While being comfortable in your job might seem ideal, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to rise up the career ladder will give you much more satisfaction especially when you are in your 20s.
Growing up in Singapore, there seems to be a negative stigma associated with people who switch careers or jobs often. But we beg to differ, switching jobs can actually bring you more benefits as opposed to staying in the same company for an extended period of time.
Starting off in the social media marketing industry, my friend Valerie had goals of gaining as much experience as she could while getting a pay increase. Valerie was a polytechnic graduate with no intentions of furthering her education at that point in time, instead, she wanted to focus on her career growth.
In the first 5 years into working, Valerie would change her jobs in 1 to 2 year intervals. Doing this, she gained expertise in several industries, she worked as a marketer for cosmetics, renovation, interior design, fashion and the food industry. She gained a solid portfolio in each of her job roles and put in as much effort as she could.
In all her jobs, she had a good working relationship with her employers and they were often used as references in her job switch. Switching careers this often, allowed Valerie to ask for a pay increase in her new job. Within 5 years, Valerie saw a 1 –1.5k increase in her salary. This was huge compared to some of her other friends who were also diploma holders. One of her friends stayed in the same company during the 5 years, and only saw a $500 increase in her salary.
In this sense, switching jobs proved useful to Valerie as it allowed her to ask for a higher pay while she gained a good portfolio and experience in several industries.
If you still feel iffy about changing your job, here’s 3 reasons why you should:
1. Being Comfortable Is a Bad Sign
Being too comfortable with your daily tasks and responsibilities could lead to the downfall of your career. Yes, it sounds extreme, but it’s true. You should constantly aim at bettering your skills and pushing yourself to attain new goals.
In Valerie’s case, she never allowed herself to be too comfortable in any industry that she was working in. She wasn’t sure about pursuing a degree, instead she wanted to use the time to gain working experience. In one of her jobs, she was solely in charge of creating content for social media platforms. Doing this for several months, Valerie learnt the tricks of the trade and brought in a high engagement rate for the company.
But she wanted to challenge herself even further, she decided to change jobs to one that required her to shoot content for social media as well. This allowed her to gain skills in production (why video resume is important), editing as well as social media content management.
If you’re comfortable using the same skills over and over again, look at finding a job that requires you to build on these skills. This makes you a valuable asset in the market and will make sure that you have a high employability rate for a while to come.
2. You’re Losing Money Staying in the Same Job
You heard that right. Staying in the same job can prevent you from growing up the career ladder and seeing a salary increase because there is a limit to how much your manager can increase your salary in a year. However, when you change jobs, you can ask for a higher starting salary.
Valerie would ask for a higher starting salary each time she changed jobs. She also had a good track record with her employers and an impressive portfolio to substantiate the salary increase. While she was not always offered a higher pay, she did have the option to decline the offer and take on one that gave her the increase.
If you’re looking to increase your salary but haven’t gotten an upgrade in your skillset just yet, try changing jobs to see the various starting salaries you can attain in the market.
3. Explore A Career You’re Interested In
This is your sign to delve into an industry that you’re actually interested in. Because, the best time for change is now.
When Valerie first started her career, her main intention was just landing the first job offer that came to her. It was in an industry that she was completely uninterested in, however she still managed to do well there. After gaining the necessary skills for social media marketing, she decided to change jobs to ones that piqued her interest, such as cosmetics and fashion. Being in these industries, Valerie felt like she had more motivation and passion at work. Her genuine interest allowed her to excel in these jobs and prevent burn out.
Check in with yourself – how much longer do you want to stay in a job that you don’t truly love?
Check out our career guidance page for more useful lifestyle and career tips!
