you are making a decision to keep the conditions of your career the same. That may seem obvious, but I am emphasizing that your current career situation is a result of decisions you made. Your future career situation will also be a result of decisions you make now. Sometimes these decisions are at odds with what we truly want and value at our core. This is what causes the deep longing for something different.
At your core, you know what you really need and want, and it’s in your control to get it. Trust yourself. Confront the thoughts and behaviors that are holding you back. Make decisions and take action to achieve a career that is fulfilling to you. If you’re going to spend 1800, 2500 or more hours at work each year, make the best of it.