Career II – Text
Check unknown vocabulary before you read the text:
vulnerable – unprotected against attack
impact – a strong effect or impression
to counter-balance – act against or oppose with an equal weight, force, or influence; offset
burnout – frustration, or apathy resulting from prolonged stress, overwork, or intense activity
add up – make the correct total
run down – in poor health; very tired; exhausted
to drain – empty; exhaust; make very tired
prone – having a natural inclination or tendency to something; disposed
sympathetic – showing or feeling sympathy (understanding)
irritated – angry; annoyed
misunderstood – not understood well; understood incorrectly
unappreciated – not recognized, as to quality or worth
severe – serious; extreme
BURN-OUT SELF-TEST
You are most vulnerable to burnout when the stresses you experience impact negatively on the things that you find most fulfilling in your job. Not only do you experience the unpleasantness of stress, you lose the job satisfaction that counter-balances this.
Introduction to Burnout Self-Test
This tool can help you check yourself for burnout. It helps you look at the way you feel about your job and your experiences at work, so that you can get a feel for whether you might be at risk of burnout.
Work through the questions and calculate values. Select only one answer. Score 1 for every “Not At All” answer, 2 for every “Rarely” answer, and so on up to 5 for every “Very Often” answer. Add up your total and check your result using the scoring table underneath to get the interpretation.
Your answers: NOT AT ALL – RARELY – SOMETIMES – OFTEN – VERY OFTEN
Questions:
1) Do you often feel run down and drained of physical or emotional energy?
2) Do you find that you are prone to negative thinking about your job?
3) Do you find that you are harder and less sympathetic with people than perhaps they deserve?
4) Do you find yourself getting easily irritated by small problems, or by your co-workers and team?
5) Do you feel misunderstood or unappreciated by your co-workers?
6) Do you feel that you have no one to talk to?
7) Do you feel that you are achieving less than you should?
8) Do you feel under an unpleasant level of pressure to succeed?
9) Do you feel that you are not getting what you want out of your job?
10) Do you feel that you are in the wrong organization or the wrong profession?
11) Are you becoming frustrated with parts of your job?
12) Do you feel that organizational politics or bureaucracy frustrate your ability to do a good job?
13) Do you feel that there is more work to do than you practically have the ability to do?
14) Do you feel that you do not have time to do many of the things that are important to doing a good quality job?
15) Do you find that you do not have time to plan as much as you would like to?
What is your TOTAL SCORE?
SCORE INTERPRETATION
15 – 18 Little sign of burnout here
19 – 32 Little sign of burnout here, unless some factors are particularly severe
33 – 49 Be careful - you may be at risk of burnout, particularly if several scores are high
50 – 59 You may be at severe risk of burnout - do something about this urgently
60 – 75 You may be at very severe risk of burnout - do something about this urgently