Dislike my job and so confused on what to do next

[Hello839385]

Without going into too much detail, I am really unhappy with my job. I am not learning or developing. I don’t feel respected by my manager, and I am just generally resentful of the whole place for various reasons.

I am trying to apply for jobs in the same field (HR), but I don’t know if that is really want I want to do. Plus, I am not getting very far with my applications as my experience has predominantly been in one sector.

If I start again in another career I’ll have to take a fairly big salary drop. I am just confused and a bit depressed about my future prospects.

Anyone else been in the same boat and have any advice on what to do? Please be kind 😔

A lot of HR is transferable across sectors, so if you are tailoring your CV to each job I wouldn’t see this as a barrier to getting an interview.

If you are not sure HR is the right profession for you, this may be coming across in your applications.

You need to work out what transferrable skills you enjoy and look at a range of jobs where there is a good fit.

Don’t discount the National Careers Service nationalcareers.service.gov.uk as a resource to help you work out what you want.

I was in the same boat. Was in the same job for 10+ years with a boss who never seemed to warm to me and I had to watch others come in and get promoted before me and I was getting little or no new skillset. Felt so low I never had the confidence to leave as I felt worthless.

Covid saw me laid off and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. It forced me to go out and actively look for other opportunities. After the initial shock and worry I started to apply for jobs I immediately walked into a new job in a different sector with a £5k payrise. The look on my boss's face after he gave me my £6k redundancy package to tell him I had a new job with a pay upgrade was priceless!

Anyhow, I started the new job and enjoyed the new skills I was learning. After four months I got an internal promotion and another payrise before I was then approached by another company on LinkedIn 15 months ago and I made the jump again I am honestly loving this job. Getting lots of new skills and the managerial interaction is so much better and working with a great team.

All in all I would recommend taking the leap of faith and looking elsewhere. There are so many vacancies out there at the moment that other sectors are willing to bring someone new in to learn the trade. I honestly think staying in your job limits your skillset opportunities for other jobs.