They say hindsight is 20/20 — and as it turns out, this is
true for decisions employees have made in their professional journeys.
Sixty-six percent of workers experience career regrets, according to Resume Now's International Career Regrets survey. To help younger professionals avoid lamentations throughout their own journeys, the resume building platform recently ranked some of the things employees didn't do in past workplaces that they wish they had.
"I don't think it's possible to go through your entire career without a single regret," says Heather O'Neill, career expert at Resume Now. "But I think you can practice regret reduction."
Many of the employees' regrets stemmed from financial woes. When asked if they regret not asking for a pay increase, 60% of employees said they did, putting it at the top of Resume Now's ranking. Also in the top 10, 58% of employees regret not negotiating their salary when they took the job and 51% regret not asking for a promotion.
Resume Now also included the choices employees made that they didn't regret. Sixty-six percent of workers said they never regretted going to HR with a problem, 62% don't regret ever speaking up in a meeting and another 62% don't regret their decision to quit their job.
"Small actions, like asking for a raise or speaking up in meetings, can lead to positive outcomes which can boost your confidence to take bigger leaps," O'Neill says. "Even if it doesn't pan out, you know that you tried. That in and of itself seems to reduce professional regrets."
Here are employees top career regrets according to Resume Now:
- Not asking for a pay increase – 60%
- Not prioritizing work-life balance in their career – 59%
- Staying at a job for too long – 58%
- Not negotiating their salary when they took a job – 58%
- Not getting a college degree – 53%
- Not speaking up in a meeting – 53%
- Not asking for a promotion – 51%
- Being in their chosen career – 50%
- Not getting an advanced degree – 49%
- Being a remote worker – 46%
- Not making a full career change – 44%