Are you working your dream job right now?
Was that question so ridiculously far from truth that you just let out an incensed snort and want to punch me in the face?
If you’re a twentysomething and graduated somewhere within this “great” recession, chances are you’ve had a crappy job (or two) (or three) (or four)….
Before I graduated college, I made fun of all those unfortunate twentysomethings working in lifeless, listless, and pointless jobs. Until that unfortunate twentysomething was me. Then it became a lot less funny.
A crappy job can feel like a black hole — it sucks and feels impossible to escape.
How can you be strategic and smart with your lousy job to make sure it’s a quick stop and not a long, black-hole-sucking, stay? Here’s five tips on how you not only survive your lousy job, but leverage it into a job that is dream-esque.
5 Vital Tips to Surviving and Thriving in your Twentysomething-Painful-Profession
1. You are Not Alone
First, I promise you’re not alone. A majority of your friends are experiencing the same “please God, make it stop” job experience. No matter how cool they’ve made their job sound on Facebook, they’re struggling to find meaning in their days as well.
So pick up the phone. Call a friend or two. Be honest. Don’t put a PR spin on the unspinnable. Then listen for this amazing thing called actual, honest, conversation. Laugh together about how bad it feels. Share war stories and strategies.
You’re not alone. And just knowing that fact can make that crappy job smell a lot better.
2. Start a Side-Hustle
When you’re not finding fulfillment with the old 8-5 thing, start finding fulfillment with a side-hustle. I believe Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation coined the phrase “side-hustle,” basically it’s that thing — that idea, that book, that website, that training, that education, THAT SOMETHING you’re going to pursue during the after-hours.
An effective side-hustle will give you energy and creativity — two necessary flames that need to be ignited if you are going to escape this lousy job. It’s not going to pay the bills right away, but hustle enough and maybe soon it will.
3. Don’t Take to Social Media to Complain
You’ve had another terrible day in your terrible job and you just need to vent. Just say no to sharing it with the entire Internet world.
As I wrote about in 12 Facebook Updates that Need to Stop Happening, complaining about your lousy job on Facebook will turn off Non-Crappy Job’s from luring you in their direction. They’ll worry that if they hired you it would be just a matter of time before you’re complaining about them too.
4. Calls, Lunches, Coffee, Rinse, Repeat
Dive headfirst into that network of yours. Reach out to everyone. No relationship is off limits. Timmy, who you did Boy Scouts with in elementary school. Jessica who you competed against in a pageant. Mary who stole your boyfriend in 9th grade. (Seriously, she owes you one!).
Talk to as many people as you can. Show them your excitement and your passion. You’d be surprised how many job opportunities come through acquaintances and friends-of-friends. People like helping people. Especially if they don’t know all your junk like your best friend does.
5. Learn What Needs to be Learned
I’m one of those everything is happening for a reason kind of people. Sometimes I forget I’m one of these people and go into a deep depression of eating raw cookie dough alone in the dark while listening to Death Cab for Cutie, but give me a week or two and I’ll snap out of it.
Every job, no matter how terrible, has something to teach. What skills can be gained NOW that you can leverage LATER?
What extra assignments or tasks can you volunteer for that better align with your strengths and interests? Who can you start buttering up — “Wow Greg, you designed that brochure so well. You’re so talented. What’s your secret” — so that you can begin informally shadowing them and learning a new set of skills. Start becoming proficient in your passion.
Don’t sit back passively waiting for an opportunity, look for ways to create one.
Sometimes you learn the most in the jobs you like the least.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below: What’s one strategy you have for surviving or thriving in your lousy job?
I hope so!
I like my company and colleagues, and I try to not take my job for granted – I know how fortunate I am to have one. I just feel my voice and passions could flourish better in another environment. I’m writing a blog and using social media to build relationships with people who share my interests. The next step I’m working toward is sharing my articles with those people who can help me get closer to where I’d like to be – my sociology professors, entertainment outlets, and other writers and bloggers. I hope this can lead to new opportunities for me.
So good Sarah! Way to not let the current reality be all that there is. Way to push forward and pursue life on the outside.
You keep showing up, keeping putting your work out there, and watch the doors start creaking open.
Thank you! From what I’ve been told it’s all I can do.
LOVE this article. I can totally identify with it. Completely agree about learning the lessons you need to learn while you are at your present job.
Thanks Carrie! Honestly #4 has always been the most difficult for me, but it’s probably the most important. Because it takes real humility to keep learning in a bad situation. Even if we’re just learning how NOT to do it.
Call center work. I remember it well. The headset was a tether and the cubicle, a prison cell. I took a $7/hr pay cut to work at a call center – so I wouldn’t have to work more than 40 hours a week and I could do my homework between classes. The 4 longest and most excruciating years of my life.
Note: it did pay off. #2 and #4 got me through to the light at the end of the tunnel.
I don’t usually don’t do this but I completely came across your site by accident and honestly you have helped me to recover hope and helped me recover my faith. I am in a transitional period in my life moving from a semi-dependable but very dead end, challenging job to a new but extremely scary and uncertain path but following where I think my calling is.
Like you were describing in many of your posts, I am due to get married next year but at 28, my career hasn’t quite taken off and things have been difficult. Also now I will gain a wife, it has made me reflect on my own life and I was a little down about it.
I was looking up ‘Quarter Life Crisis’ in google and this site came up. I have been on your site for 2+ hours really taking in your messages and I believe that this site is literally heaven sent.
I appreciate your honesty with your Christianity and I pray that you continue the great work . May GOD bless you and your family.
Karl
Karl, Can’t thank you enough for these kind words. So glad All Groan Up could come alongside you in this process.
I was married unemployed and clueless, so you definitely sound like you’re already doing better than me 🙂
There are no other words I can say besides..your website and words are amazing. I can read this 100 times and still be in awe of the hope and inspiration it really gives me. It’s hard to remember to be positive and grateful when you feel so miserable 40 hours a week, but to think there is something bigger for my life is extremely encouraging. Thanks for what you do, it really makes a difference!!
Wow. Thank you Dana for these kind words. Made my day. Keep fighting the good fight of keeping hope
I’m so glad I read this article. I’m 24 and just graduated from college and working at a call center for a financial institution. I love the company, but never imagined doing what I’m doing. Its a tough and miserable job that grows so monogamous. I love the advice you give bc its forgotten. I have to say #4 is the hardest to remember! I love reading your columns. Always a great posts to come home to.
Thanks Jackie! Yep, I’ve worked a call center job myself and it is not easy. I know your pain. But I definitely learned a lot, and was very thankful to leave!
I think the hardest part is that my boyfriend is very passionate about his job and his career since he was 15. I want to find something like that!
I am 27 and am in my second job. I moved across country and took a job because my boyfriend found his dream job. I was looking for 8 months. I have gotten into rock climbing, hiking, skiing, and blogging to take my mind off of my job. I do try to take a positive spin and keep in mind this is a great “stepping stone” job. I always try networking as much as possible. I know that I will be in this job for a year or two to make my resume desirable, but it is just a small amount of time compared to a whole lifetime!
Thanks Angela! “it is just a small amount of time compared to a whole lifetime!” – Great perspective.
“Don’t sit back passively waiting for an opportunity, look for ways to create one.”
YES!
I’m a huge advocate of following your dreams. However, you may have to support yourself in a crappy job before moving onto your dreams full time. But that doesn’t mean that you have to halt your dreams just because you’re in a dead-end job! 🙂
I love the term ‘side-hustle’, so fun!
Thanks for this inspiring post. 🙂
Thanks Morgan! Yep, follow your dreams sounds so sexy. We just don’t realize that to follow your dreams you have to work in numerous un-dreamlike jobs to make it happen. Well said
Well I work at a movie theatre job and while it may sound glamorous (free popcorn, soda, and movies) it does have its downfalls. How so? One word: politics. And I think this job is really teaching me that not all life is fair. While managers have the power to let in as many as 20 guests on a night I am only allowed one guest. And some other employs who are buddy buddy with managers are allowed to let a few more in then usual. We can’t see movies on opening weekend but if you’re a regular employee and are best friends with a manager they will look the other way. But I am learning to accept this reality that I am not alone in feeling I am downgraded.
You would think someone in my position would be thrilled but we all manage to sabotage our excitement by thinking negative.
I have a college degree and am still struggling to find a real job. But then it dawned on me – this IS a real job. One of my friends stated I need to find a real job so I can make real money. To which I countered “So what do you think they are putting in our paychecks? I hope it’s not Monopoly money.”
Good thoughts Ryan. Like this realization: “I have a college degree and am still struggling to find a real job. But then it dawned on me – this IS a real job”. Thanks for leaving a comment
I love receiving your posts in my emails especially when I’m feeling down. 25 years old college grad with no direction (or so it feels) I’ve currently been at a job working in HR for about 7 months now, I thought this what I wanted but i’m starting to feel that that its just not for me! I’ve been looking for other opportunities but I’m not sure what would make me happy and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of jobs out there lately. I have friends that cant even get jobs, so I feel like I should hang on to mine for as long as possible, I just don’t want to be miserable coming to work every day. I just keep telling myself that i’m gaining good experience for my resume and hopefully i’ll be able to find something else in the near future.
Thanks Erin! Pumped you’re enjoying these articles. Yeah stuck in the middle is not an easy place to be. There doesn’t seem to be a clear path, but I promise a way will open.
I am currently sitting at my lousy job, taking a couple of minutes off between the soul-sucking tasks to remind me that I’m not alone.
I loved the post and agree with all of it, also what I like to keep in mind every day when I wake up and don’t want to be at the office, is that these people got here from somewhere and I have something to learn from them if I want to get to the same place. Also as much as I dislike coming in every morning, I am meeting people who may be crucial for better jobs in the future.
I’m 20 years old and and undergrad.
I’ve studied marketing and advertising but I was only able to get a job as a call center agent at age 19.
I live in the Philippines and work around 70 pesos an hour. That’s just almost $2 an hour.
Sucks when you look at it like that. But then comes the fun.
You learn from other people around you. Those who’ve got work experience, a degree, all that..
For a first job, and as a starter, I’ve already gone way past tenured agents. I’m even getting recognized by the higher ups as the new guy with the skills to say the bills.
Still… It does tend to drag on and on. Especially when I don’t really feel like leaving the comfort of my own bed.
But the money and experience I earn will be the stepping stone of something better, right?
I even hear rumors of early promotion.
The job