What should I do when my job JUST pays the bills???

Question

I'm a licensed insurance rep working in Los Angeles. I'm 29 and already feel like life is just passing me by. I have no college degree and make 50k a year but hate coming to work. When I'm not busy at work I sit there and wish I was doing something else. My coworker agreed with me and she's 36. She told me if she had known it would be this way she would have taken a different route. I just don't feel that going back to school in this economy will do any good anyway at least right now. What can I do to be happier? Any career switch now would not pay me this! I am grateful to have this job but feel like I'm always watching the clock. What are your opinions on feeling stuck but not really being stuck. When would you leave your job even though it pays the bills and then some? I know some of you feel this way....

Answer 1

Start doing something you LOVE as a hobby, until your ready to make the switch from your present job to the new career. I have learned the hard way. I quit a great job, because I hated the winters(Anchorage Alaska), and was burned out. I quit my job of 13 years to start my own business without truly knowing the business fully. Short version is I'm DEEPLY in credit card debt, and my wife has left me because of the business failure, and debt. May God bless you in your new search, in Jesus name.

Answer 2

You sound exactly like I felt as I was approaching 20 years in the Navy. I was stuck, in a rut and there was no future advancement, just more of the same, going out to sea in a fast attack submarine AND I was going to have to move from the Pacific Northwest (a wonderful, cool, green place to live!) to Hawaii (hot and muggy) if I stayed in. I was eligible to retire (actually it is a transfer to the Fleet Reserve, you actually retire at 30 years). Do not get me wrong, my time in the Navy was some of the best times I've had in my working life. The job was good, I made good money, I had a retirement plan well underway, and I had even managed to put away a few bucks in the bank. The problem was, I was faced with repeating the same thing for several more years, with my next tour at sea being just like the other tours. At the time, advancement was frozen, and the Navy was downsizing, closing bases, decommissioning ships and submarines right and left. The cold war was OVER. What is a warrior to DO after the cold war was over? There is no reason for a large peacetime Navy. So, like you, I was stuck, but not really stuck. I just could not move up any further in rank, and worse yet, I was simply tired of going to sea. I put in my papers  and left the Navy with NO idea what I was going to do. I had a safety net though I did not realize it at the time, a hobby which I took seriously, computers. For years I have been taking courses, learning, building my own, but with no clear intent other than satisfying my own curiosity, essentially, playing with toys. Some friends knew of my hobby and I had helped many with computers and after a few months of playing couch potato, one suggested I go to a local company who was hiring programmers. I went, applied and was hired. At first, I was totally incompetent, but I guess I knew enough to get by. I continued to do crash courses at night to learn what I should have known BEFORE I took the job. I was NOT qualified for what I had been hired for and I knew it. I found out later they hired me simply because they were in a bind and I had most of what they wanted to see in the courses I had taken while I was still in the Navy, so they took a chance for the simple reason that I had built my own computer from a kit while I was out at sea on deployment, soldered every joint, everything. OK, over the next year plus, I continued night school and eventually got enough credits to call myself a systems analyst instead of a programmer and things took off from there, a whole new career, which I continued with until a couple of years ago. I found a new joy in working on solving problems. My point is, you can do something similar, start working on some outside study for a hobby which maybe you can use to change jobs to something more rewarding. I unknowingly did this preparation while I was in the Navy. You are going to intentionally prepare for the change in jobs. That, is the difference between you and me being in what had become an unrewarding occupation over time. I loved the Navy way of life. I loved the job I did and I did the job extremely well. I just had topped out on advancement and I saw no point in keeping with a job where I could no longer advance. Becoming a systems analyst fixed the problem. You have an advantage I did not have, time to prepare. Going out to sea for 6 months at a time puts a crimp in a decent study program. Think of your present job as a stepping stone. Think about what you would LIKE to do and start preparing, take a course, study, use some of that idle time at work for personal use (but keep it LOW key so it isn't obvious you are planning on leaving).Take night courses. All it is going to take for you is to change your attitude a little and motivate yourself to prepare for something completely different. Stop watching the clock and start working on making a move instead.

Answer 3

II think that with all that has happened to the economy, with the war, and the increasing demands on our resources, everyone feels like a rat in a cage and has become disillusioned, or soon will be.  I am no exception.  Here is what I think you should do: I think you should go back to school, especially if you have nothing like kids or a house to tie you down.  $50,000 is a respectable earnings, but is it really enough to keep you doing insurance for the next five or ten years?  You said that you hate coming to work...why?  Is it that you truly dislike the job itself--that is, has it always been this way, from the very beginning?  

I say go back to school for something that you will enjoy doing, that will earn you a decent living, and has a good job outlook.  Don't sell education short: it may not be a 100 % guarantee of job security, but you will at least get your degree, do something that gives you a reasonable sense of fufillment, and you will be happy overall.

Talk to a career counselor first and test yourself to see what job families best match your personality and skill set.  If you find something that interests you, talk to people in that field...maybe even shadow them at work, if possible, so you can get a feel if this is something that you really want to do.  If it is, the next step is enrolling at university/college. Take a course or two while you are working at your current job and eventually switch to the field you are going to school for.  It won't be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.

I had been feeling the same way you and your co-worker do, and I am almost 35.  I had been a loan officer for about six years.  The time flew by.  Never did I think I would have all of my adult life thus far working in a call center, like a robot.  When I was earning $80,000 a year, I ignored the problems that lay beneath the surface. Now, with a $40,000 DROP in my income, I realize that money comes and goes and my overall mental well being is what is most important.  

Answer 4

Hmmm. If you have internet access at work, take your free time to do online businessing or something. Some employers will allow it as long as it does not effect your work at their business or competes with their business in any way. I was working in research and doing online business in my free time. I now work from home with my online business.

As far as just dumping the job, I wouldn't, like you said, the economy sucks, and now's not the time to dump a decent job simply because it bores you. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, whether you like it or not. Maybe start classes while you're not working or something?

Answer 5

If you have the finances to go to school or can easily get financial assistance or get tuition reimbursement then I think you should consider going to school to get a degree.  Its not important that the economy is not that great now but it has been proven again that people with a degree generally have better opportunities, earn more money, and are well respected by their peers.  In the long run having a degree will benefit you since you have the experience.  Also you are limiting yourself into thinking you are trapped.  You just have to know how to change your resume to appeal to the job that you want.  There are many soft skills that you can emphasis on your resume to any job you want just from your experience as a insurance rep.  For example, you can say you are reliable, persistent, great communication/persuasion skills, strong problem solving and analytical skills, attention to detail, etc.  Its just up to decide what you need to do to find a more fulfilling job.  When you see a job that you like all you have to do is tailor your resume to fit the requirements that the employer is looking for.  I hope this helps.  

Answer 6

If you are not ready to leave your job or go back to school, you need something within your current job to make it more interesting because you sound so bored.   Have you reached your number for new clients, find other avenues of closing more accounts, suggest new ideas for improving current customer satifisation.   This all may sound boring but if you are going to be where you are for a while then dive in with both feet and make a change to how you can increase your own personal success within the company.  If you come up with new ideas to increase business then you just might get noticed and a new position might be just around the corner for you, one that might be more interesting.  Nothing looks better on a resume then a promotion.  Good Luck!