How to handle a Quarter life crisis?
Graduated almost 2 years ago [24F] and mindlessly followed the majority of my peers and went into audit.
However, due to working for a toxic client with little to no supervisor guidance and support, my mental health deteriorated rapidly and I quit early this year.
I applied to other jobs during my notice period and took up the first job offer I received only to foolishly realise that the industry wasn’t what I was interested in (semi-con/engineering).
Though the people and culture in my company is infinitely better, I can’t help but still feel like something is missing and I still feel lost and aimless in life.
I drag my body and soul to work and I sometimes feel like yes doing things I like in the weekends makes me happy but that happiness is temporary.
But in the same vein, the unhappiness at work is also temporary. (I know I may seem ungrateful and yes it is a blessing to have a job in this economy but everyday I still feel)
I’ve worked at both jobs at slightly less than a year and I wonder if it’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.
So I just want to know your experience about this and whether I should just suck thumb, shut up and deal with this as it seems that so many people seem to have come to terms with this?
I keep ruminating over what I should do? Stay for another year so I don’t seem like a job hopper? Take a master’s? Transition into another career again? Thanks for reading till here.
Netizens’ comments
I’ll say stay put not because that’s what you should do long term.
Stay put so that you can figure out what you dislike or like in your current job. Reflect back to your audit days. How is it different in this job?
Make a shortlist of 3 things you absolutely prioritise in your work. Is it money? Work life balance? Feeling the work is mentally engaging? (If it is this, what kind of work makes you mentally engaged).
With that in mind, take a look at what industries is relatively easy for you to join. You did audit so I guess you have accounting background. What industries have similar accounting / business models that you can convince the hiring manager to hire you? Just apply for all the accounting, finance, and analytical roles in those industries, ensuring you have done enough to update your resume.
If you get interviews, prepare for it. Both in terms of how to get the job and also what questions can you ask them to find out if you can get what you want in a job. If culture matters, find out what questions can you ask to suss that out.
If you don’t get interviews, then it might be more justified to consider further education after you exhausted all efforts to update your resume. Or if you just hate accounting then maybe a switch in career paths. But either way, don’t jump into further education unless you are clear what you want from work and whether this cert helps you get that.