When leaving a job, (either by choice or by force) people are often either excited to be done, or sad to move on, but it’s important to realize what you can learn from past job experiences regardless of how you felt about them. Almost everyone you speak to will have at least one story about a horrible job, yet people will often be able to tell you what they learned from that experience.
What you can learn from past job experiences if you loved your job: If you loved or currently love your job, that’s great! When looking at a past or current job that you love, take inventory of all of your roles, duties, and responsibilities.
- Are there aspects that you didn’t like?
- Did you simply not enjoy doing these tasks or did you not enjoy it because you didn’t know enough about how to effectively do them?
- What specifically did you love about it?
- Are there any tasks or responsibilities that you excelled at?
- Is there anything else you would have liked to take on while in this role?
By taking note of both the good and bad aspects of a job you love, you will be able to take that information when moving forward and applying for something else. If you were director of a department but excelled at planning special events, perhaps the next role you apply for should focus more on that aspect of management. Similarly, if there was something you didn’t enjoy about the job, is it something that you could eliminate from your next potential job duties, or was it something out of your control like not enjoying your team members?
What you can learn from past job experiences if you didn’t like your job: If you didn’t like you’re job, it’s important to figure out why you didn’t like it and where that stemmed from.
- Were you unhappy with your work environment?
- Were there unrealistic expectations set for you?
- Did you simply not enjoy the tasks at hand?
- Did you not mesh well with company culture and/or management?
The most important thing you can learn from a past job that you didn’t like is how to direct yourself from falling into a similar situation in the future. If you didn’t like the work environment, what didn’t you like about it? Do you prefer to be surrounded by lots of people, or set aside in your own office space?
Similarly, if you didn’t like the management style, what didn’t you like about it. Figuring out what you didn’t like about the management and how you would have preferred it to be done will help you identify characteristics to look for in a manager going forward. This will also help you if you find yourself in a management role. Remembering what you did and did not like from your old managers will help you be the best manager you can be.
The Bottom Line: At one point throughout your career, chances are that you will have a job that you love, and one that you don’t like. Regardless of your feelings on the position, every role will give you insight which you can benefit from. When looking back upon your career, take inventory of your strengths, weaknesses, and feelings towards each job to figure out what you can learn from past job experiences.