There’s a certain type of professional regret that doesn’t make a big deal out of it. When the novelty wears off, the commute seems longer than anticipated, and the job you left begins to seem better in your memory than it probably was in reality, it usually shows up quietly around the third month in a new role. That sentiment isn’t just personal for many workers today. It results from choices made under tremendous pressure during one of the most confusing times in the history of modern employment.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused more than just job disruptions. It disrupted the entire logic people use to make career decisions. Without any prior planning or preparation, millions of workers were abruptly laid off, placed on furlough, or made to work from home. Job loss during the pandemic dramatically increased anxiety levels, especially among workers over fifty who had a much lower chance of returning to the workforce, according to research from that time period. The disruption was real, and the psychological damage from it ran deep. Less is known about how that anxiety led some people to make career decisions they might not have otherwise made.
There is almost always a cost associated with hasty decisions. According to a 2025 survey, 66% of employees say they have regrets about their careers, such as staying in a bad role for too long or accepting the first offer out of fear rather than true fit. Career coach Victoria McLean has observed this pattern closely. She talks about clients who accepted positions that appeared prestigious on paper but actually drained them—they received lower pay than anticipated, had no sense of purpose, and worked in an industry that never truly suited them. The pandemic accelerated all of that. It produced an environment in which fear, rather than judgment, was the deciding factor.
It’s important to be truthful about the recommendations that were prevalent at the time. Much of it leaned heavily on urgency. “Don’t waste the crisis.” “Pivot now.” “Reinvent yourself.” A portion of that advice had good intentions. A portion of it was noise produced by individuals who had never really dealt with unemployment or a failing industry. The Career Sailboat Model, a framework developed by career researchers, argues that good career decision-making depends on personal, social, systemic, and chance factors working together. Strip out any one of them — and a global pandemic stripped out several at once — and the decisions people make tend to be unstable, reactive, and poorly suited to who they actually are.
In many labor markets, what we’re witnessing today feels like a hangover from that time. People who moved quickly, took risks they hadn’t fully considered, and are now quietly recalibrating are abundant in the workforce. Some have returned to similar roles in their old industries. Some are attempting to retrain. Some people have well-paying jobs, but they feel meaningless. This is not dramatic at all. It rarely is. It’s simply the cumbersome, slow reality of making decisions under pressure.
There’s a feeling that this hasn’t yet been fully addressed in the labor market discourse. Layoff statistics, return-to-office conflicts, and remote work policies are common topics of discussion when it comes to post-pandemic work. Less attention is paid to the more nuanced tale of employees harboring regret over career decisions made during a crisis. It most likely merits more.
Recovering from a bad career decision isn’t impossible, and it doesn’t require catastrophizing. However, it does necessitate being truthful about what went wrong and why. This occasionally entails admitting that the advice you took wasn’t appropriate for your particular circumstance. Sometimes it means acknowledging that the decision was made out of fear rather than clarity. It is uncomfortable to be so honest. Additionally, it’s the only true beginning point for the majority of people.
