Resume Now, a leading career and resume service, surveyed 1,000 workers across the globe about their past career regrets and their career resolutions for the coming year. According to Resume Now’s International Career Regrets survey, 66% of workers experience career regrets, with 14% saying they have many regrets and 52% of workers saying they have one or two regrets. Only about one-third (34%) say they do not have any career-related regrets.
The greatest regrets of workers include not asking for a pay increase (60%), not prioritizing work-life balance (59%), staying at a job for too long (58%), and not negotiating salary when taking a job (58%). The data shows that when it comes to careers, not taking action causes the most regret.
While 58% say they have regretted staying at a job, only 38% have regretted quitting a job. At the same time, 53% have regretted not speaking up in a meeting compared to 38% who have regretted speaking up in a meeting.
“Lucille Ball famously said that she’d rather regret the things she had done than the things she hadn’t done,” says Heather O’Neill, career expert at Resume Now. “The responses to this poll suggest that’s true for workers, as well. Inaction, whether it’s failing to ask for a raise or staying in the wrong job for too long, seems to create more angst than we see in those who took action. It’s a great reminder that the ‘what ifs’ can haunt you in your professional life.”
While there are concerns that remote work can damage one’s career or professional development, over half (54%) have never regretted being a remote worker. Half (50%) regret being in their chosen career, while more than four in 10 regret not trying to make a career change.
There are some work scenarios about which most workers say they do not have regrets. These include:
- do not regret going to HR with a problem (66%);
- do not regret speaking up in a meeting (62%); and
- do not regret quitting a job (62%).
