When the job simply doesn’t ”feel right”, work becomes more difficult than it needs to be, resulting in a lack of motivation, feelings of resentment and a loss of confidence in your abilities. Photo: File.
Leah Lambart remembers the mistake she made when she jumped into her first ”great new job” without taking the time to ask herself: ”Is it going to be great for me?’’
When I landed my first graduate role as a tax accountant at KPMG, I thought I had made it.
On paper, everything looked perfect — a prestigious Big Four firm, a supportive team culture, and a great career path mapped out.
Yet beneath the surface, something didn’t feel quite right. While I loved the people and the culture, I wasn’t working in my ”best fit” role.
As time went on, I began to have feelings of disengagement. I became demotivated and started to lose confidence.
On reflection, this is all so obvious now, as I wasn’t working with my core strengths, I lacked interest in the technical content (taxation) and I also didn’t love how I had to work (in an office, 9 to 5, sitting at a desk).
It wasn’t until I made the leap into recruitment that everything changed. Suddenly, I was energised by my work.
For the first time, I was using my strengths every day, doing work that aligned with my interests, and working in an environment that allowed me to get out and about, meeting clients and candidates all over Melbourne.
On top of that, I had the independence and autonomy I craved — almost like running my own business within a business.
As a result, I spent the next six years thriving in that role, was regularly nominated as the most valuable employee of the month and tripled my salary within the first year.
This is what happens when we are doing work aligned with our core strengths, interests and values.
The truth is, when we are not in our ”best-fit role”, the impact is often felt at work first. Work may feel more difficult than it needs to be, we can suffer from a lack of motivation, feel resentment and lose confidence in our abilities.
Unfortunately, this misalignment at work often spills over into life outside of work. It can affect our relationships, impact our wellbeing, and take a toll on our mental health.
Many people report feeling drained or irritable at the end of the day, leaving little energy for family, friends, or personal interests.
Left unchecked, this can lead to a downward spiral as we start to feel like there is no way out.
So, how can you tell whether you’re in your best-fit role?
At Relaunch Me, we’ve developed The 6 Cs model to help you evaluate what is and isn’t working:
- Content – are you genuinely interested in what you are working on?
- Competence – are you playing to your core strengths?
- Control – do you like ”how” you are working?
- Culture – do you enjoy the people you work with, and do your values align?
- Career progression – are you continuing to learn, grow, and develop?
- Compensation – are you satisfied with your income and future earning potential?
If even one of these areas is out of balance, it’s likely you’re not in your best-fit role.
However, we can’t expect every role to be perfect 100 per cent of the time. That’s why we also need to consider a seventh C – Compromise. If you can’t have everything, what are you willing to compromise on?
Leah Lambart is the founder of Relaunch Me, based in Victoria. She helps people find the work that they were meant to do. She can be contacted at [email protected]. This article first appeared on Leah’s blogsite.
