Stalled At Work? 3 Tips to Take Control of Your Career Growth

You probably can think of a million reasons you’re too anxious to leave your job right now. It seems like no one is hiring. Companies that are won’t meet your pay requirements. And what if you make a change and then get laid off?

The mood is dark. In the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Expectations released Nov. 7, consumers said they believe it’s increasingly likely the unemployment rate will rise in the next 12 months, and they’ll struggle to find a job if they lose their current one. That pessimism has some people clinging to their jobs for dear life.

But the consequences go beyond feeling anxious. You may also feel stuck. It wasn’t long ago that jobs were plentiful and companies were competing to keep or steal top talent by offering new perks and big pay bumps. Left and right, people were quitting their jobs without another one lined up.

Now, there’s been a fundamental shift. Maybe that next promotion isn’t coming. Instead, your boss has handed you a heavier workload disguised as a growth opportunity. At any other time, you’d seek out greener pastures. But now…

Navigating today’s job market takes courage. Whether you’re starting a job search or struggling to stay grateful in a dissatisfying situation, focusing on what’s in your control may help. We talked to career experts about how to make your next move — even if you’re staying put.

“A few years ago…we were talking about things like job-hopping,” says Jasmine Escalera, a career expert with career services site My Perfect Resume. “People realized that, ‘If I want to get what I want — meaning growth, titles and of course, pay — I can’t stay in the same job forever anymore.”

But now people are hesitating to leave, whether out of fear that a recession is coming or that AI will soon take their jobs, Escalera says. “But what that essentially means is that employers have a little bit more power and a little bit more control over what they give and what they don’t give to employees.”

Instead of clamoring to retain their best people, employers are leaning on those workers to do more with less pressure to reward that effort. Many American workers are experiencing the consequences of that. In a recent survey, Escalera found that roughly three in four workers said they’ve taken on new job duties without a pay raise or promotion. And half said they were promised promotions or other opportunities that never came to fruition.

Recognizing the shift in the job market means acknowledging that it is not the easiest time in history to find a new job or get a meaningful pay raise. For context: Monthly pay insights from ADP show that median pay grew around 4.5% for people staying in their jobs and 6.7% for people starting new jobs in October. But workers may remember when raises were much better. In April 2022, median pay growth for job changers peaked at 16.1%. And employers fighting to keep workers happy were giving job stayers median pay raises of 7.7%.

In the midst of that broader context, it’s normal to feel discouraged, says Emily Frank, a Denver-based career counselor and coach. But it’s also helpful to stay positive.

“Things are really ugly at the moment on the job market,” Frank says. But she’s seen circumstances like this during the recession in 2008. People felt locked into their jobs or spent ages searching. People were suffering and battling anxiety as a result. “And we got through it,” she says.

If you’re feeling stuck but want real growth opportunities in your career, you can start by interrogating your own goals and interests to define what success might look like for you, Escalera says. “Oftentimes what happens is employees will say, ‘I don’t feel fulfilled. I don’t feel like my company is valuing me.’ But they haven’t even really defined for themselves what that means.”

To suss it out, ask yourself good questions about what you want to develop or projects you want to pursue. It may also be a good time to connect with your financial advisor, if you have one, to talk through how your career goal could help you meet your financial goals.

Frank recommends pursuing personal growth when a job is stagnant. Start working toward a certification that’ll increase your chances of getting promoted. Meet with someone whose work you admire for some formal or informal mentoring. Track your progress as you develop a new skill.

“Taking on new learning, new challenges tends to feel really good in general,” Frank says.

If you identify ways you want to grow, turn it into a conversation with your manager. Be willing to be open and curious, says Jackie Cuevas, an Orange County, California-based human resources professional known on TikTok for giving career advice from “your friend in HR.” If you like the company, this is a chance to show your manager what it would take to keep you there.

“It might help you feel better or might help you see, okay, this isn’t the place for me,” Cuevas says. That doesn’t mean you have to quit your job immediately. But maybe you’ll feel more empowered to chart your path forward.

If you are employed and starting to look for a new job, Escalera recommends shaping your search to reflect the growth you want. Keep in mind growth could mean anything — higher pay, a chance to learn new skills or a new field entirely.

“If you’re going into a job search and you’re saying, ‘I’m leaving my company because they’re not giving me the growth that I’m seeking,’ then you better make sure you’re getting it from the next one,” she says. “Or else you’re signing on to something that leaves you in the exact same position that you’re in.”

While the job market is slow right now, it’s not flat-lined. But be prepared for the search to take time. If you start to feel discouraged, Frank suggests getting creative with your strategies to pursue a variety of job leads. For example: