What’s worrying you at the workplace and around it? You ask, we answer

I have over 20 years of work experience in FMCG sales, hospitality, customer service, BPO in that order. My current job at a domestic BPO feels like drudgery and I don’t see myself in this company for long. I am also at a level junior to what I was in my previous company. I am convinced I have made a career-limiting move by joining this company, but at the time I joined, I had very little choice. My previous jobs have been in top-notch companies, and I have done quite well in most. However, the job switches have been frequent — nine so far. I am a little lost on how to proceed with my career and my confidence is at an all-time low.
Shiraz

Dear Shiraz,

You are hitting the inevitable plateau that frequent job-switchers do — once you’ve been through the entire circuit, you start setting off alarm bells among prospective employers. Of course you’ve made a career limiting move if you took a job that is at a level lower than what you had earlier. Job-switchers are forgiven if they always make an upward jump, but the minute you make a downward jump, alarm bells go off.

The thing with frequent job changes is this: Rolling stones gather moss only when they are moving uphill, in the initial stages of a career.

If, however, you have not settled down in any one industry and gained long-term experience, after about 10, or in your case 20 years, the downward spiral starts — because you are now competing at a level with people who have years of rock-solid domain experience in their industry, and you don’t.

Invariably, jobs start feeling like drudgery, because you are never hired to do the roles someone with 20 years in the same industry would be. However, you can’t go back and change your past, so it is good you recognise the problem. You need to get hold of a headhunter and start searching seriously for that last job. Until you find that, stay where you are; even if it’s drudgery.

For that last one, find a new sector where your skills are necessary, and a varied industry background is valued. There are thousands of new sectors coming up all the time, where solid sales and customer service experience is valued.

Look for start-ups, but avoid small companies — if you fall out of the big company circuit (domestic or MNC is irrelevant) into the SME circuit, it’s very hard to claw your way back. But you have to do it strategically, like chess. And remember, India is terribly ageist — after another five-or-so years, you won’t even get the kind of offers you do now. So do try to settle down.