Feel like I am stuck at my job and i need to make a change ASAP

[rose35]

Basically i have been an assistant for 4 years at my job. And i think the combination of the department I am in, who i am working with factors into why I am stuck. Of course I know after a first year there maybe i should have showed more interest in other things or areas..i thought it would happen naturally and i also was going through alot of personal stress for two years or more. I am more calm now but realizing I am done with this job and need to move on. And i want to start fresh.

 

I mainly work with a lady who basically has special hours b/c she is a mother and sees this more as just a job in a sense..she has been here for 10 years and never moved up really. She basically became comfortable not moving up but i can tell she is unhappy. I just sort of feel i mainly work with her and therefore i am cast out from the other people more my age without kids--they are really close with each other..and sometimes i feel like in some tiny way who i am working with set me back (no offense to anyone anywhere--this is based on my circumstances at this place)

 

My main boss even decided to hire someone as a more personal assistant type since we don't just work for her although she is the head and mainly our boss and who we report to. This person is a few years younger and gets to work as her assistant but also for someone else who is showing her important things. She basically knows more than me at this point due to that person training her. It's just very frustrating seeing that as i am stuck doing tedious tasks. I am sure others have gone through the same.

 

I asked last year about helping more with marketing and my boss said that's fine. She is also wayyy too busy to confirm anything...i emailed the marketing a lady a few times to which she never responded or when she did--a meeting was never set up to show me anything..she knows i am available if she wants to show me anything but she never asks and i put it out there a few times. I think she basically would just rather work alone. I pretty much give up at this point and i am not going to beg for extra work. I KNOW IT IS TIME FOR ME TO LEAVE 100%. I am just done.

 

I feel the next job i take has to be a more specific department and not helping 6 people. I think with those jobs you become lost and forgotten about almost and it can make it harder to move up unless you are give 200% all the time or something.

 

A few agencies i feel as though they just want me to take any job..i have a college degree, worked during school and now have experience. They are basically telling me i am qualified for assistant work. So that's basically it? My other friends with degrees are actually doing something but now all i am good for is assistant work? They are trying to get me jobs supporting 5 or 6 people at times...I feel this will just be a dead end type thing.

 

I was thinking of trying to get an assistant job in a human resources department or main marketing department where I can move up within the department or even become certified in hr and can make it a "stable" career move.

 

Does this sound like a good idea? been applying everyone..no responses unfortunately...

[teabee]

My personal belief is that you can fiddle with an external problem as much as you want, but you will find yourself in the same situation over and over again until you deal with the root problem of what's gotten you stuck there to begin with. This goes for everything. This goes for relationships, like the person who leaves an abusive relationship just to end up in another abusive relationship. This goes for friendships, like the person who finally cuts ties with a selfish friend, only to find the same dynamic playing out in other friendships. And this goes for jobs, like the person who leaves the dead-end position just to find herself in another dead-end position at a completely different job.

 

I don't know if you're open to that kind of thinking, but if so, consider looking at your beliefs about yourself in relation to worthiness and success and personal efficacy. I think you could be on this hamster wheel for awhile, but you don't have to be if you start looking at what you're focusing on, what you believe, what patterns you create again and again in your life, etc.

[SnowFox]

It sounds like your instincts to move on from this place are well-founded. I think the main thing that will be required is patience in terms of finding another position. I also agree with teabee about figuring out what kept you in this situation for as long as you were in it so that you can avoid that in the future. Have you thought about contacting some people who work in HR or marketing, people who are further into their career than you are, and asking them to give you some suggestions on how to move into those areas? I think that many people are happy to share some of their experience with you - but I think it needs to be someone who is 10+ years or more into the field and older than you, so that its clear that you're not competing with them, but that its more of a mentoring relationship.

 

Where I work, we have interns that come and work for us every year. I've been in my field for 13 years now and so sometimes I will find myself talking with the interns and giving them some suggestions for how to think about which jobs to take. If you could find someone like that, it might help you figure out what path you want to pursue.

[Batya33]

In my experience a college degree was sufficient to be "more" than an assistant if it was in a specific area like teaching or accounting where the degree also could lead to a license. Otherwise without a professional license or graduate degree the alternative was to start as assistant and seek out promotions within the company.