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Restless

Considering my age and the time I've spent in school, my resume is very reasonable. It shows someone who has held professional jobs of progressing responsibility, with increased salary in every new position (except for jaunts into non-profit, but that's to be expected). What it also shows, however, is someone who has never had the same job for more than one year's time. For the most part, these short stints can be explained with circumstances--jobs in college that were only for the summer, leaving due to moving or return to school, leaving a part-time gig in order to take a full-time one, that kind of thing. There is only one case of actually quitting job #1 to take job #2, and that is easily explained as a financial decision, as job #2 paid half again as much as #1 (that whole non profit thing again). But I'm afraid that even if I didn't have these reasons, my resume would still show a bunch of one-year stints, because the truth is that I can't stand to do the same thing for very long. Things that I found only mildly tedious in the first three months grate on me to no end by month eleven or so.

It used to be that I thought I just had boring jobs, and that could still be the case, but I think it's not. I've watched my pattern carefully this last time, and I know I liked this job to begin with, or at least it didn't make me want to scratch my eyes out like it does now. I think there is a direct corrolation between feeling like there is not much left to learn and feeling like it's time to move on. From an employer's standpoint, that has to really blow, as the employees that don't have much left to learn are the ones that they'd like to see stay around, and I have highly irritated and inconvenienced at least one boss already by bailing at the one year mark, just about the time when he figured I had it all down.

So am I about to do it again? Maybe. It looks like there may be a job offer on the horizon, and I can't say I'm not excited at the prospect. But is that irresponsible, leaving a perfectly good job after a year because it is boring you to submission? Is it a good idea to consider a new, probably higher stress job just when I am getting into some outside-of-work things (my sewing classes and going back to school in a few weeks being at the top of that list)? Would this new job allow me to continue part-time school? Is it a deal-breaker if it wouldn't? Are the whispers I have heard of the possibility of working from home going to turn into something substantial? Would it really be more money? Do I fancy going back to being a regular employee, rather than a contractor? Or would it be best to stay where I am, safe, well taken care of, and bored out of my mind, if only to break the one-year cycle on the resume?

Comments (2)

Leave. Staying will do nothing to change the way you feel. Breaking the one year mark will in no way make you feel better and I bet you would not last another whole year if this is how you feel now. As time goes by, if you need for resume appearances, take off the part time jobs.

Grace, would your current employer be willing to do something to keep you more interested -- more responsibility, something like that?

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