Anonymous asks:
I'd been planning to leave my job of five years in the summer of 2009. Unfortunately, the economy tanked and the jobs in my field dried up. I was happy to have the job I had and that I didn't have to take a pay cut. Now, my industry is picking up and jobs in my field are available again. I am torn about whether or not I should be looking right now. I have a lot of stressful things going on in my life and I know that starting a new job would add to that stress, but I am not happy in this job. Would the happiness from a new job offset the stress that starting a new job would cause? (I have two reasons for my dissatisfaction: (1) my company has grown to the point where office politics increasingly outweighs sound business judgment, and (2) my current duties are really fucking boring.)
My advice is to keeping looking for a new job, but hold out for one that you REALLY want. Don't apply for jobs that are only as good as your current job just because you are unhappy. The change will be nice in the beginning, but you will find yourself in the same predicament not too far in the future. Since you are going to be very discriminating in your search, I think it is fine to keep looking even when the rest of your life is stressful, unless the search itself is starting to stress you out, then take a break. Otherwise, I think that the search will help you see that you won't be in your suck job forever.
Do you have any advice for anonymous?
