What to Do When a Dream Job Becomes a Nightmare

When your job becomes a nightmare it can take over your whole life. You wake up dreaming of bad reviews, not meeting an essential deadline, or dealing with your awful coworker. You find yourself thinking about work all the time, dreading every work day and stressing even during time off.

If your dream job has turned into a career from hell, pause. The temptation may be to quit on the spot or take more passive-aggressive measures like slacking off or badmouthing your boss. However, there are more productive and professional ways to handle the situation. Here are six steps to help you get back on track and improve your relationship with your work.

1. Identify what’s going wrong

The first thing you need to do when you’re facing career hell is to identify what’s wrong with your job and what’s making you hate it. 

Take a step back and look at the exact problems that make it a nightmare. Write a list of everything you’re dissatisfied with and be as specific as possible, trying to get past the emotions you’re currently feeling and down to the root of the problem. 

Here are some journal prompts to help you get started:

• What does my current career look like? E.g. responsibilities, tasks and job title.
• What do I spend the majority of my work days doing?
• Which daily tasks do I find most energizing?
• Which tasks are the most mentally and emotionally draining?
• What are the parts of my job that I love the most?
• What parts of the job motivate me?
• What do I want my job to look and feel like? 
• What does my dream career look like? 

As well as helping you to understand what’s not working for you in your current role, this is also an important step to help facilitate discussions with your boss or employer. If you can be clear about why you’re unhappy, you can have more productive conversations to try to find a solution and help you get out of the rut you’re currently in.

2. Understand what’s changed

If your dream job has turned into a nightmare, try to understand what has changed and at what point your relationship with your career turned sour.

Think back to the last time you felt fulfilled and happy with your job. What has shifted since then? What changes have happened at work or in your personal life to change your feelings about your role or career?

In many cases, external factors influence the relationship you have with your job. For example, you might get a new boss or a new client whom you have serious personality clashes with. Or you might lose your favorite coworker and find yourself left alone at work. 

Look at factors outside of work too. Can you identify any changes in your personal life that have made you start hating work? For example, increased family responsibilities or relationship struggles can all impact your ability to cope with stress and pressure at work, making a job you used to love feel like hell.

3. Talk to your boss

Your first reaction to a career nightmare might be to quit your job. But the truth is that landing a new role, settling into a new workplace, and starting from scratch can be a lot harder and more stressful than it might seem.

If you’re no longer enjoying your current job, start by talking to your manager or HR before you jump straight to quitting. While it can be daunting to sit down with your employer and share your feelings, there’s a chance that you can find a way to modify your role or responsibilities to help you improve how you feel about your work.

For example, if you hate your current job, there might be an opportunity to take on new tasks, move to a different project, or even take on a completely different role in the company.  

When you’re preparing for the meeting, ask yourself these questions:

• What problems do I want to discuss?
• What is an idea for improving each of these problems?
• Is this a personal or company-wide problem?
• What solutions do I want to achieve that will help me move forward?
• Do I have any questions I want to ask?

You might find it helpful to write down notes about what you want to talk about in the meeting to give you more confidence. This can also help you to be more focused in the discussion and avoid letting emotion impact your ability to communicate your thoughts and feelings clearly.

4. Take a career test

If you’re still not satisfied with your job after talking to your employer, boss or client, it might be a sign that you need to look for a new role.

At this point, it can be really helpful to take a career test to see what careers are the best match for your personal skills, strengths and weaknesses. You might be surprised by the results.

Though the feeling of having your dream job turn into a nightmare can be extremely stressful, it’s also a chance for you to reevaluate your career choices on a wider scale. Maybe this is an opportunity for you to pivot to a career that you’re more likely to find fulfilling long-term. Take the test and see what it says.

5. Start looking for alternatives

It can be hard to let go of your dream job, but if you’re finding every work day feels like a nightmare then it might be time to start looking for alternatives.

Here’s a quick checklist of tasks for your job search:

• Update your resume and cover letter
• Clean up your LinkedIn profile and social media accounts
• Search for jobs online
• Reach out to your network in a way that suits your personality style
• Evaluate the role, workplace culture, development opportunities and employer reputation
• Prepare for interviews, including preparing questions to ask the interviewer

Finding a new job won’t necessarily be the answer to all your problems, but if your day job feels like a nightmare then sometimes the only solution is to leave. Life is too short to spend in a job you hate.