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RE: Being loyal or being taken advantage of?
The current day job market is tricky, especially for GenX'rs. I fell into the trap in my corporate career of being labeled a "work horse", someone who always went above and beyond and it was very much to my own detriment. Like the previous generation, I felt I'd stay at Securian my entire career, climb the ladder, and retire. This really limited my potential for career growth. On the other hand, my brother chose a different path, he gave 150% but also wasn't afraid to change jobs if something better came along. He made himself into a free-agent of sorts and companies were competing for him. He's ended up MUCH better because of his approach. I think it's extremely hard to move high up the ladder with a single employer these days. Our generation was a transitional one that still believed in this kind of employer-employee loyalty. I can't help but wonder if we'll ever see that kind of environment again?
I have a feeling we will not. I definitely think my employer takes advantage of me because they know I am not going to go anywhere with so little time before I retire. They also probably wonder if anyone else would take me given my interpersonal skills. I've actually learned to say no quite a bit lately and I think people consider me difficult because of that, but I'm not going to sit here and do everyone else's job for them.