Here is another career inquiry sent to advice@goingconcern.com. I confirmed with Caleb that none of the text was lost when it was transmitted to me.
Staff auditor w/$40,000 pay approaching 6 years at small firm that does complex alphabet soup audits. Boss says not to come in early and not to stay late, created rules last six months that prevent mobile working. Too small to be hurt by Obamacare, but OT hard to come by nowadays. Complete idiot – not fun coming into work. Feel that every client I go to is uncompetent and this job is not worth it. I want to be Walmart greeter and enjoy life.
Something tells me that you are lazy. Perhaps it is the lack of complete sentences and pronouns in your writing. Maybe it was an uncompetent word choice. Or it could be the absence of an actual request for what you want advice on.
I could pull out my accounting career decoder ring to decipher what you are really asking. But I’d rather address the lazy factor, which is likely an underlying issue that stands in the way of you enjoying your career (and perhaps your entire life).
Being a staff auditor for six years indicates a lack of career progression. Aside from your subpar written communication skills, why aren’t you a supervisor or manager yet? Oftentimes people who lack ambition in career advancement do so because they are ambivalent about their career path. Why take on greater responsibilities if you don’t enjoy the basics?
Unlike what you did with your email to us, you are going to have to put forth some thought and effort if you want to create something different and enjoy your life.
I’d encourage you to get clear on what you do and don’t like about your job. I know a lot of accountants would be jumping for joy if they were told to not come in early or stay late. Are you longing to grind out more hours? Do you have an unmet desire to be challenged? Or do you simply reference the hours because you can no longer get the OT, which reveals a desire to make more money? What really drives you?
You might also want to explore why the boss man has you feeling so disempowered. Flexible work arrangements may have been tightened up because staff was abusing the privilege. Or your boss wants to revert to Stone Age ways of doing business. Whatever the case, I have a sense that this “complete idiot” move put a real bee in your bonnet. How come? Is it because you want to be in an innovative and flexible work environment and not one with facsimile machines and a three-ring audit binder? Or is your lazy ass mad because you can’t sit in your boxers and tick and tie?
I don’t know the answers and you may not either. Rather than wallow in mediocrity, I invite you to take a look at what you do and don’t want from a work environment. From there, you will have a better sense of whether you should stay or if you should go. And if you decide to go, you will know what you are looking for. And you might also want to enroll in a writing course.
