Do You Love Your Job - Or is Now the Time to Make a Career Move?

We spend such a large proportion of our lives in work and focusing on our career, it's important to have a passion for the role you're in and really love what you do. Just like many other aspects of our lives, taking the time to think about what we really love is so important, including your career.

Across the globe, it’s estimated the average number of hours spent working is between 1,783 and 2,480 hours each year. (Without considering annual leave) If we break this down by countries:

• India: 2,480 hours per year
• USA: 1,892 hours per year
• Japan: 1,903 hours per year
• UK: 1,866 hours per year
• Germany: 1,783 hours per year

(Figures sourced from Clockify)

So, the question is, do you love your job and do you find your role fulfilling?

They say, ‘do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life’. Whether or not this saying is true, it is always worth taking a minute to evaluate whether your current position is ‘the one’ or whether you should be assessing your career to date and your goals to move forward.

How do you know if you love your job?

In some cases, you might find your job challenging and potentially stressful. This isn’t always a sign that it’s not the right role for you though, in fact it can mean the opposite. When you are fully invested in your career, you are likely to push yourself harder, take on more responsibility and the stress that comes with it, especially at a senior level with accountability for strategic decisions.

It’s important to strike a healthy balance in your role so any potential stress doesn’t become overwhelming and lead to burnout. To explore stress in the workplace in more detail, read our insights – Stress Factors to Recognise and Effective Ways to Both Manage and Support Stress in the Workplace.

The difference between being unsatisfied in your job and finding it hard work isn’t always black and white.

If you are happy at work, engaged and love your role and the value you can bring, this will impact overall productivity and enhance performance. It will also amplify your optimism, motivation and increased decision making. In a senior level position, lack of engagement and love for your role will not only impact you, but it will also impact your direct reports, business decisions and activity.

To help, you can start by outlining what you value in your current role, and the areas you feel you don’t thrive from or enjoy.

Consider the following questions to establish if you are still passionate about your role and on the right track for your long-term career goals:

• Is that possible at your current organisation, do you have the option to grow in your role?
• Are you are completely satisfied in your role?
• Do you feel like your role is supporting your long-term career goals?
• Are you happy with the kind of work that you are doing?
• Do you enjoy the environment and culture you a part of?
• Are you challenging yourself enough to allow for self-development?
• Do you feel aligned to the company vision and values?

By answering these questions, you’ll establish the areas of the role you enjoy and any development or challenging factors that may lead you to considering an opportunity elsewhere. If you cannot fulfil your career goals, motivations, enjoyment and the part you play in an organisation, opening yourself up to new opportunities is likely the next step for your career. 

Considering your current role and the career path opportunities available to you, how inspired are you to succeed on this journey, are you grateful for the opportunity and are you driven to achieve success and results? All these questions will help give you focus and make informed decisions about your career journey.

In recent years, we have experienced a huge shift in the workplace environment and candidate motivations when seeking new roles. Employees are seeking more from work life and gaining perspective on what’s most important to them about a role, a company, and the culture they want to be part of. Hybrid, remote and flexible working have increased which has significantly contributed to greater work life balance, productivity, and engagement across all levels of a business.

The importance of a good work-life balance

Having a healthy work-life balance is becoming more widely recognised, and employers are starting to see this as an area of value for their current and potential employees. As a result, they are working to improve not only their office environments but their options for work-life balance. If you are not completely satisfied with your working environment, it may be worth shopping around for another job that is a better fit for you.

The question that remains is, should you re-light your love affair with your current job or do you consider seeing other opportunities available to you?

If you do decide that it’s just not working with your current organisation, CSG Talent have a range of exciting opportunities with some of our valued clients across all our specialist industry sectors. Working with clients who are focused on huge business growth in a skills short market results in wide ranging opportunities for experienced candidates who can significantly contribute to a company’s vision.  

What aspects of your role would like to focus more on in the future?

CSG Talent are global talent experts operating across specialist industry sectors, each with a dedicated team of recruitment experts who have a proven track record of placing high calibre talent in senior level roles within their specialist market. 

Our candidate services page highlights our passion in supporting professionals in securing exciting, senior executive or leadership level positions across the globe. We have a successful track record in placing candidates at multiple points of their career, many of which stay in regular contact with our team of experts and continue to work in partnership for their own hiring needs later in their careers.

Why not take a look at some of the live roles our expert consultants have and see if there is an opportunity that sparks a newfound love? Alternatively, get in touch to hear about opportunities which may match your interest, or to have a confidential conversation about your career and long term goals.