A Walk Down The Career Ladder Can Achieve Happiness

Walk Down The Career Ladder

It may not work for everyone, but sometimes a walk down the career ladder can achieve happiness. If you don’t like where you are working, you might think you need to move laterally or look for a promotion elsewhere. However, sometimes taking a position on a lower rung might be the best move. Getting a better job doesn’t always mean moving up the ranks.

“In 2017, when she was just 30 years old, Garcia got promoted to director of operations at a Phoenix-area renovation company that worked on foreclosed homes…But soon after, during a meeting with an area manager at Opendoor, a startup that helps people buy and sell homes online, everything changed. “The passion coming out of this guy’s mouth” translated into curiosity to learn more about what the team was working on and the company itself. So while she was happy with her current situation, what she discovered about the fast-growing startup piqued her interest enough to explore the possibility of working for them. There was a hitch…Garcia remembers him saying that they realized it was a step down…For most people, this would be considered career suicide. How would you explain to any prospective employer going forward that you willingly decided to step down when career trajectories are traditionally upwardly mobile?…In the end, Garcia’s faith in her intuition and the work ethic…prevailed, and she took the lower position…she wasn’t on the lower rung of the ladder for long. Garcia has had three promotions since she was hired two years ago, and she’s now head of home operations.”

Read: I took a step down the career ladder and I’ve never been happier at FastCompany