I struggled at a job for almost 10 years with golden handcuffs, so I don’t take this term lightly.
Imagine this, you come from a bad work environment that lays you off after 7 years. Then, after trying to find something through the holidays – you get a job at a dynamic membership organization….and they’re offering more money than you’ve been paid since you left Seattle 9 years ago – fabulous!
You’re given one duty – supervise a sub-committee and their program within a longstanding committee. That’s it. You do it well, you do it quickly and you ask for more work. Then you ask for more work, and more, and more. You get turned down for two jobs that your (less qualified) peers get. Suddenly you’re 5 years in, trying to figure out if this job, and even if the pay is good, will it “will work for you?”
Little more explanation without getting too political, this is an extremely conservative organization (not who I am) and they are focused on the home building industry – which is of interest. Tried and tried to keep the focus on the positives, the pay was good, helping businesses build more homes. But, during the legislative session, the job was just – toxic.
But…by now you’re in it for 5 years and you’ve got kiddos now in college (and the pay is pretty dang good) and you are not sure you can get another job in your community with only an associate degree. So, you choose to stay. Try to find projects that meet your interest, where you can have some autonomy. You choose to stick your neck out more, and see what happens – then COVID.
By this point you’re done, you realize that you need to get out of there and so you start back to college. Then, in under a year – you’ve got an opportunity with a job to do the real work – putting people into homes and you can do the work you’ve always wanted to do – and the pay is the same!
