Before any parties enter into a contractual partnership, clear relationship guidelines must be spelt out and the expectations of each party considered.
The relationship between a new employee and the job is not an exception.
The majority of career builders attest that a letter of offer is a treasured document as it leads to the signing of the employment contract.
However, just like a marriage relationship, there are no guarantees that the honeymoon will last forever.
It is when the relationship has hit the rocks and the sizzling fades that the professional bliss is compromised, replacing the once-passionate love with hate in extreme cases.
The emotional dissonance associated with hating one’s job should be detected and tamed in good time before it ruins an individual’s career.
Why would an individual loathe the very pool from where they draw their source of livelihood?
Unknown to many, hating one’s job is more synonymous with intrinsic factors than extrinsic ones.
Unfortunately, the majority of career builders who suffer from the ‘I hate my job’ ailment point an accusing finger at the extraneous universe while forgetting to look at the main culprit - the one in the mirror.
Some extrinsic factors include under-payment, under-employment, over-working, skills and culture mismatch, work-life balance issues, spiteful colleagues as well as being dodged by promotions over the years.
Intrinsic factors that have the capacity to ruin even a career enthusiast’s job relationship include personality factors such as introvert or extrovert, leading to a personality clash with the job environment, social undermining, academic and skills ego that kills responsiveness to new knowledge, and indiscipline.
Others are rejection and dejection, emotional immaturity, beliefs as well as a negative mental attitude, which may lead to self-hate and a distorted self-image.
Career goals
Hating one’s job results in myriad undesirable consequences, most of which serve as bottlenecks to the attainment of your career goals.
Some of the glaring outcomes include lethargy at work, distracting co-workers through irrelevant emails, calls and social-media chit-chat, bad temperament and loneliness.
Others are low productivity, absenteeism and a vicious cycle of unemployment, especially if you have the unquenchable tendency to quit your job before you give love for your job a second chance.
Psychologists also say that hate has the ability to compromise your health. It can also push the victim to commit crime as they seek revenge, especially where they believe that their misfortunes are caused by certain individuals.
The good news for career builders with genuine determination to excel despite the love-hate turbulence is that there is always medicine for any disease, as long the patient seeks help from within and outside.
Here are some obvious cures:
Honest evaluation: Does your job deserve the amount of bile you heap on it? Is there a way of amicably solving the issues at hand? Is the relationship really hopeless?
Faith in your work: Since you made a rational and a logical decision to enter into the relationship with your job, it is only fair to resist the temptation to over-criticise your decision to the point of emotional torture occasioned by hate.
Job ownership: Your job is part of your career story. It makes sense to own and nurture it so it can be a positive inclusion in your career portfolio. Learning survival ropes will be helpful in this regard.
Invest in personal development and career mentorship: This will aid in curing hate associated with intrinsic factors as well as provide a winning reactive mechanism to extrinsic factors.
A success-minded career builder must keep in mind that the job is fertile ground where his or her seeds can grow, with him as the sower who determines the harvest.
A paradigm shift will come in handy in falling in love with your job again.
