Is it acceptable to have a brief career trajectory?

June 27, 2017 1:02 AM

I have had enough of my workplace and wish to escape to something less exhausting while I figure out what I want to do in life. Is this an okay move "professionally speaking"?

My main, real, true, make-my-heart-sing ambitions in life have to do with script writing as it's the only thing I enjoy doing and I write all the time but I have accepted this is a hard thing to break into and it won't happen, though I will still try (I enter comps and get close but not close enough). I've spent most of my life in the music industry, completely focused on my day job. I have no enthusiasm for any day job and I never will so I understand that I will never be professionally happy but I know I can be happier than where I am.

I'd like to take on a less demanding role to give me time to think about what sort of day job I might be able to tolerate a little better. My current job is fast-paced, busy, very 'young', cliquey (high school behaviour) and plays very loud music all day. As an introvert I find it exhausting and very overwhelming. In case I wish to return to a similar role within a different, more 'adult' company, is a future employer likely to 'frown upon' a slight career deviation that I really need right now for my peace of mind? It still involves music but it's very basic, non-strenuous work akin to data entry, which is what I need right now. I need time to think and breathe.

posted by ihaveyourfoot to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Yes of course. Putting your mental health first is almost always the right choice. Putting this on a future CV is completely about how you spin it. There will be skills you pick up that you can lead with when listing this job.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:50 AM on June 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Yes, just do it. Being miserable is not a good career move and as DarlingBri says, there's always a way to spin it.

In the meantime, while you're on that "break" - these lines leapt out at me as tragic and massively over-pessimistic:

I have no enthusiasm for any day job and I never will

I have accepted this is a hard thing to break into and it won't happen

You've seriously decided you'll never be professionally fulfilled in any way? How can you possibly know? The world is full of surprises, including pleasant workplaces, fulfilling day jobs, work with meaning. And nobody wins scriptwriting competitions the first (or second or third) time they enter - the perseverance and learning over time is how you get good. Chin up, chuck. I'm a playwright who's never earned a penny from my work (yet - but I've only been writing a few years, I'm still learning) but I still hope I'll do OK at it in the long run, and I have a rewarding day job with a nice bunch of people in the meantime.

Sorry that all of that's a bit of a derail, but those two lines really leapt out at me and it sounds like you've internalised them so much you might not realise how extreme they sound.

So just take care to remember the purpose of taking this easier job, and don't let it become something you use to prove to yourself that all jobs are boring.
posted by penguin pie at 2:12 AM on June 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

In any really competitive business, and parts of the music business certainly are very competitive, taking any kind of detour carries the risk that you may not be able to get back to where you were. And that could mean that taking a pay cut will make it hard to get back to your previous income level. OTOH, music is not a monolithic industry and you only need to find one new employer at a time.

That said, if you think you will be more content with your life in the new job, go for it. There is no point in being miserable. But look around for the best new job you can get. You have experience; sell it.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:50 AM on June 27, 2017

I'd do some research to have ideas on how you can spin the pivot (brainstorm what roles you might look if you got to a place where you are no longer so exhausted -- burn-out is a thing, so is recovering eventually). e.g., some places find it helpful to have experience with X industry, or X type of company, and you can use that plus previous experience perhaps to leverage something better in the long-run, also data-entry often involves learning a CMS or system, so if you can gain any technical skills adjacent to the data-entry that'd also be useful in spinning your resume.
posted by typecloud at 5:57 AM on June 27, 2017

Having a job that supports your true passion is not only perfectly reasonable, it's a well-established practice for writers, artists, etc. And it's always possible to spin different career trajectories later on in life. After all, that's just putting a narrative structure to your life.

Also, absolutely make changes necessary for you mental health.
posted by carrioncomfort at 6:22 AM on June 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the responses. Yes, I definitely feel I won't be fulfilled in any day job because my interests are very limited and I find it a real slog to try to drum up enthusiasm for anything else. I've been working full time for about 16 years and I can't imagine that feeling changing. I think my rapidly increasing disinterest with the monotony of a working day is what contributes to burn-out and it happens at every job. If I am not writing or creating (I make music too) then I feel like I am wasting time/dying. Nothing else is interesting to me. I know it sounds bad but it's true.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 7:08 AM on June 27, 2017

Are you in Los Angeles looking for work in writer's rooms? There is an element of hustle involved but it's doable. That sounds like what you should be doing.
posted by Threeve at 8:27 AM on June 27, 2017

Response by poster: No, i'm from the UK. Can I just rock up and do that? I can hustle no prob. but never tried with this because i'm not American and it seems like a pipe dream to go to L.A. and try to 'make it'. It's also another thing that feels hard to justify on a resume if I don't 'make it' and need to get back in the rat race.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 2:25 AM on June 28, 2017