In most career paths there comes a point where the role is great, you're positioned where you should be at this stage of your development, but you just hate your job.  There can be many reasons, and often it is the company culture of particular human elements that are the cause of your unhappiness, but in all cases it's an issue of the job making you miserable even though your career is on track.

We need to take 'change' in its broadest sense here: we can either work to change the current situation for the better, or else make a bigger change and leave the job behind altogether.  The big change sounds cleaner and simpler (and less work) but can represent a major loss in terms of accumulated career credibility and success within the company. Sometimes if you ride out the bad patches, there can be good things right around the corner.

Identifying the cause of your discomfort
Otherwise known as, 'what's the problem?',  the first step toward a better job situation is to work out exactly where the problems lie.  Is it a company or cultural issue, something related to your job specification or perhaps a particular person or group of people making your life miserable?

The problem supervisor
This is a common cause of employee dissatisfaction, the boss from hell.  Often it isn't even the 'big boss' at the top of the org chart who is causing the problems but rather lesser supervisors with limited authority who have within their powers the chance to cause you significant grief on a daily basis.  Spending some time researching the 'type' of person you are dealing with and gathering hints as to best managing their quirks will be time well spent.

Just like in the playground, grown up bullies and problematic personalities (those who don't play nicely with the other children) usually have insecurities at work which can be negotiated without incident if you can identify what they are.   It is sometimes the case that a recently appointed manager feels vulnerable and overcompensates for their lack of knowledge by being hard on others; equally, an experienced older manager might be concerned about the young go-getter who might be out to take their job.

The lesson here is to know thy enemy, and to remember also that thy enemy may leave the company next week, in a month or in six months: decide whether it's really such a problem that you can't manage it instead of moving on.  If necessary, you might choose to involve a more senior party (though this can result in reprisals from the problem person and may not engender the kind of open communication we are aiming for).

The problem organization
When it's the company that presents a problem, the choices are more limited.  Where sexist or discriminatory behaviors are getting you down; that's illegal and can be reported.  Where the culture just doesn't quite fit... like last year's jeans that looked great on the dummy but didn't suit you in practice, well then you are the one who doesn't belong and the best course of action is to find another similar role at another organization.

Organizational cultures don't change quickly, so if you love your career and hate working where you are; seek out the help of a career professional to source new employment opportunities where the 'fit' is better.   As long as the continuity of your career development is unimpeded - it will all be fine in the end.


About the Author

James Copper writes on all types of career change topics including this one on  http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/business/4539066.E_marketing_college_has_capital_goals/ the marketing college