7 Signs You Have Stayed On the Same Job For Too Long

If the following signs apply to you, you’ve probably stayed on the same job for too long:

1. If your co-workers are pushing shopping carts around your cubicle waiting for you to toss out unwanted office supplies or equipment
2. When your co-worker asks you a number or a code related question, you can toss out the answer in 0.2 second and thinking was not required. “Hey Christine, what is error code 2 and reason code 2035?” “Oh, Security violation!”
3. You spend 3 hours finishing the work that’s supposed to take 8 hours and surf the Internet for the rest of day. “Hey, I’ve done this same spreadsheet mapping for 1000 times! I deserve some fun and free time!”
4. When you are reading “Who moved my cheese?”, you are thinking out loud, “I probably ate 1000 pieces here already. Yeah, they start to taste boring to me. But I still got 35 pieces left!”
5. When your boss introduces you to the new hire, all he is talking about is how you helped him to be your boss on his first day here.
6. You start to wonder why you can’t understand the job descriptions on Monster.com anymore. “Hmm.. where are these new software coming from?”
7. You get pissed off when you found out that the new hire who is about 20 years younger is making more money. “They are paying these college kids $60000 to start??!! What the hell??!!”

There are benefits as to working on the same job for a very long time such as low stress level and seniority. But what if a layoff hits before you are ready to retire? I have known too many great workers who are not able to reconnect with the current job market simply because they have been maintaining the old systems and old technologies for way too long.

It’s great if the job gives you low stress because of what you know after doing it for so long. It’d be even better if you can pick up one or two new skills on the job to prepare for the rainy days. After all, this world moves too fast and we can be easily left behind if we don’t keep up with what’s going on around us.