Do you enjoy your job?

Simple question really.

I started my first proper job 6 months ago, and i'm really starting to not enjoy it. I'm interested to see how many people actually enjoy their job & what they do?

 

If not, then stop, don't stay there and rot.

 

I did the same, but didn't enjoy my placement year either. I think we both work at similar places if I remember correctly - i'd be interested to hear what you don't enjoy about it? I'm guessing it's probably similar things to me, as i've had the same conversations with other people at large firms.

I've been doing the exact same as you. I really want to get into sport somehow, but all jobs are either unpaid (which I can't afford) or require sport work experience, which I have, but not enough. So frustrating!

 

I used to absolutely love being a brickie till the government made us all miserable bastards. Outside of London we're forever chasing jobs and often work for peanuts

Fortunately I have a proper job lined up smashing toys and things to bits

 

Done a few jobs down the years. Three in particular. Offshore oil-rig Engineer/Roughneck - liked some bits, not so much others. Civil servant - liked some bits, not so much others. Self-employed environmental consultant including taking folk abroad on natural history holidays. Loved it all. Advice? Always follow your heart rather than your head and work for yourself whenever you get the chance. Currently kinda retired. But still do a bit of the last one. Sometimes on a voluntary basis. Advice from down the decades. Hope it'll help. U 'Orns!

 

I sympathise, but I suggest it is relatively rare to get a job that provides the required sustained work/life balance and enjoyment early in a career when you probably don't really know what you want yourself, or where the dream job is unobtainable currently.

With bright, intelligent people (like yourselves) it can be harder as boredom, lack of challenge, lack of responsibility, lack of autonomy or authority sets in after a few months = or at least the prospect of it. That is what you really need.

If that isnt gonna happen, move elsewhere, but please don't leave until you have another job, no matter how pissed off you are as that will make you less employable.

 

Sometimes, but I'm leaving next Tuesday for pastures new!

 

Self employed tennis coach* and tutor ( coaching the coaches).

I trained as a journalist but didn't last long and through coaching was sponsored for 3 years to play full time. This was fantastic as it helped me reach a level of play** that I would not have achieved without funding.

I'm fortunate that I love my job and can now pick and choose when I work,although I'm on court some part of each day still (unless I venture away,like last Sunday!:rant.

I must confess I don't do early morning lessons anymore,nothing before 9am and the winter months seem harder work than they used to but that's just ageing I suppose!

*Level 5 Master Performance Coach.

** England and GB International,lost in final round of Wimbledon qualifying,doubles.

 

I blame your partner ... who was it Tim?

 

Ha ha!:sign15:

Alas no! She's a West Ham fan so has enough problems!

We were 5-3 up in the tie break in the second set,having lost the first 7-5. I had a chance to kill a forehand volley which I slightly choked on and they eventually won the point and that was that.

We played Patricia Hy from Canada who was charming and Meredith McGrath from USA who looked at us as if we were dog poo. She had won Edgbaston with Pam Shriver the week before so was full of it. She lost in the semis of the singles a few years later so she knew her way around the court!

We did beat Kimiko Date in the round before who reached world number 4 but her partner was a tourist I think so she got the kitchen sink!

 

The one job I really enjoyed was because my boss had complete faith in me and told me: "Do whatever you like, as long as none of the sh*t you deal with ever lands on my desk". He was true to his word and I loved every minute of it. The people you work with make a huge difference.

 

It must be frustrating being in the group that's just bubbling under ... I know how I felt when worse football mates than me got trials at various clubs (none made it as pros). I was offered a trial for Sunderland but then their coach actually forgot to follow it through until it was too late for the season's intake (he didn't forget our 6'6" centre back though).

 

I've been in the gambling industry for 19 years now (Jesus is it that long?), for me it's the industry that's infectious. I enjoy my current job, I have a lot of freedom and I mostly get things done on time. The best thing is that I work from home 4 days a week and as such I am enjoying seeing my children grow up.

 

I had a gaffer would simply say the jobs worth xxx I want my 10% the rest is yours .... sometimes I'd earn a weeks wages in a day.

 

Not sure if this is unusual or not (probably not so much in this day and age), but since I left uni and started work 12 years ago I've had 6 full time jobs all paying pensions, and I'm about to start my 7th job next Tuesday! It's fair to say I've moved around a bit (for a variety of reasons), and done my time in both public and private sectors. I'm about to leave a 'not for profit' job which is basically the public sector. It's been ok, but my goodness there are some useless people who work there and pick up tax payers money doing feck all. As well as some Consultants who are milking the taxpayer for all they're worth! Very frustrating. I'm about to go back into the private sector again, it will be much harder, with longer hours. However, that's why I'll be getting paid more!

 

I just crushed a job interview at a Portuguese football analytics company. I'm gonna be watching football all day soon

 

Well done

I heard a joke about Benfica once

 

For me the keys to job satisfaction are,

Autonomy - whatever your pay grade you need to be able to make some decisions and have a boss who will let you. Control freak bosses are the worst.
The job has to be meaningful enough to you - for me that's generally meant work 'useful' to society, but it doesn't have to be - you don't have to love every element, every widget, but there must be some challenge - something you want to see succeed. You can't hate it all.
Involved - you can't be socially isolated at work - you have to be able to join in and find something to say to most people.
You have to be able to be the just about best you can be - it's always worth working as well as you can, putting forward your ideas, trying to be positive. if a job sucks that out it's time to go.

 

Can we have an extra option for I fecking despise it?

 

This, 100%.

 

Sometimes. It can be rewarding and I like my colleagues. But some days it can be quite mundane.

I am quite young, and it's really a job to fill up my CV. I'll probably have a couple more jobs like this until I move into something more career based which I will hopefully enjoy more. Not sure what yet, though.

 

I think I got to the highest level possible given my ability,although there were many more talented players who achieved less as they simply lacked application. That probably applies to all professions though.

I agree with Stuboy about the differences in the public and private sector.

I have run my own community projects for the last 6 years and have dealt with a local council. For the most part they are very well intentioned but completely useless and,especially in the sports and leisure side,hugely over staffed.

However that has to be balanced with the toxic atmosphere that is present in 60-70% of tennis clubs in this country. No children,no jews,no women,no one other than white,middle aged,middle class men.

Then there's Queen's Club....!

 

i've had maybe 10 jobs including 2 that were my own business\freelance. the difference between the ones i liked v the ones i didnt't were always a) free time (the one i have now is my first ever mon-fri 9-5 and i very much can't wait to leave) with the more being the better and b) autonomy with the less processes to follow and decision to explain the better.

beyond that, if you're gonna be miserable in a **** job, at least do it somewhere that isn't england. it's much easier to ignore the drudge if you're kind of on holiday

 

Everyone I know is disatisfied with their jobs.

I place the blame mostly with Facebook, as our generation constantly is aware of the 'amazing' opportunities out there - including quitting their job and travelling the world.

But I also think that employers are far less likely to let young people make their own mistakes. Lack of autonomy makes intelligent 20-somethings bored and resentful of their years and money spent on education. Having very capable older workers retiring later also probably has an effect.

My first career was as a Psychologist and researcher in a very specialised mental health trust. I had a load of autonomy there and got great work experience, but they placed no emphasis on development and there were very few career opportunities.

My second is working as a social researcher in the Civil Service. This role still has autonomy but gives a real focus on development, which I am quite enjoying. However the role of this government department is not what I want to do long term.

The aim from here is to work for an exciting department, maybe looking at policy or development. Then when I am more senior, I want to quit and either work for myself, or become a teacher.

 

I have a job cycling round France staying in 4* hotels and eating at michelin starred restaurants. And I kid you not, it begins to pall after 15 years.

 

Do you wear a hooped shirt with a string of garlic hanging from your neck?

 

I actually like my job and enjoy my work. The problem is that I don't like my boss at all, and she has absolutely ruined my enjoyment and motivation to the point that I don't even bother any more.

What I have learned over the course of my career is that there are very, very few bad jobs. What you have instead are bad bosses who should be nowhere near management. An overbearing, control-freak micromanager who demotivates their workers does not benefit a business at all, yet shockingly the vast majority of managers you'll meet during your career will display at least one of these traits, if not multiple/all of them.

Here's an example of how ridiculous my boss is (but one of many, believe me):

I was due to fly from Milwaukee to New York in order to complete some scheduled work on rack hardware, removing some old equipment and installing new equipment. My flight was scheduled to leave a 7 AM local time, so of course my day starts early since I need to arrive at the airport in a timely fashion. My return flight was booked for the next day, staying overnight in New York.

About 30 mins before my flight was due to leave, it was cancelled. The airline got me on the next available flight, which didn't have me landing in New York until 12.30AM local time. Given that I would need to get out of the airport, drive to the facility, do my work and get back to the airport for my return flight at 7AM, there simply weren't enough hours available to make this work (not to mention the fact that I'd be working literally all night).

Instead, I managed to get the airline to switch my outbound flight to Chicago, then drove up to Chicago (~3 hours of driving) and boarded a flight which landed in New York about 10 PM local time. From there, I hired a car and drove to the facility, completed my work by about 4 AM, got a couple of hours sleep then drove back to the airport to return to Chicago. Upon landing, I drove home. All told, I was travelling/working for about 32 consecutive hours minus about 2 hours of sleep. After finally arriving back at my house, I was exhausted and didn't go into work the following day.

My manager chewed me out for not going into work and put me on review under threat of termination. Not a single word of thanks for the heroic effort in getting there to get the scheduled work done, nothing.

I wish I was joking.

Needless to say, I don't bother putting in any effort anymore. There's literally nothing in it for me. I'm just coasting along while looking for the right opportunity for me, then I'm gone.

The sad thing is that before the useless idiot took over, I loved where I was and I was doing fantastic things for my employer. Not only is my boss ruining my enjoyment, she's screwed the business over too through utterly demotivating me.

 

She sounds a real bundle of fun!

Sometimes I'm afraid females try too hard to be in control and over do it.

This sort of management is noticeable in tennis,there are very few higher level coaches and even fewer who run centres or are head coaches at clubs.

Most of those who are in such exalted positions are over bearing control freaks. It's a great shame.

 

That makes me mad. It sounds like you acted extremely well. But even if she felt you ultimately made the wrong decisions, she should recognise that you made those decisions for the right reasons. That is what matters. A sort of...

"Thanks Arakel, you have clearly done everything you can to sort it all out. I couldn't have asked any more. Perhaps, though, rather than out yourself through that sort of thing again give me a call and we can re-assess the options. But thanks again, great effort!"

She is obviously a tw4t.

 

Not good to have the enjoyment of doing a job you love and having that desire and passion for your occupation completely sucked out of you.

Probably not best to make comments on social media no matter how anonymous it may be so I guess so I'll just like your post and be on my way.

 

Bingo.

 

Though retired now, I used to directly manage over 120 staff over 4 continents and the most important thing I always tried to remember was that I was managing the hopes and expectations of those people and that when they fulfilled their potential it was of benefit to everyone.

 

Unfortunately it's not always management to blame but the ruthless greed directing from above.

For fear of litigation I can't go into detail but someone very close to me has been hounded out of her once great job because of policy changes meaning the thinning out of swathes of middle management. For the last couple of years, she like many of her colleagues have been bullied to or close to submission and I've lost count of those now on medication for anxiety, depression or both. Although few can afford it several have stepped down to team-leader positions doing virtually identical jobs at two thirds of the salary. What's more the company simply 'don't do' redundancy without the threat of legal action behind it, you either quit or are managed out on exaggerated grounds and don't even talk about reaching retirement age ... Even though they have just managed to cough up billions for a HUGE mail order concern their only given reason for the restructure is "We need to make the company more profitable".

My (ehem) associate is so happy to have finally left them, she really is like a new person.