This is, unfortunately, a very frequent question asked by young professionals who are in their first 3-4 years of work life. I know its very frequent because I have heard 95% of my friends (and myself) say it at least once. In fact, I am almost done working 4 years since I finished college, yet I hear this statement at least once a week. It’s a wonder that this question does figure the FAQs of these Big Multi National Companies!
So now the big question is ‘why does this happen in the first place?’ It looks to me that one of the biggest challenges that new professionals face is expectations. They expect that the job is going to be terrific and they are in some way going to change the world. the only problem is that this is not entirely true. In fact, it’s rarely true. Unless you are really lucky, you will generally end up some really menial peon type job the first few weeks or even months in your job. I remember that one of the first things I asked to do when I joined my so-called ‘Big 4 Consulting’ company was to go to the client and collect a cheque! Now, this is definitely not something that a new professional who has just passed out of 4 years of hard engineering math expect.
The other reason for this feeling of unwantedness is that companies are generally wary of new employees and especially freshers to do something. The reason is that they feel that they will wreck whatever they are supposed to do and then the company will have to spend a good effort redoing the whole thing again. To be fair, I have seen this happen. But again, there’s no gain without any pain.
But hold on, there is another question ‘why aren’t companies doing anything to fix this?’ Well the reason is pretty straight forward. Companies are generally no good at identifying talent. Politics in a company will ensure that even the most talented person the company has arrows all over him. This becomes even worse if the new comer is a talented guy since it will make the older, more experienced people the office looks like a bunch of donkeys. I have actually seen this happening in not one or two but multiple companies or varied sizes and industries.
So whats the way out of this? Its simple. Keep trying to find a job where people respect talent and are not prejudiced by their fears. Such companies are few to find but they definitely do exist. Until then, keep trying 
dude, its 4years and u still in the same company. time to take that next jump. u will have +ve answers for the questions u have raised in this blog.
By: u know me on February 20, 2010
at 12:12 am
@u know me: i actually cant place u since i know lots of people who would have told exactly what u have written there. more hints pls.
By: ubiquitary on February 21, 2010
at 12:19 am
dude.. ur right.. but sometimes you keep looking for the so called “gud” companies.. & at the end of the life u realize it wasn’t worth it ! So.. the only way out would be to look into the mirror every morning and ask yourself, “Am i about to do what i should do, if this were the last day of my life ?”. And every time the answer is no.. u gotta keep looking !
By: u know me2 on February 20, 2010
at 3:35 pm
@u know me2: I agree with you. but the thing is most people dont have the guts to face the mirror and say that. reason being they are afraid to see the truth and may prefer to remain in the illusion that everything is good even though they dont like it, i.e. they will try to adjust to the situation so that they like it.
By: ubiquitary on February 21, 2010
at 12:18 am