Playing it safe? 10 career moves people regret

It's never too late for employees to make bold decisions

BY Rachel Ranosa 30 Aug 2019

With most people spending a third of their lives in the workplace, making a bad career decision isn’t something they’ll just ponder on – it’s a reality many of them will live to regret.

From failing to build a professional network to playing it safe and not taking more chances at work, regret and self-doubt can take on many forms. The repercussions, however, are almost always the same: they tend to limit an employee’s potential for success.

In a survey of more than 1,000 people, career advice website Zety examined the notion of career regret, and identified the 10 biggest disappointments people carry around for most of their life:

Top 10 career regrets

Not taking more initiative
Not having enough mentorship or guidance
Playing it safe or not taking more chances
Not maintaining their network
Not quitting a job they disliked sooner
Not negotiating hard enough for raises
Not focusing enough on advancing their career
Not networking enough
Not negotiating a higher starting salary
Not working harder in school

Only 2% claimed they had no regrets. For the majority, however, differences in job dissatisfaction came down to how female and male employees experienced the workplace differently:

Top 3 career regrets women have more than men

Not speaking up about a problem at work (34%)
Not negotiating a higher starting salary (32%)
Working in a field where they don’t make enough money (30%)

Top 3 career regrets men have more than women

Not working harder (28%)
Not maintaining their network (20%)
Not taking more initiative (15%)

All in all, nearly four in five respondents (78%) said they wished they had taken more calculated risks such as pursuing their passion.

Top 10 career risks people wish they had taken

Pursuing a passion (28%)
Negotiating a higher starting salary (26%)
Negotiating for a raise (24%)
Going back to school (21%)
Starting a business (20%)
Changing fields or industries (16%)
Speaking up about a problem at work (12%)
Choosing a challenging profession or field (12%)
Quitting a job they disliked (12%)
Moving for work (12%)

But is it too late in the game to make life-changing career decisions? Not yet, according to 52% of respondents.

“A career can be a winding road, and no two journeys look the same,” said Bart Turczynski, editor-in-chief of Zety.

“Over half of respondents felt it was not too late for them to make the career changes they’ve been dreaming of,” he said. “While the under-25 crowd felt the strongest about their potential, each demographic had a glimmer of hope in their hearts to some degree.”