Save your career from plummeting

Your career may be suffering on account of a number of factors, The most common causes for career plummeting are a lack of sufficient opportunities for advancement; alterations and changes in the working methodologies, newer applications of technology; and plain and simple monotony and boredom.

Do you feel that your career has nothing more to offer? Do you feel that you have reached a point of stagnation? Do you feel that your career and job is no more as exciting as it was earlier?  The major indicators for these feelings are:

·   Come morning and you do not want to go to work.

·   Your work and responsibilities have remained unchanged in both scope and extent for the last several years.

·   You have been changing jobs quite often but there has been no perceptible increase in your emoluments nor has there been any increase in your status.

·   Your colleagues or subordinates have overtaken you, but you have failed to secure any promotion.

·   In the recent past, you are not being including in any decision making process or discussions to arrive at line of actions on critical issues.

·   Your friends at workplace – people who are seniors, peers and juniors alike – are rather disinclined to take advice from you and hesitate to approach you for any help or support whatsoever.

·   You are not being included in the addressee list of important mail and thus you are unaware of developments in your organization.

·   You are unable to recall the last time when you went through a refresher cadre or attended any training programme for acquisition of a new skill.

·   Off late, you have developed a rather complaining attitude towards your work and management; and become argumentative and grouchy in your general disposition.

·   You have started suffering from a feeling of discrimination and that you are a victim of favouritism.

The above are all warning indicators that your career is off-track. These indicators are objectionable developments, but you can certainly get your career on path and move forward. Four approaches that can help you are:

·   Talk frankly with your boss: Looking a problem straight in its face is the maiden step to dealing with it. If you happen to be stagnating for some time, you must try to obtain of various pecking orders in your company and then do some plain-speaking with your boss to find out actions and efforts necessary for you to make vertical progression. You could also make it known that you are geared up to take on testing and demanding tasks. Perhaps he may be ignorant of what you have been doing or your aspirations because you yourself have been cagey and not selling yourself.

·   Don’t hesitate to ask for what is legitimately yours: You can always seek from your immediate boss guidelines and advice on aspects that you need to perk up. The administrative staff could also be requested to clarify on matters related to your salary increase. You ought to understand that if your overall performance is less vis-à-vis your colleagues, it is a matter of concern. If the allocations for pay increments were made and you happened to be one who has not got any, you should find out the reason for the same. If you are genuinely concerned about finding out the manner in which you could be more competent, operational and deliberate, you could well ask explore the opportunity for being transferred to another department to be acquainted with internal working mechanisms of your company. Acquiring new perceptions and outlooks will lead you to new ideas and stand you in good stead.

·   Be innovative and take risks: You should not confine yourself to your specific responsibilities only; taking initiative to share the load of others, including your boss is recommended. Towards this end, you need to acquire more skills, for which, attending learning and development programmes will help. You could also become a member of professional clubs where besides attending symposiums or presentations, you also play a key role in delivering lectures. Contributing to professional journals will also benefit you immensely to gain recognition.

·   Change your outlook for the better: Pessimism and unconstructiveness harm your career more than anything else. If you do not want your company to regard you as surplus to its establishment, you should not be grouching around unnecessarily. You must know that there is discontentment within you and take appropriate measures to preclude it. Should circumstances warrant moving somewhere else, you should take that bold decision and for all you know, you may land up in a job that is more satisfying without having to wait.

If you feel that your career is off-track or has been taking a beating, then a career change is perhaps is what is required. You could think of doing that by active consultation with those whom you are in touch with and who you think are your well-wishers. You could also request for a lateral transfer to some other section in your present set-up. However, the bottomline is that it is you and nobody else who should be at the helm of your own affairs and interests as far as your career is concerned.