Alarms that you have a job with No growth
By: Adil Jamal
Tags: Employee Experience, Growth, Job Satisfaction, Professional Development, Job Hunting

“Every job will demand some sacrifice. The key is to avoid unnecessary sacrifice.” ― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

D o you still have a job you got a few years ago? You have No raise in pay? You are not invited to meetings anymore? Well, you are stuck in a dead-end job. A job is not a place to make money only, a person needs skill plus knowledge base improvement.

A person also needs a raise in a job position and on the monetary front as well. Which is a key motivational factor to work in an organization.

Money is not everything for everybody. Some people are passionate about their work. They want to achieve something in life. They want to add value to theirs as well other people’s lives. Some people love their job title. They love it when people recognize them by their job title. Some people value the importance they have in other colleagues’ work. Some employees love that their “ideas” are considered for thinking.

All that concerns people is not just “money”. Most importantly a well-paying job at the cost of your wellbeing is not a good job.

How would a person recognize a job with no growth opportunity?

Let us explore some factors:

Learning

The most important thing in a person’s professional life is learning. It also boosts up a person’s confidence level. It is that continuous cycle of learning that makes a person master of something. Watch out for these questions. Is the gauge of learning improving by the time? Has one explored new things since the day he/she joined the job? This question needs an answer. If the answer is NO then the job is making your learning capacity obsolete.

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Skill development

Skills are the major tool of a successful career. If a person wants to do well in professional career, he/she should be equipped with skills. If the organization is not offering skill development programs then the employee should think about his/her career. If employees’ skills are not improving by the time, which ultimately will affect their professional career then it is a sign that the job has NO growth.

Ideas not worth thinking

Every organization is somebody’s brainchild. So, ideas have a very important role in management of an organization. If the management does not pay heed to an employee’s “ideas”, In other words not concerned about his/her input. It shows that Management’s decision making is independent of employee’s input. The person should be concerned about the job.

No raise in position

Raise in a job is essential for a stable life. Plus, it is a sign of good professional life. As it motivates an employee to work hard and even motivate other colleagues as well. If you are stuck in the same Position for many years. With no title change. If Management is not even bothering to give him/her a new position in the organization. Not even a single blip of improvement in the office for him/her. Again it is the No growth indicator.

Zero raise in Pay

Money is the most important motivating factor for an employee in the job. All humans have financial needs which need to be fulfilled. If You are burdened with workload. Every file comes your way. As compared to the workload your pay is still stagnant. Even if a person puts a word in for pay raise but the boss ignores it as if it never happened. Still there is no raise in your pay then Pal, you are dealing with “no growth career”.

Saturated job

A person got a saturated job. It means that the position he/she is holding cannot go any further in terms of pay raise as well as job title. There are no chances of improvement. At scale of 1 to 10, the person is holding a position at 10. Skills you need are at their maximum level. There is no further learning and gaining knowledge. The process of additional enhancement in persons personal plus professional life has literally stopped. The job got saturated enough that it cannot be saturated anymore. In this case, waiting for job growth is an insane idea.

Peace of mind

Peace of mind is a key indicator of a happy life. If you got everything, a good job, a sizable salary but you don’t have peace of mind. What good is this job bringing in your life? At the end of the day a person thinks that what am I doing? Is it worthwhile? A job should fulfill a person’s intrinsic as well as extrinsic needs. Keeping this track will eventually demotivate the person. Which results in the stoppage of personal growth of employees. Thus, one feels like being stuck at a dead end job.

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Job stability

If a person embarks on the journey of professional life. Gets the job. But the question is, is the job stable? What about long-term personal goals? Can it be fulfilled? In this fast age a person needs career stability. A stable inflow of cash is an important aspect of this age. Plus he/she counts on the career growth as well. If the job cannot offer this stability, then one cannot count on it. Because stability plays a vital role in the professional plus personal life of employees.

Value Addition

Adding values to personal as well as other’s life is a key indicator of a successful career. It means that a person is not just working in a cycle but he is doing a job to bring good in his and others’ lives. Adding value to one’s life also means the standard of life has improved. If your job is not offering this aspect, then you are probably stuck in a job with NO growth.

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Organization’s environment

How is the organization environment? Does it support employee’s growth? Is it to support employees financially? Whether the organization is equipped with programs of skill improvement? plus training for how to face challenges in professional life? Key questions to keep in mind even before joining it. If a person does not find answers for these questions in his/her organization then the person should seriously think about job change.

Conclusion

Yes, everybody needs a job. Everyone is keen to have financial stability. A Person’s world will crumble without finances. But it does not mean one should be stuck to a job forever. Job is something but job is not everything. So, keep in mind the above factors. Try to have a job with personal plus professional skill improvement. A job that makes a person’s life better not miserable.

“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” ― Mark Twain