Scenario: you are fresh out of college, or perhaps in college, with a family. This is a more common situation than was present in your parents' or grandparents' generations. You are looking forward to a career in your chosen field, but are not sure where to start. You don't have the luxury of forgoing money for internships because, again, you have a family. You've heard the buzz about degrees being required, but then see all these jobs that don't just want a person with a degree - they want experience with the education. But how are you supposed to gain experience to do the dream job you want to do when you have a family and have to keep a job down?
This is an even more important and troubling question when you have more than one child or one parent has to stay home because it would be more expensive to put the child(ren) in child care during the day. Are you then stuck in an entry-level position making just above minimum wage for years before you can see the benefits of any education you gained? And how do you pay for your student loans in that time when you are part of the paycheck-to-paycheck population?
The answer is not easy. I myself have been stuck in the forbearance cycle with my student loans because, since my graduation with a Business degree in 2007, the economy sucks and the degree didn't get me anywhere else in my career yet. I am now faced with this same series of questions as I struggle to hold on to an assistant management position in retail that is a daily frustration (mainly due to coworkers) and a doom scenario. I work 50 hours a week doing a job I don't necessarily care for, in circumstances, office politics speaking, that I hate with a passion, and I can't go finding another job.
There are three reasons why I say I can't change jobs. And they are concerns for many young families in my area, as well as around the US.
Of course, the economy is still in a recession. Job outlooks and financial statements don't change the family table and what discussions are erupting. People getting laid off, jobs getting shipped overseas and the constant threat of a return to recession-level unemployment with development of other countries is not the idle banter that the American family wants to conduct. Having a position that is relatively stable and moderate in income is pretty important.
I am also in a management position for the first time in 7 years. For some, this could be the first time period, and technically this is the first position with the word "manager" in the title for me. Giving up the position means potentially having to start over with another position that could be simply entry-level, having to work my way back up into middle management. And, because I have only been in the position for three months, I don't expect anyone to take that experience seriously. So it is logical to assume that there is a bigger benefit drudging through the daily grind to attain the prize at the end: a combination of experience and time in the job that will transfer to another opportunity.
Finally, I still have to think about my family. This last but personally more important aspect of job changing considers my values and dynamics that affect my family in this decision. I don't want to tell my kids that, in that position, my personal desire to be content with my daily tasks forced me to give up the opportunity to further my career and potentially move on to grander things. In essence, I don't want to be a quitter and pass that mentality on to my kids. As well, I have to rationalize going into a new position, with the potential for layoffs or not working out with the company and facing unemployment. Then I have to consider how the schedule difference, transportation changes and other daily and weekly routines changing affect my family's schedule. Would they be happier with me working somewhere else?
My decision, though it keeps my stress level high and my dissatisfaction lingering, is to stick it out. Financially, it is a burden on my family because it's so big and I don't make a lot, regardless of the number of hours (that is also due to child support, which I am fine paying, and a student loan garnishment, which is a whole other story). But it works for the fact that we only have an old, bench-only truck as a vehicle. With my first anniversary in the job being the point at which I moved up to assistant manager, my District Manager is saying it shouldn't be too long before I move up further, possibly even running my own store.
When you are a young, developing family with career aspirations, you have to do risk analysis. Things like return on investment of time, probability of success, cost-benefit analysis and ripple effect on dependencies are all risk considerations you have to make in determining the next step of your job.
Example Questions to Ask Yourself
What are the investments I will be making on each path I am potentially taking?
Time is the basis of all employment; an employer is paying you for your time in most circumstances. Financial investment (gas money, lunches, clothes, supplies, etc) is another consideration. Maybe spending time in a position that is not part of your real career path means you are investing in a specific aspect of a job in contrast to other parts you already know or don't want to do. Consider any investment of yourself and your situation in the different possibilities.
Will these investments have a high return?
Will your investments above reward you enough to be worth it? If the reward is smaller than the toll it takes on your time, finances or family, maybe it's not worth it.
How will dependencies on my tasks be affected by my actions?
This is more of a project planning question. Dependencies are anything that is affected by an action, like a ripple effect, and can be extrapolated as far as you want to go. Center it around the people involved first, then the groups of people, and finally the extended entities or individuals that matter to you. Maybe accepting a job as a graphic designer is a good career path for someone who wants to be in creative services as a career, but consider the residual effects after you choose that position: what you would bring to the job, how long you will stay there, if you are able to get along with people there, if the drive is tolerable, if it affects your family time, if your family will like the fact that you work there, if stress levels will affect your relationships with others, if the work itself is something you would be proud of, if you will have an impact on that organization's culture, if the culture would have an impact on you, or even your contribution to the world through the position you take. These are just some of the considerations to make, and their impact on your decision depends on how much each means to your own values.
Planning a career is not just about you when you have a family. You need to treat your family like an extension of yourself. Whatever affects you affects them, though maybe not in the same way. In fact, what you are happy about could be a detriment to your family. Thinking that your family has to accept your career decisions or they can just leave is selfish, a form of vanity. Christians would consider it a sin (at least those who really follow the seven deadly sins, not the ones who figure God gave them the right to divorce). For truly devoted family men and women, sometimes you just have to trudge through the muck to get to paradise.
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