Dear PisoPinoy,
I am bored of my call center job.
I know I should be thankful. As my friends would point out to me everyday, I'm lucky to even have a job— one that pays above minimum. But no matter how hard I hammer the point to my head and force myself to feel grateful, I feel more miserable than ever.Â
If there's one thing I love about the job, it's the salary.
Before you say that I'm an entitled millennial, here's what bores me about the job: I don't feel like I'm growing or improving in any way anymore.
Instead, I feel stuck and stagnant. I feel like I've learned everything there is to learn from the job and whatever it is that I am yet to learn, I'm not interested in learning at all. In short, I'm just bored and tired of taking calls. I don't wanna do it anymore.
Everytime I picture out myself working in this industry for the next 20 to 30 years of my life, I feel like a failure.
NOTE:
I'm only speaking for myself. I'm not speaking for my fellow call center agents who truly enjoy the job; they're the lucky ones.
And before you wonder whether I just need a vacation then go back to my job refreshed, no, I've tried that one. Didn't work.Â
I've come to a point in my life where I'm 100% sure I don't want to work in this job forever. I want to get out. Fast. But here are my problems (sorry for the plural):
- I can't afford to quit.
- After quitting, I have no idea what career path to choose.
- I didn't finish college and don't have a degree. Is there still hope for me?
By the way, I'm:
- 25 years old,
- single with no kids,
- and I give my parents money every month but it's not necessary.
Any advice you can give me, I'd be forever grateful.
With Love,
Jen
"I am Bored of My Call Center Job, What Should I Do?"
Like Jen, a lot of employees in the call center, or in any fields for that matter, feel bored at one point or another. But in Jen's case, she's absolutely sure she wants no more of it.
In my previous posts, I've written why call center is NOT, in any way, a no-brainer, nor a dead-end job.
But this is a different case. If you're absolutely sure you want to leave the job, then leave the job you should.
"Buti ka pa nga, may trabaho, ang iba d'yan 'di nga makahanap kahit minimum lang."
(You're lucky to have a job. Others can't even find a minimum paying one.)
You probably hear this advice a lot but here's why you should not listen to this: Why work for a job that only makes you feel happy every 15th and 30th of the month, and miserable every single shift, 20 days a month, 240 days a year (excluding overtime and Black Fridays)?
Understand that there's a difference between "challenged" and "miserable". When a job challenges you, it means that even if it's tough, you're taking some pleasure from it.
But when a job makes you feel miserable, there's no pleasure whatsoever involved in it. You're just in it for the money. And yet, you're not even sure if money could hold you back if worst comes to worst.
1. "I can't afford to quit."
Common sense: You wanna quit your job someday, you better prepare for it.
The problem with most call center agents (or most employees, for that matter) is, they complain they barely have enough money to last 'til the next payday and yet, they keep doing the same thing. They spend like one day millionaires then feel guilty about it later, when it's too late and the money's dried up.
(NOTE: To some, it's more complicated though. They need to support the whole family, send the siblings to school, and help with medical bills. We'll write a separate article on how to deal with this.)
For now, if your problem is impulsive spending, you need to get out of it fast.
You probably don't like being an impulsive spender either, and you hate that you seem to have zero control over it. But everytime you see that Nike shoes, that elegant bag, that latest iPhone, all logic flies out the window, and you just have to have them.
It's an addiction. You should treat it like one.
It may not sound as bad as gambling, smoking, or drug addiction, but only because it's subtly encouraged in the society.
Look around you. Advertisements everywhere, telling you how cool you'll be if you buy these sneakers, how classy you'll look if you're wearing this watch, what a cool tech lover you are if you're swiping this phone. All these advertisements are preying on your weakness.
At first look, it looks harmless, even fun. But it's actually dangerous. You go through life working for a job you hate, but never saving the money that'll set you free someday.
Now imagine yourself 30-40 years from now still doing that same thing you hate every single day.
And note, there's nothing wrong with buying things that make you happy. But when you start feeling miserable, that's where it becomes a problem.
(In the next few weeks, we'll write about how call center agents can control their spending habits and finally save for their future. So stay tuned.)
Find another source of income.
If you get this right, this is probably the fastest way to get out of your job along with saving your salary:
2. "I have no idea what career path to choose."
Some people like writing, so they write. Others like numbers and Math so they take accounting. Some love teaching so they become teachers. They find careers that fit them like a glove.
But to some, it's never this clear. They feel like there's no career fit for them, and if there was, they don't know it exists. Add to that the difficulty caused by competition. This is probably why lots of students shift from one career to another, confused of what it is they really wanted to do in life.
The thing is, there's no one size fits all advice in finding your career. Others are just lucky to find what's theirs, while others may need to take their own journey.
But the whole idea is, the career you choose should engage you, challenge you, fill you with a sense of purpose everytime you get out of bed in the morning.
If there's one thing you need to take from this post, it's this:
Please, please read the book Mastery by Robert Greene. If you're confused and still searching for that one career you'll devote your life to, this is the book.
In the book, the author talked about human figures (past and present) and how they found their way to their life's career. He wrote about Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Freddie Roach and many other figures who became masters in their own field.
As an example, here's an excerpt about how Freddie Roach, Manny Pacquiao's, former trainer, came to find his life's career.
When Freddie Roach’s career as a boxer came to an end in 1986, he took a job as a telemarketer in Las Vegas. One day, he entered the gym where he himself had trained under the legendary coach Eddie Futch. He found many boxers there who were not receiving any personalized attention from Futch. Even though he was not asked, he began to hang around the gym every afternoon and help out. It turned into a job for which he was not paid, so he held on to his telemarketing position. Working the two jobs left just enough time to sleep. It was almost unbearable, but he could withstand it because he was learning the trade for which he knew was destined.
Within a few years he had impressed enough young boxers with his knowledge to set up his own business, and was soon to become the most successful boxing trainer of his generation.
I hear what you're saying.
"But I'm no boxer, I'm no Henry Ford. I haven't even encountered a piano in my whole life and you're telling me to read about Mozart? Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa guy? Give me a break! Albert Einstein, the dude with the IQ of 160? These people were superhumans. I'm only a "human" without the "super".
What you should be looking for isn't competition nor comparison. What you need is an insight. And from which better people you should get it from, but from the best? Your goal is to find that one thing, that work you wanna do for the rest of your life so you don't have to forever toil away in a job you hate.
Take a look at the author talking about the content of his book in the video.
3. "I didn't finish college and don't have a degree. Is there still hope for me?"
That depends on what you want to do. First, you gotta figure out what you not only love, but willing to dedicate your life into. Once you figure it out, then do everything you can to get an education.
There are fields that strictly require education, like medicine and law. There are careers that you can just learn over the internet like coding, blogging and graphic design. And there are careers that are yet to be discovered. 🙂
The book Mastery will not suggest a specific career for you. Because that's just not practical. Instead, it'll trace the patterns and hows of these human figures came up with the career they truly wanted.
So if you're asking if there's still hope for you, with college degree or none, hell yes! College degree is very important but many people manage to succeed without it. College degree will sure help you, but at the same time, it's not the only education in the world. In fact, the best education is the one you get after school. It's called real world.
But if you think this is too much work, don't even think about quitting your job.
Simply because this is NOT for everyone.
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