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I kind of feel like both are true.
The threat of starvation and homelessness is a pretty strong coercion to keep working at all...
...but nobody's really stopping you from job-hunting if you really hate this particular job rather than the concept of having a job at all.
I'm not going to sit here and be like "just go back to school, get certifications, blah blah blah" because seriously fuck that. You and whose fuckin' Time Turner?
That said, even looking for a less-awful workplace doing the same thing you're already doing could be an improvement in your overall mental health and life situation. A small step, maybe, but I know from myself and people around me that it can be a step.
but nobody’s really stopping you from job-hunting if you really hate this particular job
Yes and no. It might be extremely difficult to get an interview due to the hours you're currently working.
Sorry not sorry but this is a weak ass excuse. Maybe not all places will accomidate but Most jobs prefer remote interviews now. I once told an interviewer before the labor shortage I had to step into my office, and she heard me close my car door in my then jobs parkinglot. She asked if it was my car and we had a laugh about it. I told her before the initial call I only had 20 min when I set the meeting with a hard stop and would love to continue the discussion after hours. We did and I got the job. Now as a hiring manager I'll talk to you at 2am if thats your only availability and think you are a good fit for my team.
How is it a weak ass excuse? If you're scheduled to work during the hours that interviews are available, what the hell are you supposed to do?
TLDR: reschedule it. Hiring managers aren't inflexible and if they are, take it as a red flag you don't want to work there.
I thought my example was pretty on point, but I'll describe this in more depth from 2 perspectives:
- You - I got an email asking for a job interview tomorrow, but i have work and cant miss it. I have 2 breaks and a lunch and the ability to tell the interviewer i can only meet for 15 or 20 minutes. Reply "I am scheduled to work, can we meet before or after and if not can we do a round 1 interview in the amount of time I do have available?" Thinks to self - I'd be happy to skip a meal today so i can get a chance to leave a job i that is a bad fit for me. I'll take the call from my car, a quiet space in my building or on the sidewalk, it doesn't really matter as long as I behave like a functional adult.
- Hiring Manager - I really need to fill this position and someone is interested enough to send a well composed resume. This person is clearly committed to their responsibilities being unwilling to bend over immediately at request, but committed to finding ways to make challenges work by asking me for the opportunity to interview out of normal business hours. This sounds like a person I would want on my team. I will accommodate the request to meet quickly to qualify them before asking the department manager to schedule a time after hours or to ask them to come in on a weekend.
- this is pretty typical process from a small business to a fast food joint to a GSA fortune500. I know this is anti-work and all, but you have to show a little willingness to work if you want to work a job that doesn't treat you like a number.
Call your boss. Tell them you're sick. Go to the interview.
You find other interviews that can fit your schedule.
Can you? Are you sure? You really think there aren't people who have trouble scheduling interviews due to their current job's schedule?
I think there are people that have trouble with a lot of things, but as far as practical advice for living in society, I think that's a shit excuse.
For anyone that trapped, you have my sympathies.
I agree with you to an extent. From my personal experience, working at a string of shitty companies, some industries don't provide better opportunities. In service jobs for example you usually can only choose between being treated like "a piece of shit" or "a human who is also a piece of shit".
Additionally, working 8 hours as a punching bag, plus 1 hour unpaid overtime, plus 2 hour commute doesn't leave much energy to write applications.
I also managed to get out of it eventually, but I've always been overqualified for the service industry and always had problems with authority, which made it easier for me to question the way I was treated. Still it was way harder than it had to be.
That feels like a musical chairs approach to this issue, where people who find a good job are lucky and sit in that and the rest shuffle between the shitty job leftovers. I recently found a decent job and it‘s only cause the guy retired after 30 years. Now I can only hope they will keep me on, or else I get to participate in that awful game again. Or maybe it will turn shitty for some other reason, like how there is no raises and my rent keeps going up anyway.
We even got unions in my country, and still we ended up like this where a lot of people switch jobs every few years to try and keep up with inflation. I’m not saying don’t take that step though. Sorry, I got no point I think? Just a rant your comment inspired in me.
Sometimes you need a good rant; no harm done.
You need to be very certain though. What if the new job doesn't work out and they decide 6 months later they don't need you after all? Having a job, as shitty as it might be, is stability. Changing a system always comes with risks.
(Never mind that a different job needs to even be available without moving your whole life elsewhere)
Stagnation also comes with risks.
Your current shitty job could do the same thing.
You should always be casually interviewing. Your current employer should be passively fighting to keep you (with the conditions and comp and growth your are experiencing there). If another job offers more, off you should go.
True, it could also happen to my current job. But then I haven't actively done anything to cause it. I haven't gone out of my way to change the situation and thus made it worse. That's a big factor in why people are afraid of change, the risk of actively and inadvertently making it worse, instead of passively enduring.
(Disclaimer: I'm on disability so I don't have a "current job" and I also live in a place with decently sane labour laws)
But just enduring the current job also comes with a risk even in a country with strong labor laws. Not changing jobs comes with stagnation of skills and wages. I’ve heard plenty of stories of loyal employees who worked the same job for decades but who now earn less than the new hires and they are now at a point where switching jobs is hard since their skill set hasn’t improved for years. Risk averse people are also often too afraid to even renegotiate their wages. And bosses know that and exploit that.
This is just accepting the same amount of risk but denying yourself agency in improving your life.
Ask yourself if you would accept that in any other situation - same risk, but no agency. I'd hope the answer is no.
Nobodys stopping you but having a miserable job can take its toll and can affect your job hunt. At least it did for me. After years of failed job hunts and a difficult battle with MDD and alcoholism my Dr signed me off sick until I got a new job. In a short period I had 3 job offers.
3months off with full pay. Spent a couple days a week job hunting. Rest of the time went walking in the national parks with my dog. At the end I had a 60% better paying job, no more commute, no more being voluntold to drive around the country to tasks I had zero training for and much better colleagues. One of my best times of my life.