As aspiring psychologists, we can often feel a pressure to apply for new roles, gain more experience in a new sector or sometimes just need a change. Considering myself as a committed and conscientious person, leaving a role or considering moving i have realised is quite a challenge for me. I dislike the feeling of letting people down, or ‘rocking the boat’ by means of hiring a replacement, and on reflection I can sometimes fall into maintaining the status quo. So, when is the best time to consider moving on to pastures new? For me, I feel that it is around the time when this question comes into my mind and I have realised it can be a bit of a sign. It may be that I am no longer getting the maximum from the role, a slight feeling of boredom in someway or simply just feel ready for a change. And that is okay. I often feel a sense of guilt or responsibility to my employer, supervisor or team that I am somehow offending them if I want to move on. However, what I have realised, is that this is more about me as an individual and what I am gaining, or no longer gaining and not that I am letting anyone else down. After all, they are not responsible for getting me onto training and it is absolutely appropriate and essential to be selfish and make decisions based on what I need, in order to progress.
Having recently commenced a new role, I have reflected on what I have gained from my previous roles and I feel it is sometimes only with hindsight where this is truly recognised. There is so much that I have learnt, from working therapeutically with clients, to delivering and scoring psychometric measures and cognitive assessments, report writing, extensive time management and planning alongside fast paced timescales, to name just a few. What I have noticed, is that my communication skills may not be as strong as I thought they were. I think this may be due to the type of information that I have previously had to recall and communicate was that of a much lesser degree and also I was under much less pressure, which I think allowed me to find it easier. I have found this very testing at times and recognise that I need to develop this and am mindful of how I work on retaining, recalling and sharing detailed and sensitive information when working with several clients/patients. I also feel that it may be important to be mindful of any pressures on me and what is expected of me and asking for help should I need it.
Besides gaining more experience, a huge factor of when to consider new opportunities I feel, is simply being happy. If for whatever reason my work is not filling me with joy or excitement, this is okay too. It can often take a considerable amount of time to find your feet in a role to be able to decide if it is for you or not. I have experienced not wanting to leave a role because although I thoroughly enjoyed the work and the team, I felt a need to move on to develop. This was a hard decision to make emotionally, but an easy one professionally in order to further my development. Additionally, I have experienced moving on due to a sense of feeling a bit stuck, some dissatisfaction or a feeling that the role is just not bringing out the best in me. I think this is okay too. We cannot please everyone all of the time and I have realised that it is totally acceptable to acknowledge that ‘I tried my best, worked hard and have gained a lot, but this role just isn’t for me anymore’. From this experience I have learnt moving forward a need to be more confident in asking for opportunities and support for further development as it is not my supervisor’s responsibility to do so on my behalf. However, in a slight contradiction to this, I do think it is important for these questions to be put to us as supervisee’s and assistants to feel encouraged and supported by our supervisor or manager as workload or lack of assertiveness may be a barrier for us flourishing in a particular role, and not lack of ability. I have certainly taken this with me and aim to try and consistently remind myself to ask for support and development opportunities wherever possible.