11 Warning Signs Your Career Has Stalled

(By Charles Purdy, Monster Senior Editor)

Your career can lose power for many reasons: a lack of opportunities, industry changes and plain old boredom are just a few of them.

Are you wondering whether your career has stalled? Here are some of the top warning signs, according to experts:

1. Your role and responsibilities haven't changed in a few years or more.

2. You've bounced from employer to employer without much change in job title or salary.

3. You can't remember the last time you learned something new about your industry or field.

4. People hired after you have been promoted faster than you.

5. You're not invited to important discussions or meetings of the kind you used to attend.

6. You have fewer job duties than you used to.

7. Your performance reviews contain terms like "consistently meets expectations" or "adequate performance."

8. No one at work asks for your help -- or no one in your professional network asks for advice.

9. You dread going to work in the morning.

10. Your manager and coworkers stop communicating with you -- in general, your phone rings less and you get fewer emails.

11. You spend a lot of time complaining about work, or and when you tell stories about work, you are the story's "victim," not its hero. Sound familiar? Never fear -- there are plenty of ways to get your career back in the fast lane. Here are some ideas:

Talk to Your Boss

A first step is to address problems head-on. For instance, if you've been stalled in the same position at the same employer, request a copy of the title hierarchy and job descriptions in your organization, says Debra Yergen, author of the Creating Job Security Resource Guide. “Work with human resources and your boss to find out what steps you need to take to move from where you are to the next step up,” she says.

Alternatively, tell your boss you're ready for new challenges and new assignments. If you've been quietly doing your job and keeping your head down, he may not realize that you're feeling unfulfilled.

Ask for What You Need

Alan G. Bauer, president of recruiter Bauer Consulting Group, says you can ask your manager for tips on what you need to improve. Also, he says you can ask your HR department what's going on with an overdue raise. "If your merit increases are lower than your coworkers', there may be an issue,” he says. “The company budgeted a certain amount for salary increases -- if you aren't getting your share, you need to find out why."

Brad Karsh, founder and president of the career-services firm JobBound, says to look for ways to be more effective, efficient and strategic. “Ask your manager about the possibility of a rotational program to see the inner workings of the company and gain fresh perspective and new ideas," he says.

Take Initiative

Karsh also suggests figuring out what keeps your boss up at night. “Find a way to solve that problem,” he says. “You need to be a key player."

You can also take some classes or work toward a degree, suggests Mary Greenwood, author of How to Interview Like a Pro.

Or consider on-the-job training. "If you value continuous learning, you can volunteer for a project that will require new skills,” says executive coach Elene Cafasso. “Perhaps you can transfer to another area of the business or learn what's needed to back up a coworker."

Rick Dacri, author of Uncomplicating Management, suggests getting actively involved in a professional association. “Get a leadership role, speak before the group or write an article for the newsletter, for instance," he says.

Adjust Your Attitude

Negativity is one of the worst career killers. "If you are spending a great deal of your energy moaning and whining about your circumstances, it's time to try and make a new start before you become so emotionally expensive that the organization feels the need to cut you," says Cy Wakeman, author of Reality-Based Leadership.

Identifying your dissatisfaction and taking steps to resolve it is the first step. The next step may be to update your resume and start looking for a new job. "It may be that hanging on to an unhealthy or unproductive employment relationship is what's holding you back,” Yergen says. “I've witnessed a handful of people this year who have identified their dissatisfaction and set a date to quit -- even without a job waiting -- and found something just before or just after the date of their resignation. Sometimes you just have to take that step."

If your career is stalled, perhaps a new career is the right answer. Start exploring options by reaching out to your professional network, job shadowing or talking to your HR department about an internal transfer.

*Aries*

The New RULES

I'm soon to be (back?) in the Boys' Club, & I need to be prepared to rise to the top. Below, a few gentle suggestions for any woman in a male-dominated field.

RULE #1: Befriend The Other Woman. She is not the enemy. She is never your enemy. The enemy is always any guys who are creating situations that limit the number of females allowed. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down.

The idea that men will be turned off by ambition or success is just another part of the big lie. It is meant to scare you and keep you from questioning the system. The only men who are turned off by ambition and success are men that are insecure about their own talents and success or lack thereof.



Things That Might Happen While You Are In The Boys' Club:

- it will be suggested that you are only considered talented because you are a woman, implying that even if you are talented, you are just "talented for a woman." Untalented men jealous of your skills will cling to this even when it becomes clear how blatantly untrue it is.

It involves the idea that being beaten by somebody who is "lesser" is emasculating and humiliating. But that women should be happy, even excited to be beaten by men in all situations, because women's egos are always discounted as being secondary to men's.

- Whatever you look like, it will be used against you. If you're attractive it will be used to suggest that men are just pretending to care about what you think in order to try to fuck you. If you're unattractive, it will be used to discount you as a human being entirely, on the grounds that a woman who is not physically attractive to heterosexual men is a completely useless entity, no matter how smart or talented she is.

- You may be praised in a way that is so backhanded and/or condescending you're not really sure if it still counts as praise.

- The conversations will all be oriented around straight men and their desires.

- Boys' clubs exist to protect and preserve the right that some people believe they have to make no allowance for anyone else. That is privilege.

- If you dig too deep with some people it will come out that they genuinely do believe that women are less interested in things than men are. That women who have interests are outliers or unusual cases, This is part of a larger heterosexual male narcissism wherein it is assumed that all of women's interests are related to men: that if a woman is a record nerd, it is because she learned about it from a guy or she hopes to meet men through it rather than because she just genuinely enjoys music. This is obviously total bullshit.


Read more wit here.

*scorpio*

This is why I love fashion...

Our refrigerator at the office:



Today I had to go to Harlem to get the last of my medical clearance for our volunteer work. I forgot I was treking up there while dressing this AM, and while my ensemble is lovely and stylish for our midtown offices, it got a bit of a different reaction uptown.

"If you're outfit didn't look so expensive, I'd call you a hooker!"

I replied, "And you're...what? Homeless?!"

And then I ran.


*scorpio*

Scenes from a Work-ation...

Absolutely adored the room service...

These cookies were off-menu but there's nothing better than the decadance of warm milk & cookies to send me off to sleep.
(And make that 5:30 AM wake-up call for the gym that much more bearable!)


I only take bubble baths in hotels. A little wine, a little music... Bubbles, bubbly and Buble (Michael, that is) spell vacation for me.


Finally, nothing better than sprawling out on a big king size bed with no one to hog the covers... and someone else to make it in the morning! Perfection.

*scorpio*

MIA

Been jetting around for the J.O.B.... last night rewarded myself with a little room service. That's a fudgy brownie sundae with carmel and chocolate, along with the requisite glass of wine.


All curled up in my king bed with skyline views... don'tcha just loooove room service?

Aries & I have started our volunteer work and it's been super time consuming. We're basically locked in to 40+ hours of training, mostly on the weekends. Sure, the personal and social sacrifice has been great (you definitely learn who your friends are once you can't make every social engagement any longer), but we're really excited about what we're learning. I want to write a bit about it once I get some time... it's not really something I can just blurt out without editing & thought.

xoxo
scorpio

10 AM Terror

Every morning at 10 AM, I take two extra-strength Advils to ward off the splitting headache that I have learned soon follows Her arrival. She walks speedily around the corner and into my eyeline. Five-five and maybe 100 lbs with long raven hair, she dresses in the hobo-chic attire that is popular amongst the downtown set. Having only worked for her a few weeks, I already know that her diminutive stature belies a sharp and punishing intelligence.

“SMITH!”* she calls once she’s reached her office, just behind my desk. (She only calls me by my last name- like a football player or a frat boy). I rise and go to her doorway, awaiting my instructions. “Get me Pippa, Steven, Susan, Emily, Gia, Melissa, Amy,” she says, without looking up. I rush to my phone and call up to Footwear Design, hoping Pippa and Gia have arrived. Design typically starts their day later than the rest of the team, and 10 AM is cutting it close. If they’re not at their desks, I know it will be my fault.

While Pippa’s line is ringing, She continues to call out instructions to me. “I need a smoothie, and I want to see last week’s Top Ten,” she says just as Pippa picks up. “Yes, on it!” I shout, as Pippa waits on the line. “Pippa, She wants to see you, and bring Gia,” I say and quickly hang up. I have several more people to wrangle, a smoothie to order, and a Top Ten report I need to figure out in the next five minutes. I can already tell by the way She’s behaving that this meeting is going to be bad, and I want to avoid the probing questions that inevitably arise whenever someone is summoned abruptly to her office.

I spend the next few minutes rushing around our floor, summoning the others. I hate this part. Everyone looks at me like I am the merchant of death, cowering in their chairs and breathing a sigh of relief only when I pass. I am the second-most feared person in our division.

Once everyone’s informed and filing into her office, I rush downstairs to the local bodega. I’ve built a relationship with the employees there; they all know for whom I work. I eye Luis and make the signal for the large. She only likes one type of smoothie, and only Luis knows the recipe. It’s not listed on the board, and is called simply, “Her smoothie”. This is the most torturous part. The drink takes a full five minutes to create, five minutes that I never have, especially not today. I know that right now, she’s yelling at everyone in her office, and I know that she’s counting the minutes until I return. The longer I’m gone, the less I’m prepared for whatever curveball she’ll throw me as a result of the meeting. I need to be upstairs, hearing her through the closed door, anticipating what’s to come. And, I still need to figure out to which Top Ten report she was referring. I am new enough that most of what she says is over my head, and the previous assistant didn’t prepare me nearly as well as I’d like to be.

Finally, I return to her office, open the door and place the smoothie and her change on the desk. She doesn’t even glance at me, so consumed by her line of questioning. Pippa is the only one standing in her office; the others are sitting around her in a semi-circle, watching. I move to leave, but as I reach the door handle, She says, “Smith, I want you here for this.” I perch along her sideboard, notebook in hand, another audience member for her show.

Pippa is standing because She has asked her to. She is peppering her with questions, interrupting her before she finishes her response. It’s painful to watch, this public humiliation. Pippa has just been hired to design a line of footwear for the ‘contemporary, fashion-forward girl’ and from what I’ve heard, she’s quite talented. Unfortunately, she knows it, and She doesn’t take kindly to expertise, unless it’s her own.

The war of wills between them continues for a full half hour, and Pippa is mightily defensive. She is trying to get Pippa to admit that she doesn’t know what she’s doing when it comes to leather sourcing, but Pippa refuses to agree. The sideboard is too hard and too awkward a height for me to sit comfortably, and I find myself squirming, trying to find some padding for my already aching butt bones. I’m aware that I haven’t eaten yet and it’s nearing 11 AM. I will my stomach not to rumble.

Finally, Pippa grudgingly concedes a tiny point, and storms out of the office telling Her that she doesn’t have the time to continue this conversation any longer. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to Her like that, and I have to admit, I’m a little afraid for her. Regardless, I am relieved, thinking the meeting must be finished. I am wrong. For the next hour, She explains to her captive audience exactly what is wrong with Pippa. It’s almost a character attack, it’s so vitriolic. I find myself wondering why she asked me to be present for this, and what she says about all of us when we’re out of the room.

At noon, we are finally dismissed. I wobble to my desk, weak with hunger. She has barely touched her smoothie all meeting, and I wonder where in the hell she gets her energy. Just as I am about to grab my wallet and head to Pret, She comes up behind me.

“Where is that Top Ten report, Smith?”

I jump a little, and instantly hate myself for it. “I’m sorry, which do you mean?”

“You mean you don’t know what the Top Ten report is? How can you not know this? It’s vital that you understand the business, don’t you agree? Smith, you’ve really got to start focusing and applying yourself here if you want to be successful. This is not that hard. Elizabeth, come over here a minute.”

“Yes?” says Elizabeth, one of our Vice Presidents.

“Show Smith the Top Ten report”

Elizabeth goes to her office to print out the report while I stand there, dumbfounded. I know what the Top Ten report is, I only meant to ask from which department, handbags or footwear. I sense that it’s best to not correct Her when she’s in this mood, however, for fear of an even longer conversation. In the interest of eating as fast as possible, I wait for Elizabeth to return.

“Here it is.”

“Smith, does this look familiar to you?”

“Yes. So you wanted the handbag Top Ten report, not the footwear one?” I say, subtly conveying my point.

“Right,” she says, and turns to walk off.

Relieved, I rush downstairs to Pret and grab a salad, praying that no one will interrupt me until I’ve at least had a few bites at my desk...

***
I will manage to survive here; and under Her sometimes terrifying tutelage, I will even learn to thrive: I can now manage extreme stress, prove my points, garner respect, and survive solely on iced coffee, lettuce, and the odd nut.

A year and a half later, I left [MAJOR FASHION HOUSE] better, faster, stronger... and hungrier.

*scorpio*


*not my real last name- all names have been changed to protect the fashionable