This post is about trying to help you, not about criticizing you. Please consider it in that light.
Your attitude is one of the most important factors in creating your long-term career happiness. As noted in the first chapter of my career book, “Attitude is important in landing a job, keeping a job, and being proactively prepared to change jobs.”
Whether you recognize it or not, your attitude IS affecting your career…. either positively or negatively. In this article, I want to help alert you if it could be retarding your progress or standing in the way of achieving the career results you desire.
If you are happy with your boss, your peers, your subordinates, your income, your job title, your career progression, your opportunity for advancement, your profession, your industry, and your employer’s culture, then the odds are high that your attitude is in good shape. If you are not happy with one or more of these items, however, then one or more of the following “yellow flags” could be worth examining:
1. You have a troll for a boss who makes your workdays unpleasant, possibly because you attracted him/her or because you have stayed in your job when you know you should have left long ago.
2. You have jerks on your team who you don’t enjoy, possibly because you lack the self-confidence to professionally confront them or to refer the situation to someone with the authority to correct the situation.
3. You have a troublesome employee who is disruptive to your team, possibly because you feel you do not have the power to replace him or her.
4. Your income has become stagnant or dropped and this is creating financial stress, possibly because you don’t feel comfortable promoting your value within your employer or to other employers.
5. Your job title makes your position sound less responsible than it is and this creates a perception problem on your resume, possibly because you have not advocated strongly enough to have your title corrected/improved.
Yes, Virginia, I actually have the unmitigated gall to suggest that you have created your current career circumstances through your own personal choices and that those choices are likely to have been influenced by your attitude. Conversely, I want to offer you the genuine possibility that you have the power to improve all of these situations. Not by complaining. Not overnight. Not from terrible to fantastic in one fell swoop. But yes. You have the power to improve them.
How? Please stay tuned. I promise to address this in a few weeks. Until then, consider conducting some internet searches and seek out articles that offer ways to improve your attitude. The rewards could be huge!
Richard Kirby is an executive career consultant, recruiting manager, and author of Fast Track Your Job Search (and Career!).
