What on Earth do you do if you find a part-time job this summer and you suck at it? What if you’re just not cut out for this job?
Last week we looked at excelling at work. This week we need to change direction and be a little more negative. Life isn’t always going to be all sunshine.
What happens when you totally flop at your summer job? What do you do?
Work on your strengths.
Everyone tells you to work on your weaknesses so that you become well rounded. Guess what? Being well rounded just means that you suck at everything. You need to focus in on your strengths and expand on them.
For example, I loved working with people. I did well at every customer service related job. On the flip side, I could never handle isolation. I have too wild of an imagination to be alone for 8 hours. I knew that I needed to find work where I’m surrounded by people. This is why I always worked with my strengths and found work along those lines.
Look for new work.
The writing is usually on the wall. I’ve always know when a firing was coming. I could see it. The signs are fair similar:
- The boss doesn’t communicate with you.
- You get less hours.
- Less responsibility.
The trick is not to sulk or feel bad for yourself. You should start looking for new work ASAP. Don’t wait. Get on it right away. The longer you wait, the worse it gets. The best time to find a job is when you don’t need one. The second you become unemployed, you become very desperate. Employers will see this.
Start looking! Don’t wait. Send out resumes when you get home.
And on this note…
Leave on a positive note.
Do everything possible to always leave on a positive note. Don’t make a scene. Don’t staple your assignment to anyone’s forehead. Don’t slap anyone. This isn’t the movies. You can get charged, blacklisted, or be screwed for a reference letter.
A friend of mine recently quit a job. His letter of resignation was so touching that they called him to follow up. He definitely has a letter of reference coming his way. He might even be able to sneak his way back into this job if he really wanted to.
You might just need to try working on something else.
Being crappy at your job doesn’t automatically make you an entrepreneur. However, it might mean that you’re the kind of person that needs to be in charge and working on higher-level work.
This could be your sign to work on something else. Can you handle this?
That’s what you can do when things don’t turn out in your favor at your summer job. It’s not the end of the world. It’s all good. Life will move on. You just need to laugh it off and look forward to your next gig.
“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” — Abraham Lincoln
