What to Do When You Feel Stuck in Your Job, but Don’t Want to Quit

You may have fallen out of love with your job, but not so much that you want to join the Great Resignation trend. If you find yourself stuck in your job and unsure of what to do next, here’s some advice to get noticed and change the trajectory of your current role within the organization.

Stand Up And Get Noticed

It is easy to fall through the cracks in today’s remote and hybrid work styles. Being at home, you could become a forgotten second-class citizen. Managers often forget about their work-from-home staff. Nearly 70% of supervisors of remote workers admit to considering remote workers more easily replaceable than onsite workers. Over 60% believe full-time remote work is detrimental to employees’ career objectives, and 72% say they prefer all of their subordinates to work in the office.

You have to be your own advocate. No one is going to be your savior. Let the right people—your manager, higher-ups in the organization, and key decision makers— know what you’ve been doing. Share with them your accomplishments and achievements and how you exceeded expectations. Don’t brag or boast—just provide the facts and data of what you’ve succeeded with.

Go Into The Office For A Few Days

I know it’s better to work from home. You have freedom and autonomy over your day. You may not want to hear this, but you should visit the office a few days a week. I get you don’t want to commute again. Here’s what you gain from coming into the office two or three days a week: your boss will give you all the juicy projects because you are there. It’s proximity bias. Since you’re around, it’s easier for the supervisor to ask you for help. If you’re at home, you are just another person in a Zoom box when meetings are held.

Once in the office, you can more easily network with other people since fewer folks will be around. Inquire if leaders of different divisions have any exciting openings. You might be able to make an internal lateral move.

Executives will notice you around, and you’ll have the halo effect of being a top performer just because you are within eyesight. This could lead to promotions, career advancement, raises, and bonuses. While in the office, ask your supervisor or human resource professional if you can get upskilled on new technologies. Find out if there is a mentorship program to help you improve on specific skills. For instance, if you are lacking in public speaking and it’s holding you back, some coaching could help.

Job Crafting

If you feel that there is a lack of purpose in your career, you can choose to make a change. This change does not require you to seek an entirely new role at a different company. Instead of taking a risk by walking away from your current company, you can simply make a difference by crafting your job to find meaning and purpose. Job crafting is the process of redefining and reimagining your job design.

You can redefine your role better suited for your needs and desires. Focus on the aspects of the job that you’re great at and love, and discard the tasks weighing you down. Collaborate with your manager to create new responsibilities. Since we’re in a hot job market, with four million workers quitting regularly, managers will do what it takes to retain a top employee.

There are other ways to attain inner fulfillment. For example, if you are an accountant, you could suggest starting a unit that caters to charitable organizations. An attorney may request to do pro bono work to help underprivileged people. A stock broker could offer discounted advice to parents with college-bound students. You could start a corporate charity. Suggest making an environmentally friendly line to the company’s products. Offer to mentor junior staffers.

Cast off responsibilities that don’t fit your skill set and sap your enthusiasm. Ask for additional duties that offer intellectual challenges. If you are at a desk all day long and desire to interact with others, ask if you could switch some responsibilities with a more introverted colleague.

You might be overloaded with small tasks that take you away from the more essential matters you enjoy. Request a temp, gig worker, or junior-level staffer who appreciates a new challenge to take over some of your assignments that you don’t want.

Reframe How You View Your Role

Reframe how you look at your job. Don’t dwell on mundane everyday tasks. Think of how you are part of the bigger picture. Studies show that workers who take pride in their jobs, as they see themselves as part of the overall process, derive internal satisfaction.

If you want to advance, look and play the part. When you hop on a video call with the rest of the office, dress up nicer than your peers. You’ll stand out and get noticed. Improve your vocabulary. Network with people within the company to see if there is anything interesting going on that you can be part of. Reach out to people at similar companies in roles a little above your own and invite the person for a conversation. Find out if they are doing things differently over there. Take away these lessons and bring them to your company. You’ll look like a rockstar.

Build Your Brand

Burnish your brand online. If you do this consistently, you’ll be “that guy or woman” in a good way. You’ll be viewed as a smart, knowledgeable, fast-track person who always shares free helpful, informative advice and guidance.

You can also seek out speaking engagements to gain wider attention, even if it’s unpaid. Start a podcast or ask to go on other podcasts that are relevant to your space. Join industry and job-related networking groups, so you can learn new ideas and business concepts that can be applied to your company. These are great free ways to gain the attention of company leadership.

The ‘Stay Interview’

Ask for a stay interview with human resources. The stay interview is similar to an “exit interview” conducted by HR when a person tenders their resignation, and they want to find out the reasons why they decided to quit. The difference is that the stay discussion is proactive and meant to find ways to improve the employee’s experience within the organization.

“With the labor market conditions the way they are, it’s a buyer’s market for talent. Employers, particularly in certain sectors, are seeing people leave faster. I think stay interviews can be quite effective. It promotes and fosters trust and open communication,” said Scott Bonneau, the vice president of global talent attraction at Indeed.com.

Be Bold

You have to be bold. Ask your supervisor for a promotion. Come to the conversation armed with all of the great work you’ve done. Bring along letters of support from co-workers and managers at the company who applaud your productivity. If you don’t get the promotion, that’s okay. It’s just a temporary setback, and you can always ask again.

If your manager has a large workload, offer to unburden her by saying you’ll oversee some of the younger staff. After a while, they’ll see the value you offer and start contemplating that you should officially manage a small team. From there, you keep on growing.

These and related actions will burnish your brand, refuel your passion, make you feel better about work, stand out, and get noticed.

This article was written by Jack Kelly for Forbes and was lightly edited and published with permission.