How's That New Job Working Out For You?

Have you ever started a new job, bright eyed, excited, thinking of how you're going to use all of your untapped skills and talents to take it to the next level, how you're going to play it safe and get to know everyone, but not be associated with any one group of people and most of all, how you're going to think about all of the lessons learned from you past job and apply them to the new job? You're on the new job. The first 30 days are just 'okay', things are super new so you attribute that to all of the experiences that are making you secretly think to yourself , WTF? Sixty to ninety days have passed and you realize that nope, these experiences aren't happening because you're new, you're witnessing and experiencing certain things because the culture is not in alignment with your expectations. And news flash -- it's not going to change. This is a sinking feeling that many over achievers (who really have a desire to bring their best to the table) end up experiencing when selecting a job that seemed like a great fit during the interview when in reality, most things about the position are not they way it was conveyed during the interview and more importantly, just simply isn't what you want to have to cope with. Many times the focus is on employees who don't measure up when starting a new job, but often, the job itself, the culture and or the manager simply doesn't measure up to the expectations of the new hire. When faced with this kind of issue, there are really only two options, 1) Find a way to make lemonade out of lemons. You can make the choice to be the change that you want to see. Depending on how systemic the issues are that are impacting your work-life, there may only be so much that you have the power and capacity to change. Know what you can control and know what you need to walk away from. 2)Update your resume with the new experiences and plan your exit strategy. Life is too short to work in a toxic work environment where you are giving your all and also being depleted of your "all". There's no such thing as the perfect job, but you do have control over what you will and what you will not deal with 8-hrs per day. What I have learned is that it is so important to do as much research as possible before accepting a new job; including inquiring about past employees and quite frankly why they left and speaking with current employees and asking them why they choose to stay. Everyone has to earn a living and the super ambitious of us all pursue being business owners thus pursuing their dream. Those that choose to work FOR someone are not less ambitious, but you will, however, have less control over the work environment and the working conditions, your manager and your colleagues, because after all you do not pay them.