New Season, New Outlook: How to Increase Your Job Satisfaction

If you’ve been unhappy in your current job, it’s time to shake off those blues. Spring has officially sprung, and with that, so should a new attitude. A Right Management survey last year indicated that roughly two-thirds of the population were dissatisfied with their job, but a recovering economy doesn’t necessarily breed fertile job hunting grounds.

You may be feeling dissatisfied too, but don’t jump ship just yet. Try out a few methods for increasing your job satisfaction before sending your resume out.

Get organized. This is a simple first step in getting geared up to change the way you feel about your job and workplace environment. Dust off your desk, spring clean your old files and look for ways to improve your current workflow processes.

While this is pretty basic, it might just be the refresher you need to get motivated about your job again. You might uncover projects that you were passionate about just sitting on the back burner, or it could be the kick-start to get your creative juices flowing with new ideas and innovations for your job and the company.

Map out a path. You may feel stuck where you are because you don’t know where you’re going. Let’s be honest: no one wants the same job for their entire career. The goal is to move up; and if you don’t have a plan for how you’re going to do that, it’s pretty easy to feel little to no job satisfaction.

With a bit of positive thinking, define where you want your career to go. Research whether you need further training or if a few conferences could give you that edge to put you on the path toward your next stop. Finally, talk to your boss about your intended career growth. He or she could have a big hand in helping you get ahead.

Be candid with your boss. Hopefully, you have a good working relationship with your boss. Be honest with him or her about your job satisfaction. You may find that they support your need to be and do more within the company.

And if you don’t have a great relationship with your boss, find a superior that can advocate for you. Ideally, there is someone in your workplace environment who supports your desire to be happy at work.

A new outlook can do wonders to increase your job satisfaction at work. You may find that sometimes, it’s not necessarily the job. It’s easy to get bogged down in the everyday tasks and responsibilities of a job that you’ve been doing for a few years. A grasp of the bigger picture might just be the breath of fresh air that you need to get motivated again.

Are you ready to put a new spring in your step at work? Let us know below.

IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by jessleecuizon