If Monday mornings are a low point in your week, or if you dreaded returning to work after summer vacation, it may be a sign that it's time for a new career.
Often you know what you want subconsciously before you know it consciously. While you may still be debating whether or not to stay at your job, your subconscious mind may have already decided it's time for you to move on.
Most people who want to quit behave in ways that are noticeably different than employees who are satisfied with their jobs. Try the following quiz to see how many of these "quitting signs" are true for you. For each statement, note whether it is something you Often, Sometimes, or Never experience. (If a statement doesn't fit, feel free to adapt it to your situation or skip it.)
- I find it hard to get out of bed in the morning.
- I'm late for work.
- Once I arrive at work, it takes me a while to actually get started working.
- I sit at my desk and daydream.
- I have less patience with customers or co-workers than I used to.
- I spend time at work doing personal tasks.
- I look at job websites on the Internet when I'm at work.
- I get impatient with rules and red tape at work.
- I take longer breaks than I should.
- When I have to phone people as part of my job I spend more time chatting than I need to.
- I feel tired during the workday.
- I don't bother mentioning concerns to the boss because it's usually a waste of time.
- If I leave the office during the day, I take my time getting back to work.
- I do the minimum amount of work required.
- I check the time throughout the day to see how close to quitting time it is.
- I feel bored at work.
- I "kill time" during the day by chatting with co-workers or doing other non-essential tasks.
- I schedule medical and other personal appointments during working hours.
- I start getting ready to leave work before quitting time.
- I am out the door as soon as it is quitting time.
- On the weekends I look at the job classifieds or surf job sites on the Internet.
- I have called in sick when I could actually have worked.
- I complain to my friends about my job.
- I have trouble sleeping on Sunday nights because I'm thinking about having to go back to work.
- When I'm on holidays I dread going back to work.
Give yourself 0 points for each "Never" answer, 1 point for each "Sometimes" answer and 2 points for each "Often" answer then using the following scores as a starting point to measure your level of job satisfaction.
0-10 points - Very satisfied
11-20 points - Somewhat satisfied
21-30 points - Somewhat dissatisfied
31-40 points - Very dissatisfied
41-50 points - Why are you still working there?
While a score over 40 is a clear sign of dissatisfaction, even the most satisfied worker is likely to score some points on this quiz. For example, night owls who prefer to sleep late might score a 2 on "I find it hard to get out of bed in the morning" even if they like their job.
Only you can decide whether you are satisfied with your current job -- or whether you'd rather find a new job that makes you look forward to Mondays almost as much as you look forward to the weekend.
Visit Now to find the career of your dreams.
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Tag and Catherine Goulet are founders of FabJob.com and authors of the book Dream Careers: How to Quickly Break into a Fab Job! Visit FabJob to discover how to break into the career of your dreams.
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by Tag and Catherine Goulet:
Sisters Tag and Catherine Goulet are the Dream Career Experts. In 1999 they founded FabJob.com, a publisher of guides on how to break into a dream career, which has been visited by 50 million people. They have been featured giving career advice in media from ABC to Oprah.com and Woman's Day to the Wall Street Journal online, and their career advice appears frequently on the career pages at MSN.com and AOL.com. They are authors of the book Dream Careers: How to Quickly Break into a Fab Job! Visit FabJob.com to discover how to break into a dream career.
FabJob.com is featured in Woman's World Magazine ("Land Your Dream Job" article, April 2007).
FabJob Guides have been featured in stories at The Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur Magazine sites.
