What was your best/worst career move that significantly impacted your life?
Have you made a move like switching to a new company that turned out to be a game-changer? Share your experience with me!
#careermove #lifechanging #bestdecision #worstdecision #professionaldevelopment #growthopportunities #stockoptions #workappreciation
I applied for a customer service role. Between the first and second interview there was a mix-up where they thought I had applied for an editorial position. I never corrected them. I’m now a full-time writer as my career.
Not getting a bachelor’s degree before I moved to the USA.
I *worked* in software engineering. Now I have a food service job.
When I graduated college I got a role in sales for a big IT company. After a year, I took a role for the local government to follow a passion. My mom told me I was being shortsighted because the government pays poorly (this was true). But I left anyway. While with the government 9-5, I took a part time job at a very large retailer checking receipts at night. I was very well liked, and because of my degree and my work experience, they offered me a managerial role. I took it. My mom told me I was foolish, because we were in a global recession and I can’t leave a safe job that has ultimate job security. I did it anyway. I took the managerial role and did very well, after 1.5 years I was recruited my a large .com where I still am today. I still think of those moments 15 years later. My mom only wanted the best for me. She herself is very successful and thought her advice was sound. It was, but I trusted my gut and bet on myself. I guess if I could boil this experience down to offer advice to others is to always bet on yourself, don’t be impulsive, but if feels right in your gut go for it. Maybe you aren’t right every time but betting on yourself is never wrong.
Joining Wipro ruined my life leading to 3 years of trauma. H1B opportunity was squandered. I was humiliated by blatant lies by managers.
Graduated with a finance degree and got a job as a pension analyst (calculating benefits for people retiring with pensions) towards the end I was so stressed and burn out from this job because we were overloaded with clients, many people were going over to the competition who were offering at least 20k more in pay and way less stressful. About 7 people I worked with moved over and told me to go with them. Instead I decided to try sales which was a huge mistake because I got into the scammy telemarketing sales not knowing any better. I failed miserably as expect and after 2 years of trying my hand at sales I decided to leave. It was hard for me to go back into my field since it was very niche, and the people who moved to the competition all got locked into a remote position even though any new hires now are all required to be on site one week per month. Which wouldn’t be an issue but it’s in a completely different city 4 hours away. Anyways all I could find in this job market was a job as a customer service specialist and even though everyone is nice and it’s very low pressure, I feel so out of place and defeated. I wish I would’ve moved over to the competition along with my colleagues. Biggest career mistake I’ve made. It’s like I’m starting all over, over a dumb mistake.
My whole career seems to have limited my love life
Worst was allowing myself to get massively underpaid at a job. I was young, got low balled, and didn’t do any research on what that type of job got at other places. My salary was $80k when it should have been $110k – $120k.
I took my LSATs, got accepted to law school and then decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do. Ended up withdrawing my acceptance. Hopped around a bit. Got my real estate license. Didn’t like that industry. Fell into corporate training as a fluke. Realized I was really good at it. Now I manage my own team at a biotech company and make 450k annually. I have no debt and no student loans. So it was the best choice for me and I still make good money. Best part is that I have tons of work life balance. My job is completely flexible and fully remote. I can take vacation without feeling guilty and I’m not being worked to the bone like all my prelaw friends that stayed and got their JDs.
Took off for about 8 years to raise my kids (and have an in home daycare). Then went back to work.
I am watching others around my age start to retire. I was unclear about my retirement benefits and I will not be retiring anytime soon.
Hope I chose wisely.
Began working in the cellular industry in 1992, when phones and service weren’t a commodity. Been in it for almost 32 years now and it’s treated me very well.
I had quit and returned to my first big girl job at a small company about 1-2 years ago. I still was looking for a better role with better pay since I was burnt out and ready for a change. Through a staffing company I found a job in HR with the local government. It was a huge pay increase (from $39,500 annually to $51,000 annually). Not just that but it was hybrid with 4 days work from home, I thought I hit the jack pot. However with time I realized the work environment is extremely toxic and I am overworked. I have been there for over 1 year now and it is my biggest regret. My anxiety is at all time high, I am so stressed I’m starting to lose weight and have so much physical and emotional pain. I am desperately looking for a way out of here, I am applying and praying I find a new job somewhere where I have a better work/life balance and am not stressed/anxious all the time. It has been a great way to gain experience and learn lessons, but I am ready to get out of here and find another job.
Best and worst, worked for a startup and it wrecked my mental health but made me want to pursue a different career path that’s far more stable and lucrative.
I went to school for math, and it was genuinely the worst mistake I made career wise. I’m probably going to have to go back to school to start a career with a living wage as I’m only seen as a fast good/retail worker due to experience. Here’s hoping that after getting a 3rd degree, I’ll be allowed a livable wage!
Best career move? Changing my career. I was laid off from a technically good job I realized I did not ever enjoy or excel in or see a future in, and the layoff forced me for the first time in my life to really, really focus on what I truly wanted to do instead. I empathize with those facing a similar dilemma these days – in my case, I eventually found an esoteric specialty I went back to (graduate) school to learn, the coursework spoke to me, and I landed a role in the discipline after getting my degree, and never looked back. I did this while in my 20s, and I admit I am astonished I pulled it off, but with youth comes confidence.
I’m 27 so I still have time but it’s when I picked my last role over a different job offer. At the time the role I picked paid out around 70k per year but was in a specialized role. The other one was for 60k in HRIS. I picked the money instead of the job experience which could have paid out over time. Since then I’ve gotten laid off, found a new job and need to study for my PHR.
Moving to my current role was a mistake. I was so excited because it’s in the tech industry, but I honestly hate the culture. I’m looking for a new role and willing to take a pay cut.
I heard through the small town gossip chain that this local tax guy was looking for an administrative assistant for his local office. So I went and applied and interviewed(turns out he’s the same accountant my dad goes to for the local Boy Scout troop’s stuff) and he said that he wanted to offer me a position at his main office in Austin, Texas($18/hour with benefits) after tax season ended. Gives me a whole speech about how he likes my resume despite it only having seasonal work at the time because if that one place didn’t like me they wouldn’t hire me back, telling me how he thinks I have *potential*.
So I stayed at my crappy gas station job for *months* despite desperately wanting to quit and work literally anywhere else, despite having a decent history with this big time summer camp and knowing they’d take me flr the summer if I applied, all based on this promise.
End of May rolls around and I haven’t heard from him, so I give him a call to follow up. He doesn’t answer, so voicemail.
The you-know-what *sends me a frickin text that isn’t even formatted properly* telling me that he doesn’t actually have a spot for me anymore.
The jury is still out in my mind as to whether I did the right thing out of college.
I had a lot of success as a biology major in college and genuinely loved the subject matter, but then, things started to stagnate for me senior year. I had to take a whole years worth of electives, and it really killed my soul haha. I felt burnt out upon graduation.
Out of college, I lived 45 mins to an hour from the closest possible place to work (biology jobs). However, they only paid 30k, so I opted to work at FedEx because it was 10 mins away and paid about the same at the time. I ended up working there for 2 and a half years with a good year of that time spent doing other things to up my resume. I attended a bartending academy and then volunteered for some molecular biology research at a local university.
I believe that I would be significantly further along in my science related career by now had I chose to suck up the long drive/low pay for the biology jobs. I’d also probably be on a completely different career path and maybe have a Master’s/PhD. Who knows?
I kick myself from time to time thinking about the what ifs. I need to stop doing that. It all worked out, and I’m only 30.
The good thing that came from it all is that I constantly get praise for my resume for having worked at FedEx and for also working as a bartender for a little over a year. I guess it shows that I tried other things out and can succeed in different environments? It’s also a huge plus to have the bartending experience because I was able to grab a couple of those jobs very easily during times I was left in between jobs. They were always a good time, far less stressful than academia or lab jobs due to the laid-back environments, and they all paid anywhere from 60-90k a year.
With all of these different jobs, in different areas, I’ve seen a ton.
I was a candidate for a job at an organization that I felt passionate about, but I didn’t take the job because it was a lateral move and I figured there was no point. That was dumb. I should’ve made the move. I ended up getting sick of the job that I stayed at, and I should have gone ahead and pursued something that gave me more meaning even if it wasn’t for more money than I was already making.
Oh, you can’t afford to give me a 10% raise?
Ok… I’ll look around.
Thanks for the 100% raise, year 1.
Go Aggies!
Joined a research group as a contractor and was told never lack of funding. Now, im let go in 2 months for the funding issue.
I finally bit the bullet and decided it was time for a complete and total career change in my mid 40’s and I was willing to put in long brutal hours of training myself to make that happen. It was tough because the road to get my license in my undergrad was tough. But I didn’t want an hour commute each way and there were not a lot of job prospects in our college town.
I had been spinning my wheels for far too long trying to get back in my industry. I acknowledge I took far too long of a break raising my children as a SAHM which didn’t help. It was so daunting getting back into a professional office. I’m probably the only licensed Landscape Architect you’ll meet that now works in Cybersecurity. It’s taken me a good year of classes and listening to daily webinars and trainings. It’s been such a good change for me though and being self motivated has helped me immensely.
Taking a $10k cut in pay to work a dream job. It was such an unbalanced sacrifice I’ve regreted for 30 years. It impacted my salary permanently.
Was applying for jobs out-of-state (retail management positions) and was offered two positions. Decided to go with option A.
A month in at this new job, recruiter from option B calls me saying they weren’t able to find anyone that they believe would be a good store manager for that specific store and offered me even more money to take it. I counter-offered and they accepted.
Obviously, as expected, I hated the job. Had been in retail for the past 10 years of my life and I hated this last job so much that it catapulted me to start looking at positions outside of retail.
Left the week of Black Friday without even putting a two weeks notice (I knew I wasn’t coming back to work for them, hahaha) and accepted a position to become a banker at one of the big 4 banks in America. Couldn’t be happier.
If it wasn’t for my money ambition, I wouldn’t have taken job B but because of that, it finally pushed me out of retail.
After 20 years in television and marketing I walked away to open a store that sells Lego. The vast difference in stress levels amazes me every day.
My worst move so far was an internal promotion. I ended up moving to a location that’s twice the size of my old location and getting a 10% raise on paper, but it’s salary. A handful of my paychecks from my old position exceed my current pay due to a single hour of overtime, even though I routinely work between 41 and 45 hours currently.
New location management is obsessed with reducing labor. I run my entire department by myself due to labor shortages and my management not wanting to hire technical employees or give me staff hours.
I was insulted by a supposed 3% yearly raise that’s currently on hold and a “bonus” structure that’s a complete joke – so far they have been $30 per quarter. Sometimes the title change isn’t really worth the added work and stress. Currently applying for roles outside of my industry because I have a lot of skills that will transfer, and I feel that my pay is capped out right now
I stayed doing contracting jobs and just grabbing the lowest hanging fruit after college. I graduated end of 2016. I got too complacent and could have been more proactive in researching and applying for full time 60k salary jobs. Then I could have moved out of my parents house.
More than anything, I could have applied myself more in my studies and got internships in college. Most of my friends who got good jobs did internships and networking. I have the bare minimum, a degree with a low gpa. My attention was split between college and me trying to become a pro mma fighter. Now i wish mma took the back seat while I prioritized school.
I’m now studying for cpa and I could regret a lot of things, but it is what it is. I just keep applying for full time jobs, ubering for money in the meantime, and study for cpa exams. My plan is to pass the exams, get into accounting, and start a career.
Worked on farms for thirteen years. It was super hard work – very physical. I got beat up a lot but I actually really liked the work. Ended up quitting on a whim after my old boss gave us a speech saying he couldn’t carry us all through the quiet winter months. And I thought well shit, we just got flogged all summer and made a record profit for the farm that year, if he actually cared about us he’d cop the couple of extra months of quiet work to keep us on for the next season. We only had five staff – it’s not like payroll was huge or anything.
So I quit.
Went on a bit of a panicked spiral for a couple of weeks like oh my god, what have I done, I have nothing lined up. Ended up meeting my girlfriend during this time off and I fell pretty hard for her. I had so much spare time all of a sudden to talk to her. I also travelled to visit family a lot, helped my sister and brother-in-law move into their new house, generally I just enjoyed myself and started unwinding.
Then I ended up getting headhunted for a role I thought I initially wasn’t qualified enough for! I was honest about my inexperience with what they were asking but they wanted me to work for them. Now I’m finally in a role I’d been wanting to move into for years. I’m on a better wage, I get weekends off, I work about 30 hours less a week, too. It’s a great team. I’m not used to getting any kind of praise for doing my job, but I get it here. It means a lot to get a thank you or a simple good job.
Impulsively quitting my last job was easily the best career move I’ve ever made.
Saying no thanks to a position in my field with a top salary based on the toxic environment was my (both-) best and worst move. I mean, I don’t know what doors opened behind the scenes for the future because I turned it down I only know I feel an indescribable relief from not having to have a toxic manager- having that said I know I missed the opportunity every day of working in my field at a great place CV and salary wise right now so there’s some non-existential conflict still that regards practical aspects of my life now. For instance having to keep looking for jobs in a time where it’s just so hard and frustrating. But my existential predicament is that life is short and I’d rather live under financial anxiety than be tormented by my boss every day and seeing the mental health/quality of life decline every day. 🤷🏻♀️
Having said this, I don’t know if it qualifies as a “career move” 😅😂😩