What’s Your Biggest Professional Regret?

Most of us can pinpoint something we regret in our professional lives. Though many professional regrets aren’t life-altering, sometimes a wrong decision — or indecision — can leave us wondering “what if?” for the rest of our careers.

Myself,I have worked in positions where I settled for less pay than I had previously made, working conditions that were below my standards and at times, put up with things on the job, that were either ethically or morally wrong.

The sad part is, that sometimes when you do so, your employer knows that you are working for the money because you are in a desperate situation and can use that to their advantage.

There has been more than one occasion where the best thing for me to do really, should have been to turn in my resignation and walk away from a bad job. The problem with staying in a bad job is that it burns you out mentally, makes you feel stressed, anxious and tired all the time. You dread going in each day, little things get to you and over time, you begin to doubt your abilities and your worth.

I’ve put up with bosses that crossed the line legally, co-workers that have done things to “get you”, taken less pay than what I’ve really needed or desired and worked my butt off at times, for a job that gave nothing back other than the pay and the benefits. No promotion, no job growth, no professional skills or anything that would help me move ahead.

The sad part is, this is very common. Everyone does this at some point or another. It may not even be the job is bad, it’s just not doing anything for you. For me, I’m defining a bad job as any job that requires you to earn less than what you are qualified to make, has no opportunity for advancement or professional growth or requires you to sacrifice your standards and live down to the position. Basically, a dead end job.

If you find yourself in the situation where you have taken a job just to pay the bills, but it causes you to work outside your field, you may think either it is no big deal, everyone does it, especially in this economy. However, this can have negative payoffs in the long term.

You can detour off your career path completely, finding it difficult to maintain your skills and stay current in your chosen career field. Long term, you can cheat yourself out of opportunities to advance up the ranks in your career field, miss opportunities to cultivate contacts and possibly over the long term, make less money. Also, by working jobs just to pay the bills, you run the risk of moving laterally, instead of making a long term investment in your career which could move you up the promotional ladder.

So, whats your number one professional regret? Comments below.

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