I m(28) had a rough start to my career after finishing my degree. As a lot of young people do, I sort of just landed my first job and dove head first. I sold my soul to the first two companies I worked for as I was hungry for both recognition and progression.
The first thing I learnt the hard way was that most companies (especially larger corporations) don’t have your best interests in mind. Every few years, they’ll do a restructure to remove the ‘bloat’ and lay off waves of people. I think this was just a bit of reality with a hint of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is completely legal where I live (Aus) and is more common than people realise. After 5 years, I was being made redundant for the second time, same shit, different company. Some soulless HR rep telling us how they’re here for us etc etc.
Luckily, I found a role with another company who promised the world right as Covid hit. The offer they gave me was a decent pay cut but the promise of opportunity had me sold and the uncertainty of covid had everyone stressed. Of course, as soon as I start in the role, none of what was promised was provided. Any form of progression or opportunity disappeared over night and I was expected to still perform above and beyond. I realised at this point I need to start taking advantage of what I can. I effectively didn’t have a manager. I could do my job in 2 hours max each day but was limited in taking on more work as it would take away commission from their ‘favourite’ employee (who hadn’t moved internally for 5 years which should have been a massive red flag in hind sight). After 6 months of begging for more work/accountability (wtf) I decided fuck it. So for the last 18 months I’ve been ‘working from home’. I took up new hobbies, became more active and healthy, began reading again and learning new skills.
I finally felt that I had the confidence and maturity to decide the direction I wanted to go in. I’ve just accepted a new role and the joy/relief I felt when resigning was better than anything when my manager realised I wasn’t bluffing. Thanks to this sub, I’m the happiest I’ve been in years.
It’s pretty clear that our working conditions in Australia are leagues ahead of the U.S but employees really do have the power right now. If you’re struggling or feeling a bit stuck, focus on yourself and spend the time to start looking around. Employers take advantage of their he fact you’re too lazy to make the switch (because it is exhausting).
Thank you for reading my Ted Talk