Dead End Job Or
Dead End Manager?

Do you have a dead end job?

Having a job that appears to have no future can cause problems not only in your work life but in your personal life as well.

If you get bored at work and aren't sure where to turn, it can have a negative impact on your ability to do your work and can extend into your private life if your unhappiness follows you out the door at night.

Having said that, is there really such thing as a dead end job, or is it something else?

Is it your employer that is the problem?

More specifically, is it your boss?

I'm assuming of course that you are in the "right job" and that you are not in an ill-suited position that does not fit your skills and interests.

In this case, any similar job even with another company might appear to also be a dead end job if you're in the wrong industry, wrong field, wrong profession, etc!

So what if the problem is not the job or the company but your manager?

I've worked for small companies with less than 10 staff right up to very large corporations of over 8,000 staff.

The one thing I've found is that in each case, it was my manager who determined how I felt about the company and about my job in general.

If I liked the company I worked for, it was largely because of the direct interaction I had with my manager.

If I liked the job, it was because I liked working for my manager and felt that they tried to make my job as pleasant as possible.

Sure, the company's senior management made the policies and set the overall work environment but it was generally my manager who had the most impact on whether or not I liked the job and whether I figured the position I held was a dead end job or not.

With a good manager, I'd expect that I'd be able to approach them to discuss my desire to take on new work or additional responsibilities that might help me stop looking at my job as being a dead end one.

A good manager would also help me with my career progression within the company where possible.

Obviously the larger the company the more upward mobility you might have but I think a good manager can go a long way to preventing you from feeling like you have a dead end job.

Some people are simply not good managers of people and their lack of skills in this area can negatively impact how you feel about your job and how you perform it.

It can also cause you to make sweeping statements about your company or industry that may or may not be true, simply because of your interaction with your manager.