If you’ve ever had a bad day at work – you know, one of those awful days where everything is getting on your nerves, the idea of just quitting might pop into your head. And if you work in an especially toxic environment, day in and day out, then this desire to quit will grow to the point of becoming the obvious thing you should do. But quitting a job is also a big decision. It shouldn’t be taken lightly. And it especially shouldn’t be based on a particularly bad day or a strong, knee-jerk reaction.

Look at the bigger picture. Has your job ultimately been serving your career development in a positive way? What is it currently offering you? Do the benefits of quitting outweigh the negatives? And what does your future in this role and in this company look like?

To help you answer these questions, here are three signs you should quit your job.  Or at least consider your options.

Your boss is bringing you down

 There’s nothing worse than a boss who micromanages, who constantly checks up on what you’re doing and directs everything that you do. With a boss like this, it can be hard to find breathing space and periods of uninterrupted quiet where you can really focus without distraction.

Also, the fact that you’re not trusted to work independently might affect your self-esteem in the workplace. No one wants to feel like a machine just taking orders. When you don’t have control over your work, when your autonomy, creativity, and initiative are ignored, your job can become stifling.

In addition, you may have a boss who is always unfairly criticising you, yet never giving you praise when it’s deserved. If they’re angry a lot of the time, this is especially difficult to handle.

When your boss – and management in general – is making your job a living hell, then is it worth sticking around?

You can’t stand your co-workers

 We can’t like each and every one of our co-workers, just as we can’t get on with everyone we meet outside of work. In some jobs, we find ourselves surrounded by easy-going people. Yet in others, the complete opposite holds true. And if you can’t find a single co-worker who you can connect with, who helps to keep you sane, then your job becomes very tiring and frustrating.

Toxic co-workers are those who love to gossip, talking about people in a negative light, and making snide remarks about them. You may also have co-workers who are hyper-competitive, rather than co-operative, who will do anything they can to elevate themselves and put others down. Some people feel comfortable with this kind of office politics. But if you can’t stand it, then you shouldn’t have to.

You’re being asked to do too much

Whenever you apply for a job, you should read the job description in detail.  Find out as much as you can about the role in the interview. Then, when you get an offer, it’s important to read your contract thoroughly.  Be sure you understand exactly what your responsibilities and duties are.

If you’re happy with what’s being offered, then it will seem like the job is a great fit. But sometimes, reality turns out to be very different from our expectations. Your hours might officially be 9 to 5, yet you are consistently being forced to work well into the evening. You may also be doing all of this overtime without getting paid for it.

Even when you head home or leave the office with a spring in your step on a Friday, your boss still expects you to respond to emails. This might apply when you’re on holiday as well. So you can never really switch off and relax.

You may also have to do a whole bunch of tasks that were not advertised. Which isn’t necessarily something to complain about, since this is actually quite normal. However, if you’re being overburdened with new and unexpected responsibilities, this can be extremely stressful. Be honest with yourself about whether a job like this is sustainable for you.

The prospect of leaving a job can undoubtedly be a source of self-doubt and anxiety. This is why it helps to have a game plan – and preferably a new job lined up – before quitting. The best thing about doing a job you hate?  It motivates you to find a job that you love.

Sam Woolfe writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in sourcing candidates for internships and graduate jobs. You can find more of his work at www.samwoolfe.com.

The post Three Signs You Should Quit Your Job appeared first on Ms. Career Girl.

We all know the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Well, sometimes motherhood invents a new necessity for moms. In my case, my entire business was inspired by motherhood. Before starting FIT4MOM, I was the General Manager at a multi-million dollar health club. I loved working in the fitness industry but struggled with having to leave my baby each day to go to work. So I created an alternative career path for myself that fit who I wanted to be as a mom and through FIT4MOM, I was fortunate to also be able to pay it forward to 300 other mompreneurs with a business opportunity that supports every stage of motherhood.

Through this journey, I have met hundreds of women who made huge career changes after becoming moms. For some, they realized that the hours and demands didn’t support motherhood. For others, they were inspired to do something different, to make more of an impact.

Here are three stories of incredible women who have also taken a leap of faith and made inspiring pivots in their careers:

 Erin DiNicola, FIT4MOM Franchise Owner in Charleston

 Prior to becoming a FIT4MOM owner in Charleston, SC, Erin was a United States diplomat serving our country overseas in Vietnam and Afghanistan. She served in many posts for the Department of State, including Acting Spokesperson for the Africa Bureau. In this capacity, she spoke to media about the State Department’s position on issues related to Africa, set up press roundtables and arranged high-level interviews for White House and State Department senior officials, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State John Kerry and former President Barack Obama.

 Erin’s path to FIT4MOM ownership started when her dear friend and successor in Afghanistan, Anne, was killed while serving.  On her last day in Afghanistan, Erin was running late to meet the armored convoy that would take her to the airport to return to the U.S.  Erin quickly hugged Anne on her way out and told her that they would catch up when she was also back stateside.  Nine months later, Anne was killed by a suicide bomber at age 25 while delivering books to children. They would never have that chance to catch up and Erin was devastated at the loss of her friend. It was a life changing event.

For years, Erin had been entirely focused on work and on advancing her career. But now she felt called to shift focus from collecting professional accolades to building the family life that she had always wanted, but had put off for so long. Erin married an active duty Army officer, and soon after, she was pregnant. When Erin’s husband received orders from the Army to transfer to a different state, she decided to take a temporary leave of absence from the U.S. Department of State.

Erin discovered FIT4MOM when started taking classes when her son was three months old. She became an instructor and taught Stroller Strides, FIT4BABY and Stroller Barre for FIT4MOM. She decided to pursue FIT4MOM as her full-time career and officially resigned her commission from the State Department. A day later, she purchased FIT4MOM Charleston and she’s never looked back.

 “Women are the backbone of our society and FIT4MOM’s low cost to franchise entry and extensive back-end support ensure that we have the tools and resources that we need to be successful as business owners, women and as moms,” said Erin.

Every morning, Erin wakes up to her family.  She then goes to work where she meets so many beautiful, strong moms and shares her passion for motherhood and fitness. On a daily basis, she is an example of living each day to its fullest and never being afraid to redefine yourself.   

Liz Bentley, founder of Liz Bentley Associates

Liz Bentley is the founder of Liz Bentley Associates, a consulting firm specializing in leadership development programs for both individuals and companies. Drawing upon   her background in psychology, 10 years of experience in sales and management, and as an athlete in competitive sports, Liz has a unique appreciation of mindset and the power it has to change patterns of behavior.

Before her company and before motherhood, Liz worked in television selling advertising. When she had her first child, Teddy, she was working in sales at Conde Nast. It was intense and very stressful. Liz managed 15 offices and had 45 sales people reporting to her. She eventually resigned because it felt like she had two jobs: her “work” job and her “mom” job. She felt strongly that she needed to learn how to do the mom job. So for a while, she chose to stay home and did all the mom things. But after her third baby, she missed being in the professional world. She knew there was something out there that would be the right fit for her new life, but didn’t quite know what it would look like.

“Then my friend told me about how he worked with a coach.  It changed his life and in that moment, everything changed for me. I kept hearing similar stories about these high level executives hiring coaches. As an athlete, I always had coaches and as a psych major, I loved to study human beings. I heard NYU had a great coaching program so I signed up, got my degree and started my coaching business.”

Liz now works with C-Suite corporate executives and entrepreneurs within companies of all sizes, including Microsoft, Hearst, Wells Fargo, PricewaterCoopers, and many more. She helps organizations boost their leadership, transform their culture, plan for leadership succession, and onboard more effectively.

Liz loves the quality of her life as a working mom. She’s out in the world. She has interesting stories. Her kids are are so motivated that two of them want to work for her. She feels that work enhances her ability to be a good parent, and that her example will instill in her children to do what they love. She is now the breadwinner of the family. Lots of women do what they love but many don’t do what they love and financially thrive.

Jill Simonian, TheFabMom®

Before becoming a mom, Jill worked as a full-time entertainment journalist and television host. This included long hours (nights and weekends too) and travel on a moment’s notice. It was a fast-paced lifestyle that required focus and hustle. She loved it and actually freaked out when she discovered she was pregnant because she knew that chapter of her career could not continue (with sanity) with a new baby.

Jill still works in media and television, but on a more manageable scale and on her terms. Now, she is a hybrid of many things she loves to do. She is the founder of The Fab Mom.   She is  a writer for various parenting websites; a TV Personality; and an author. Her debut book for first-time moms was released last year — The FAB Mom’s Guide: How to Get Over the Bump & Bounce Back Fast After Baby.

Jill began her shift into blogging and digital media the month before she delivered her first baby in 2010. She attended digital media conferences and started networking for opportunities.  Eventually she landed her first on-camera job in the online mom niche. From that point on, she blogged during baby’s nap time, ramped up her social media and tried to learn as much as she could about this new industry that was rapidly growing online at the time.

“I love that I get to be at home with my kids in the afternoons, that I can take them to and from school without too much stress about ‘getting to work on time,’ and that I’m  the first one they talk to when they get in the car to come home,” said Jill.

Jill feels her children are thriving and more confident not only because she is available as a mom, but also because she is modeling what a self-made businesswoman looks like — one who is in control of how much she works and when.

Shifting careers is not always easy to do, but these women prove that there is no one path to take. What felt right yesterday may not work today. With 70% of moms working full time, more than ever women are looking to blaze their own trail.  Sometimes that trail needs to take another direction. It’s never too late to make a move. How has your own vision of success shifted as you’ve entered new stages of your life?

This guest post was authored by Lisa Druxman

Lisa is the founder of FIT4MOM, the nation’s leading company for pre and postnatal health, wellness, and fitness programs. FIT4MOM has created business opportunities for moms nationwide, with more than 300 franchisees and 1,000 locations across the U.S.

In addition to leading her team at FIT4MOM, Lisa is a noted speaker, author, podcaster and powerhouse of energy. A self-proclaimed mom boss, Lisa is passionate about paying it forward and empowering other women in life and business.

She has authored The Empowered Mama: How to Reclaim Your Time and Yourself While Raising a Happy, Healthy Family.

Druxman earned her Master’s degree in psychology  from San Diego State University. She created the weight management program, L.E.A.N. Mommy® (Learn Eating Awareness and Nutrition), which is also the name of her first book.

Druxman has written on business for Entrepreneur and on motherhood for magazines such as Fit Pregnancy, Shape and more. Druxman has appeared on the Today Show, CNN, Access Hollywood and Home & Family, to name a few. 

Druxman lives and relishes the FIT4MOM mission statement every day.

“Helping moms make strides in fitness, motherhood and life.”

She resides in San Diego with her husband, son and daughter.

The post Three Women Who Have Made Successful Career Changes appeared first on Ms. Career Girl.

Working remotely is growing in popularity across the nation. In fact, 3.7 million people work at least part-time from home. Since 2005, the number of work-at-home employees has grown by 115 percent.

The option may be available for you too. The volume of employers who allow telecommuting has grown 40 percent over the last five years, although it makes up a very small percentage of employers in the U.S.

If your boss doesn’t allow work from home flexibility, you might think about starting your own business or doing contract work. After all, 86 percent of employees say that they work better when they work from home.

There’s certainly a lot of freedom that comes with working remotely, but it’s not always as simple as you might think. In fact, there’s a dark side to working remotely you should know before jumping in.

You must be self-disciplined and self-motivated.

Although deadlines and time-tracking don’t disappear when you leave the office, there’s no one at home to watch and make sure you accomplish your work. If you don’t have the motivation or self-discipline to stay focused, working from home will be a challenge.

“People who do it well are entrepreneurial,” says Gary Swart, chief executive at the online work site oDesk. “They work well independently. A person who works from home should be someone who understands how to structure their time and knows how to communicate effectively. Since many stay-at-home jobs require regular email/text/phone communication, these jobs are best suited for people who are able to write/speak in a clear and concise manner.”

These habits can be learned, and there’s certainly a learning curve for those working remotely for the first time. However, be prepared for the changes.

Your friends, family, and neighbors might not understand.

Work-life balance will be a struggle, especially when you’re surrounded by people who don’t understand. People might ask you to babysit, run errands in the middle of the day, make appointments, and participate in other unscheduled surprises. Getting people to understand that being home doesn’t mean you’re available is a timeless challenge.

You might wonder where your social life has gone.

No more lunch dates with the office gang or going out for drinks with your co-workers on Friday night. You’ll talk to fewer people, and your work friends might not be there for you.

It’s nothing personal. It simply becomes difficult to connect with people when you don’t see them every day. If your social life is something you love, working from home might not be for you.

It’s easy to get less than 2,000 steps a day.

The average employee who works outside the office will get between 7,000 and 12,000 steps a day, indicating a relatively active lifestyle. When your daily commute consists of 10 steps from your kitchen to your office, you’ll be significantly less active than you were before.

“Not everyone who works from home gains weight, but I did,” says Chonce, a freelance writer and author of the blog My Debt Epiphany. “Working from home can create a sedentary lifestyle, which can lead to health problems now and in the future. Even though I love the work I do, I know it’s not right to lose time and end up sitting at the computer each day. This is why I try to stand when I can, take walks during the day, stay hydrated and head to the gym a few times a week.”

Promotions are more difficult to achieve.

In an MIT Sloan Management Review, researchers found that in-office workers were perceived as more reliable and responsible than those who worked from home. “Those who spent time with management outside of working hours got an even greater benefit, with bosses being 25% more likely to describe them as ‘committed’ and ‘dedicated,’” the report stated.

Since you’re not present, your work might go unnoticed. You might be twice as productive as your in-office coworkers, but your lack of physical presence could stand in the way of a promotion.

You might have to do your own taxes.

Some people become stressed at the idea of taxes. If you become your own boss or do contract work, you’re usually in charge of paying quarterly taxes, which is a big surprise if you weren’t planning for that throughout the year.

Some remote workers also have the challenge of taxes in foreign countries if they work there for any reason. Before you start working remotely in any location, talk to your accountant about preparation to minimize your tax burden.

The post Six Reasons Working from Home Isn’t Always Great appeared first on Ms. Career Girl.

College is finally over after all the heaps of assignments and exams. You managed to scale through in spite of the late night bashes and parties in the spirit of youthful exuberance. Now you’ve gotten a degree and a pretty “nice” job, but like with most things in life, you’re still not satisfied.

Nothing excites you about the job. You live everyday struggling to accomplish your tasks, barely making it through to the next day. There’s no excitement about going to the office. No motivation to carry on your duties. No feeling of fulfilment. And it’s like you’re not well compensated.

You do almost the same thing everyday. You wake up, go to work, come back late, then spend the rest of the day either attending to emails from work, or dreading what the next day will look like.

So, it’s either you’re trapped with a job that you hate or you’re not enjoying work at all. No doubt, you’re working to earn a living, but, it still remains whether you actually have a life to live.

While you ruminate on the idea of turning in your notice, you may also want to understand why you hate work so much.
Is it that your job really sucks or you’re not just cut out for it?

Knowing where the hate is coming from will help you identify the problem and make some needed adjustments. Or better still, it will give you an idea of the kind of job that will be more suitable for you.

With this in mind, here are five reasons why you hate work so much:

You are uninterested

Nothing is more worrying than having a job you don’t like. Though to anyone close, it may look like you’re doing well, but within you, you know there’s nothing interesting about your work. There’s no zeal, no drive, no determination, and absolutely nothing exciting to look forward too.

It seems everyday is the same-nothing new; just the same boring routine that saps life out of you.
There are no new challenges to stir and engage your mind. Just the same initiatives and tasks that you could do even while asleep. The same team, the same department, the same role, the same office, the same everything!
Why wouldn’t you get bored to the marrow?

You are not well compensated

When you are not adequately compensated, it’s becomes harder to cope with your daily activities because you already know your reward is small compared to your input. No one likes to work where they’re not receiving good pay and benefits. Even when they do, the quickly grow to hate the job because the poor remuneration.
It’s even harder when the paycheck is not enough to pay the bills. Still you work your fingers to the bone everyday.
No wonder, you despise your boss so much. Don’t worry, your resentment is justified.

Your boss doesn’t appreciate your effort

It’s also possible you’ve got a boss that doesn’t have the slightest idea of the amount of input you’re putting into the company. You don’t get any feedback for job well done and even when you do, it’s not encouraging. It’s more like you’re merely being used by the company to achieve their goals without any recognition or acknowledgement.

Though your pay is good, you still feel unappreciated because you are not getting the attention you deserve. You don’t receive any kind gestures from your boss. It’s like everyone is too busy to notice the great stuffs you’re doing. Even when you accomplish a difficult task, no one rewards or congratulates you. It feels like you are not even there.

You’ve reached the top of the ladder

Another possible reason why you hate your current job may be that you’ve gone very far in the company. It’s either you’re now occupying a top managerial position and there’s no more step to climb in the ladder. Or it could be that you’ve to wait for a very long while before you get another promotion. Whatever the case may be, you can easily get frustrated with work when reach a block in your career. Since there are no more goals to reach, no heights to climb, no new opportunities to explore, you will begin to see everything as pointless. And soon this leave you feeling unmotivated and unwilling to continue.

You don’t like the job

When passion is absent, motivation becomes a big problem. There’s no way you will like a job that you’re not motivated to do. You won’t have anything to look forward to. It’s just like you go through the same routine everyday, expending all your energy and time. You’ve eventually become displeased with everything and so you hate the work.
Even if your job is not something you would have loved to do, there should be particular aspect that gets you excited or else you will get bored to the mind. If the only reason you’re working is to get a paycheck at the end of every month, then it’s obvious you got no fire in the belly. It’s either you’ve chosen the wrong job or you’ve lost your passion.

This guest post was authored by Rebecca Vaxon.

I have a master’s degree in Economy, but the writing was always my passion.

I’m looking for new inspiration and be glad to bring something interesting and useful in lives of my readers.

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Image Credit.

The post Five Reasons Why You Hate Work appeared first on Ms. Career Girl.

National Boss Day is October 16th, and it’s the perfect moment to highlight female bosses.  But how about a #girlboss who made a career change from courtroom to catwalk?

Lori Riviere runs one of the top fashion PR agencies out of her Manhattan office managing PR for major fashion and accessories labels, including becoming one of the few agencies that manages shows for the official on-site shows at New York Fashion Week. As the owner of an award winning fashion PR agency with offices in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, people are often surprised to find out that Lori Riviere used to be a civil litigation attorney. She proves that you really can make a career change. I sat down with Lori and asked her a few questions about her challenging career path change.

When did you decide that you were going to leave the practice of law?

I knew immediately when I began to practice law that it wasn’t the right career for me. I didn’t fit in with other lawyers and was more excited about planning my outfit for the day than the court appearances I had scheduled. The fashion industry was where I wanted to be, but I didn’t really know where to start, so I started a fashion blog as a creative outlet. This was back before fashion blogging became what it is today and before social media came into play.

Back then, you wrote about the outfits you purchased from your favorite retailers and took selfies in your hallway mirror of your outfit of the day. There weren’t many of us out there and the whole blogging thing was really just in its infancy stages. Blogging itself wasn’t really a career path, but I thought it might give me ideas or open a few doors, and I found that it did.

How did you make the transition from law to fashion PR?

I had volunteered with fashion week, worked for an event planner and put together marketing plans as a freelancer for companies to make extra cash. After college, I worked as a marketing consultant for a consumer products company for a year before law school, so I had some background in PR, marketing and event production, but I had no contacts in fashion.

I had been practicing law for about 4 years, so my resume didn’t put me in a position for someone to offer me the type of job I knew I was capable of doing. Using my blogging platform, I began to freelance and take on small projects to begin to fill my resume and form connections. I worked with local boutiques and big brands alike. I started hosting events and eventually began putting events together for brands from soup to nuts, including PR, and did all of this while still working full time as in house counsel for an insurance company, so I worked 16-18 hour days.

Originally, the goal was to get my resume strong enough to go work for a fashion PR agency, but eventually I realized that my work ethic outmatched most and if I really wanted success, I would need to do my own thing. I tried to negotiate a part time work situation with my legal job, but they didn’t bite and so I started my agency with my laptop on my coffee table in my living room.

How did you grow your agency into what it is today with offices in Miami, New York and Los Angeles?

 I knew when I started the agency that other agencies would look better on paper than me, so I would compete by working harder and creating an agency that could provide answers and services for anything a fashion brand would need from producing a lookbook to working with bloggers. That meant working 18 hour days and working weekends and used any extra time I had to learn more about emerging practices like blogging and celebrity seeding or researching to find the absolute best contacts and not solely relying on the database subscription serves that all PR agencies use.

I was really blessed fairly early on to meet Nicole Doswell.  She is my most senior team member and basically runs the business with me, and I see her as a partner in the business and try to ensure her compensation reflects that. As we grow, I focus my energy on finding really good people who are hard workers, genuinely care about the work and operate with honesty and integrity.

I am also committed to having them share in the success of the business in terms of compensation, and I truly believe that is what sets us apart and will help us continue to grow. The energy you send out comes back ten fold, so I focus on doing amazing work and creating an awesome work environment. I find that with that everything sort of falls into place.

What advice do you have for someone looking to make a career change?

 I think a career change is possible for anyone, but you have to be ready to put in the work emotionally, physically and financially to make it happen. I think emotionally, you need to prepare yourself for rejection and people not believing in you. Often, women who look to make a career change are overachievers who are used to being sought after and at the top of their field, but when you enter a whole new industry you find yourself having to prove yourself in a way you never had to before and that can be hard.

I am thankful that my mom really taught me about the whole idea of positive thinking and sending out good energy because I find it to really propel me forward and make things happen that I absolutely never thought possible. You also need to be prepared to work longer hours and harder than you might have had to before.

I was not in a financial position to just quit my job and pursue my passion in the beginning, so I basically worked two full time jobs until I could afford to focus solely on my fashion PR business and form my agency. No one is going to hand you your dream, you have to work for it, but I think if you are willing to work hard and send out positive energy, you really can do anything.

The post #GIRLBOSS Inspiration For National Boss Day appeared first on Ms. Career Girl.