Throughout my travels, I have spoken to many who wished for a different job, but because of the risk of negative consequences and a trek into the unknown, they choose to continue in a career they've hated for years. I have had many co-workers tell me that they must commit to five years or more so other hiring companies would find them more desirable, even when their current position was not a good fit or failed to deliver what was promised. Though working in a job you despise correlates strongly with detrimental health effects, it takes courage to do what is best for you when the workforce, more than not, rewards those who stay and condemns those who move on for the sake of personal well-being.
There are few that I have spoken with who weren't nervous about the negative judgments commonly cast about employment gaps on a resume. Even if gaps are due to choosing to take care of one's dying family member or just children in general, people would rather make up a job than admit they didn't generate income for a period of time. You can thank our work-til-you-die-or-be-viewed-as-unproductive society for that. This is also true if you are financially blessed not to have to work for a while and simply wished to take a break from life. Those who have taken a break from working constantly may likely admit the positive benefits and mental, emotional, and physical balance in well-being that occurs from resting some after years of work. Taking advantage a work-play balance shows you care about your mental and emotional state and therefore are likely more adept in managing stress and/or conflict in my opinion as well as understanding when others are imbalanced. Yet, our society doesn't view it as that healthy. "I just needed a break from working like a healthy and balanced person would," is generally not viewed as an acceptable reason to provide during an interview when questioned about a gap on a resume.
Sometimes, people simply need to try different things, so they understand who they are and where they fit best. We must explore life so that we become more stable and grounded in our decisions—so they are based in self-knowledge and experience rather than on what others have told us to do. The same is true for career decisions. If someone has exposed themselves to diverse positions in the past, I would think that would likely have an above-average perspective on what it takes to lead a variety of personalities depending on skill in communication. This is why it is surprising to me that so many with diverse experiences are overlooked or dismissed as not a good fit for a company that is searching for someone with leadership skills. In many cases, a candidate with a diverse past who has applied for a respectable position is likely to possess needed skills that would benefit the job—problem-solving, fluid intelligence, interpersonal awareness, a high adaptability rate... As in my case, it was only after I tried new positions that I realized what I was best suited for.
Had I not chosen to work in clinical psychology, then curriculum development; had I not taught in a forced-to-learn environment versus voluntary; taught and designed curriculum as a self-coach; experienced group instruction versus individual coaching, and administration, then I would have never known that a group possessing diverse thoughts/experiences paired with an eagerness for knowledge was the best fit for me. Yet, my Jack-of-all-trades skills are not always seen as a positive thing on paper because many are conditioned to associate diverse experiences with a lack of reliability and stability in a person. Indeed, this sometimes may be the case, but for many who approach diversity as a deliberate means of improvement, it is a false assumption. Ironically, I only sought more stability in a career as I got older because I took the opportunity to explore first.
Over the course of my travels, I met numerous fellow colleagues who expressed admiration for my divergence from my current career position because everyone understands the challenge of finding a stable job if you have been flagged as a wanderer in your field. "It isn't that I had always wished to be free to roam rather than be in a position for the long haul," I respond. "I just can't trade my authenticity for security. I want to learn, and I want the job to be the right fit."
I can certainly acknowledge the benefits of remaining within a company, especially if you love your work and who you work with. I feel like I would have certainly felt satisfied with career life if I had been so blessed to find a team that exhibited higher-level qualities, but I have not in the past. I've experienced my fair share of miserable working environments where in-group behavior was blatantly rewarded while respectable work ethic and flexibility were treated as expendable. Besides this, given that I view a career position as a partnership, it is ridiculous to think I would remain in a situation that took advantage of my skill, flexible nature, and high work ethic with little to no recognition for it. What I consider lower-level work environments without any progression simply do not match what I want from a job.
Besides seeking a positive work atmosphere, I deliberately exposed myself whenever possible to situations that would alter my conditioning for my own personal journey towards actualization. So, you can imagine my surprise when I am judged as "not enough" or "ill-suited" in a field when I deliberately altered my experiences to make myself better than I would be had I remained in a position when I was not valued. Seriously, I was trying to become better suited? I could not believe that my efforts were judged opposite of my intent until I realized that this is the paradox in most domains, and thus, in my opinion, the reason we remain a product of slow evolution. Statistical research reveals the developmental value in exposure to diversity, yet it is chastised if it brings you to defy current norms. The norm, in this case, is that over five or more years is viewed as an asset, and diverse experience is automatically paired with instability rather than wisdom and versatility. Indeed, in many positions, I stayed longer than I knew I should have just to gain solid experience. I have been silent in response to many seemingly strange behaviors of humanity and will always strive to be respectable and see the benefit in all experiences. However, when one chooses to balance behavior and emotion or sacrifices their security to become a better version of themselves and then are judged negatively or ill-suited as a result, I cannot refrain from revealing how assumptions that suggest conformity over growth are absurd.
Despite that my diverse experiences are judged to be associated with something negative on paper, I do not care if I am condemned for having a diverse array of multiple skills or that I have devoted time for self-evolution and emotional stability. I have discovered more about myself and others by exposing myself to and internalizing the richness of understanding that one can only gain through visiting multiple domains. It may not be praised in the external world, but my frontal lobe, perceptual awareness, and level of fluid intelligence are certainly appreciated by me, even if it hinders favorable judgment by those who cannot see value in diversity. I would be unsatisfied if I had not supplemented my classroom education with broader behavioral "street" knowledge derived from my interpersonal experiences. It was only when I could bridge information from both sources, did I feel adequate in my instructional capacity, as it is. Those who deliberately step out of their comfort zones to better any situation (personal or otherwise) serve to expand humanity as they add their newfound insight to a greater pool of understanding. Knowledge gained from discovery is what shapes new research platforms and pushes evolution forward, whether it is recognized and approved of by authority, or not. If anything, career candidates with a diverse past should at least be fairly considered for higher-level positions before they are written off as being something they are often wrongly judged to be.
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