Career growth is about expanding your skill set and knowledge to improve your job prospects and likelihood of success. Another important aspect of career growth is creating and maintaining a professional network as those are the people who can help you find new opportunities and advance. It is really a combination of what you know and who you know that gets you ahead.
Here are a couple of things you can do:
- Take additional training when available to gain new skills and keep existing skills sharp.
- Volunteer for project that will allow you to meet new professional contacts and learn new skills.
- Actively maintain your professional contacts – stay in touch.
Always keep growing and stay curious. Meet new people and learn new skills, while maintaining existing skills and relationships. When you have a chance to help someone else out, do it. They’ll remember you for it, and you never know when you may need a helping hand in the future.
This RichardStep Marketing survey was designed to get a better understanding of what really gets under the skin of those folks out there dealing with career growth. Read over the awesome answers below and see how you can tailor your business to address the frustrations of the people most relevant to your business niche market. Want more? Read the 125 other topics in the ‘Frustrations’ survey category by clicking here.
The following list are uncut and raw responses of the things this group found most frustrating in their daily lives.
Career Growth
- A coworker spoke to me in the wrong tone and it offended me. I turned my back to her and ignored her while she continued to speak. I mirrored her attitude in my short response to her. This situation was frustrating because I am normally a laid back person and I got amped up.
- Applying for jobs, because the online applications can be confusing, and not all of them would let me upload my resume because it was “too large”. So I was frustrated when I wasn’t able to upload it. But I tried multiple things, and finally found a way to make it work and was able to upload my resume.
- At home I had to put my 2 year old to bed, but she would not sleep and it ended with me getting no work done because I used up my energy on a variety of different attempts to encourage her to sleep. It probably got worse because I kept on thinking that I had set a goal to start one of my exercises that evening, but in the end was to tired to even look at the exercise text and I cant stand breaking a promise even if it s to myself.
- Being requested to do a task that I had no idea how to do. This particular task was out of my field by a tiny bit and there was no one out there to guide me on how to finish it. I broke down for a couple of days and ended up with hallucinations.
- Hardest thing I’ve had to do in the past few days was stop watching Doctor Who and do my homework. This is so because I have Asperger’s and I am obsessive to the point where it is all I think about 24/7. Usually you cant tell I have it, but when it comes to what I’m obsessed with you can. Thats frustrating.
- I always look for better opportunities , If I don’t get such opportunity. I try my best to do whatever I can do on my own to reach my goals. but till now I have not reached my goals, struggling to achieve it. From past work I have been doing same repetitive work which is making me bore and lazy.
- I am on the board of a local non-profit and have been working with them to create a simple postcard to announce an upcoming event. I asked for the text that needed inclusion, and was given that info. I was also given a loose art direction. I moved forward with the use of an image fitting that direction. When the design was complete I forwarded it to the committee, and not only did they pushback on the text, they also decided that the art direction was faulty. I ended up needing to go back and re-create the artwork. All parties were included on the email string about the text that needed to be included for more than a week, and nobody gave feedback until after the design was in progress, and more once the draft was complete. The lack of organization and information provided was frustrating. The disparate opinions on artwork was somewhat frustrating. Neither was difficult to remedy – ultimately the different opinions and voices were the most frustrating.
- I am struggling with not having enough Ritalin to last me from morning when I walk the dog at 7 am and start my first job till night when I finish my 2nd job at midnight. My doctor just finally increased my dosage to the right amount but for some reason unbeknownst to me has decreased it this month.
- I cannot trust my supervisor to properly teach me the skills I need in order to be truly successful at my job. In my eyes, a good (even great) teacher is one who is not afraid of others that are better, or have potential to become better, than they are. A great teacher/leader/mentor supports their student in becoming all they can be, even if it means the student surpasses the teacher. A poor teacher will try and keep his/her student down, and will not allow them to flourish for fear that the student may be better. This usually results from a lack of self-esteem on the teacher’s part. Unfortunately, my current supervisor is the latter. She possesses so little confidence in herself, she constantly puts down those around her and does not allow them to flourish. She is also not above telling lies and setting up or sabotaging her co-workers all in the name of making herself come out on top. She is the absolute worst kind of leader.
- I could not bring a good score in my MBA exams due to my health issues bringing me to a point where I dnt even remember how many questions I did attend in the examination and that brings up a great deal of frustration because even after working hard dint get the desired result.
- I currently work as a package handler for a large international shipping company. Five days a week, I go to work and and do my best. My problem is the way the place is run/managed, and my coworkers that just “don’t care”. Both problems are very annoying because they highly affect me. The goals that the company tries to meet are near impossible to do so on a regular basis under normal conditions, and nearly half of my package handler coworkers get the job done as fast as possible by cutting corners and doing so carelessly. Doing so leaves me and a few others to stay later on the job fixing their mistakes.
- I got bronchitis right after I was laid off of my job 2 weeks ago. I was not getting better yet was just looking for work. I finally decided that I had to take care of myself first (physically) before I could put myself out there for work. It was frustrating to me because the illness kept me from getting a job sooner.
- I had to install a new dishwasher and a part wasn’t available at the hardware store. I tried to come up with an alternative solution but it didn’t quite work and was disappointed but ended up finding the correct part at a different store so that felt good once it was successfully installed.
- I had to run to the store to pick up supplies while on the clock at work because we under ordered what was needed for the day. It had been a very long and crazy day at work and having to add a would be unnessasary trip was a bit frustrating, but it really wasn’t a big deal. I don’t get frustrated very easily so..that’s all I got.
- I lack the authority to do my job. No one respects me as their manager. Even though I have proven countless I can do their job they don’t believe that I can do it at all. I have no authority to reprimand anyone, so what I say say is pointless. I get blamed for just about anything that has to do with my store even if it was not my job. The other person in my position does not have the same problems as I do. Some says I believe their is slot of favoritism with my gm.
- I think the most frustrating thing that happened in the past few days was when I applied for a position and didn’t get. I had a lot of anxiety when I found out I didn’t get the position, and felt depressed and self-deprecating. It was something I wanted and didn’t get and I was, to say the least, disappointed.
- Most frustrating thing to do in the past few days is to know whether to give in my notice or not. It is frustrating because work is made to seem so important where as really it should be such a minor matter, simply one that is a choice of how to occupy my day.
- The decision I made to leave my two months old baby back to work its quite frustrating. Because I did not know will he be okay without me around him. If I never try I will never know, so I tried to leave him and I told to myself that he will be fine, then I found that he is fine and we are all happy now.
- The most frustrating thing has been worrying abouty future. I am om spring break but I have been thinking nonstop about owning a business yet it seems so challenging. my mom says that a surgeon is a good profession but I do not want to work long hours for somebody else.
- The most frustrating thing I ever hear at work is, “That’s not how we’ve always done it.” Implying a new way couldn’t possibly work or improve on old strategies. A second frustration is when meeting regarding professional development my immediate supervisor admitted that he has trouble with the main function of our jobs. We are researchers and program managers, and he has trouble with research. What? I do not have trouble with research, in fact, I am quite competent. And yet, this is how my workplace functions. Incompetent leaders who do not want to change or improve methods and strategies.
- The most frustrating thing I had to deal with was a decision my ex made convening my teenage son. he was forcing him to go somewhere he was not interested in going during his spring break. My son was very passionate about wanting ti stay and work on his goals rather than going away. It was heart breaking that I couldn’t help convince my ex it was better to let him stay than to create heartache and disharmony by taking him
- The most frustrating thing I’ve been working on recently is my higher range. It’s frustrating to sing in my upper range, because you have to try and open your throat more. This is not natural to Americans, so you end up focusing on the note as well as your throat, vowel, and confidence. There’s so much to focus on that it’s easy to slip out of the proper vowel or soft pallette alignment.
- Usually, I don’t get easily frustrated, but the other day, at my usually 4 hour shift hard work job, I was asked to work an extra couple hours. And, I knew that would be bad, because it was the first of 4 work days in a row, which I usually start getting tired, and my work degrades, after 2 or 3 normal days in a row. But, because I just couldn’t say no, I agreed. So, I was just really frustrated at myself, for just blindly saying “yes” to anything a superior says, and not considering the consequences first.
- When I had to make a PPT for my manager, I hated it because it was not my duty to do that but here. I also had to write what she had to speak. If I did all this, I felt that o should have given the presentation instead. I wish I could put this forward to her… But managers… You know how the world could turn upside down if I do that… This was the most frustrating part in the last two weeks…