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You Took the Wrong Job. Now What?
Moving forward when a promotion or a switch to a new company fills you with regret
I’ll go first. After a series of interviews — some friendly and conversational, others more probing and testy — my career as a people leader began.
This was in my mid-30s when, as the successful candidate in a lengthy recruiting process, I was invited to take on a leadership role in a purpose-driven organization I had held more junior positions for the previous six or so years. While partly for status and partly for pay, I mostly wanted this role because I saw in the list of projects and responsibilities the possibility of having fulfillment and meaning infused through my working life in an organization and a cause I believed in.
For about 18 months, there was lots to enjoy in building a team and carving out a mandate to help the organization move in the direction of its vision. But as the workload and paperwork increased, and the people management part of my job expanded, my enthusiasm began to wane. I started to notice days of feeling bored or needing a new challenge and that a new role elsewhere would bring back the initial buzz.
Fast forward to several months later, when I found myself in a better-paying job in the same industry, similar in some ways to the one I left…
