I know I probably should’ve thought things through before I made this decision. But, I didn’t know the reality of how things will be; I didn’t really know I would be this affected by this. This was my first time moving out, living away from family, first apartment, first big job, first time doing everything on my own and it’s really defeating me. I really don’t know what I don’t know (if that makes sense)
26M, I just moved for a job that I thought would be great for me; I work in Finance, this is my second job. Coming from a background in economics, I wasn’t really sure which route to go after graduating so I took a job in tax for a financial services company. My pay was like 35k a year and I stayed there for 1.5 years
Now, I’m at a role (again in tax) for a major bank in the US. My pay is 95k but I don’t really enjoy what I do. This is for mainly 4 reasons:
1. I was brought in for my previous experience and was told that I wouldn’t need much training because I will learn on the job. Come to find out, it is nothing like what I knew from my previous role and I do actually need training, but they don’t provide it for me. And I’m in a 2 man team where I cannot ask for help because there is not much time to learn and ask questions. This is really messing with my mental health.
2. I don’t enjoy this role, it’s tax and it’s very very boring work; just look at thousands of rows of data in a spreadsheet and manipulate the file. I’m very much a curious person, I want to learn about financial markets and financial instruments, and this job doesn’t provide that for me.
3. Location. I grew up in a major city and I relocated to a boring suburban area (in a whole different state!) for this role. I don’t like it very much (it’s charming but not great when all I do is work and come home) I miss home terribly and it sucks when I feel stressed at work and come home feeling alone and lost.
4. I already suffer from mental health issues, namely anxiety and depression. Because of all the reasons mentioned and the stress, it’s really affecting everything. I want to be strong and tough it out but I’m afraid it’ll lead me to spiral. I know a lot of you will say to find hobbies and meet new people, but my situation with work stress and mental health makes me so unmotivated to even attempt it.
Given, this job would look good on my resume and it pays really well. But, I already feel burnt out based on all things mentioned above.
I’m early in my career and I feel like if I quit this job, I won’t find another that pays as well as this. Not sure if I have much to leverage if I look for another role rn (plus, the job market is bad — atleast that’s what I hear based on hearsay)
Not sure what I want to do for a career either. I went into this industry because it pays well and it peaked my interest due to my interest in economics. If all of banking or finance is this monotonous, then idk how I feel about it. But I haven’t explored much roles outside of my experience so I can’t say for sure.
I’ve been here 4 months now, and I strongly feel like quitting because I’m already having feelings of burnout.
Do you have any advice?