A new survey released by Taleo contains some interesting information about how people really feel about their first job out of college.  According to the survey:

• 43% of adults who got a job after graduating college stayed in this job less than two years.
• When describing how their first job made them feel, 13% said they couldn't wait for Friday to arrive, 10% wanted to quit every day, and 8% felt it was a waste of their time.
• 19% of 18 to 34 year-olds wanted to quit their first job every day, compared to 3% of those 55 years old and over.

This is really not much of a surprise, as young workers are well-known for job-hopping.  What this information does tell me, however, is that companies are not doing a good enough job of keeping their entry-level employees engaged with the work and the company.  As a result of this, entry-level employees are leaving companies rather than waiting for things to get better.

If you are one of those employees who hates their job every day and you can’t wait for Friday to arrive every week, I feel for you.  I loathed my first job out of college and quit after a mere eight months.  For some people, quitting a job shortly after starting it is a viable option.  Others, however, may not be able to quit due to financial or other concerns, and so are forced to stay in jobs they dislike until they can find another. 

If this is the case for you, take heart.  There are ways to help your company manage you a little better. Hopefully these tips will help make your job a bit more bearable until you are able to find a new one:

• Make friends.  You can truly get through just about anything with a good friend by your side.  Find someone in your department with whom you can share a good laugh or take a walk with, or branch out and strike up a conversation with someone from another department.  These people don’t have to be your best friend, just someone you can talk to, laugh with, and maybe even rant to.  Building good friendships at work is a good way to help distract you from the fact that you hate your job.
• Volunteer for new tasks.  It’s pretty hard to focus on how much you hate your job when you’re too busy learning new skills and meeting multiple deadlines.  I once asked a doctor who’d just finished a 20-hour shift if she hated her job and she said, “I’m too busy to hate my job.”  While I’m not recommending that you adopt a workaholic lifestyle, there is something to be said for being so busy that you don’t have time to focus on all the things that annoy you.  If you learn new skills in those additional projects that you can then leverage into a new position, so much the better!
• Ask for feedback.  Many times, entry-level employees end up disliking their jobs because of a lack of feedback.  Often, managers are so busy with other tasks that giving feedback doesn’t make it onto their to-do list.  If you find yourself craving some direction or feedback, it’s perfectly fine to ask for it.  Ask your manager to pencil in some time for you to meet and then ask for some feedback about the work you’re doing.  Just bear in mind that the feedback will likely be a mix of good and bad, and that you will be expected to address your weak areas once they have been mentioned.  Feedback is pointless unless you use it to improve your work performance.

Have you ever been stuck in a job you hated?  What did you do to make it more bearable?