Career Advice: Dead-End Job?

How To Know You're Stuck In A Deadend Job & What You Can Do About It

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

I feel I am a good working and a smart individual, though I've been passed up for two promotions in the last year to people much less deserving. Am I in a dead end job, and if so, what should I do!?

Sincerely,

Frantic and Frustrated

Dear Frantic and Frustrated,

You may in fact be in a dead end job. But fear not, that does not at all speak of your abilities or who you are as a person. Examine if these reasons below apply to you and then take to heart what you can do to improve.

Reasons To Believe You're Stuck In A Dead End Job

1. You've not gotten a raise in three years.

2. You've gotten no praise or recognition in your job.

3. Other people who were hired at your level or below, have been promoted and you haven't.

4. You haven't taken on any new responsibilities in the last two years at your job.

5. It's been a year at your job, and your boss still doesn't know your name.

5 Steps To Make Plan B Happen

1. Let go of plan A. It didn't work out. It's dead. If you have any interest in reviving it, you won't be able to give your all to plan B. Think of them as wife number one and wife number two. If you have any interest lingering in wife number one, you're going to have a faulty marriage second time around. Bury plan A completely. Now. You can move on.

2. Take inventory. What went wrong the first time around. If you know more about yourself now, and you know where you failed on plan A, you're more able to avoid the traps that plan B may hold. And yes -- all plans are fallible, so know yourself inside and out, and know what it is you want to do this time -- and what it is you don't want to do.

3. Make your partner in marriage or your long-term commitment partner aware and in the loop on what it is you're doing. No surprises for your live in lover. If you're going to be working different hours or having a different focus, you want your teammate on board.

4. Discipline. Making a plan work means using verbs in your life. You can't just want a plan to work. You have to make it work. Consistently.

5. Keep planning. Just because you're there doesn't mean you should stop planning. Enjoy your success and keep an eye on the horizon.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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