A job, yes, but not just any job. Workers are increasingly reluctant to do a job that does not give them full satisfaction. But they do not always dare to resign. A lack of audacity that they often bitterly regret, according to a recent survey.
Nearly 60% of the 1,000 workers surveyed by the Resume Now* site say they regret not having left quickly enough a job that did not completely suit them. Conversely, only 38% of respondents regret having resigned.
Make the right choices
These figures show that working people have a hard time dealing with professional inertia. They prefer to take risks and seize opportunities that come their way, rather than staying in their comfort zone. However, regrets are an integral part of a career. Some assets have little and others a lot. It all depends on each person’s ability to make the (right) choices.
When it comes to professional regrets, there are some that come up more than others. The one that comes up the most concerns remuneration. Six out of ten employees questioned are biting their fingers at the idea of not having asked for a salary increase. The second is linked to the balance between professional and personal lives (59%) and the third relates to having stayed too long in an unfulfilling job (58%).
It is interesting to note that four of the eleven most cited professional regrets concern the professional aspirations of working people. One in two respondents would choose another professional career if they could, while 49% have remorse about not having completed a long education.
Regrets can be good
In general, millennials and Gen Xers are more likely to have career regrets than Gen Zs and baby boomers. This is explained by the fact that, due to their age, these workers are in the middle of their career. They have enough experience to have had a clear idea of the business world, and more generally of what they expect from work.
Because loving your work has become a new social norm, especially among young people. A job must no longer only provide a certain material security: we must also find meaning and pleasure in it. The notion of professional development is increasingly replacing that of success. Nowadays, it is said that a person is successful in life when they do a job that they are passionate about.
The desire to have a satisfying job is a good thing, but we must be careful that this does not become a new societal injunction. And above all, we must make peace with the very idea of regret. The “if only” and other “I should have…” allow us to take a step back and learn certain lessons. This introspection can only be beneficial on a professional level, provided you are not too hard on yourself.
*The Resume Now site surveyed, on January 10, 2024, a thousand workers living in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Central Europe as part of its “International Career Regrets” survey.
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