3 REASONS NOT TO QUIT YOUR JOB…YET: Part 2 of a 3-Part Blog Series on Making Tough Career Decisions – Should You Stay or Should You Go?  (Part 1)

To review, this article is for you if you’re thinking about quitting your job. You’ve been thinking about it for a while. You’ve got lots of irritations, frustrations and evidence that tells you that it might be time to go. You’re taking some baby steps, like working on lists – all kinds of lists – your strengths and weaknesses, your likes and dislikes, dream jobs and absolutely NFWs. You take every assessment you can find
– from the super serious DISC, Myers-Briggs, Strengthfinders and Fascination Advantage to the super silly which Disney Princess, which Illuminati Member or the Facebook Which Career should you have? Oh and this is really for you if you just found seven new assessments to take! You’re not sure what you want, and you waver back and forth between a Big Challenge and You Want Fries With That? then you pull out your current job description and rewrite it. Or you put together a new org chart to take to your boss…maybe. What you really want is that magic phone call. The one from your Fairy God-recruiter who is there to take you away to the land of the perfect job with beautiful titles, lots of variety, annual promotions and gargantuan pay increases.

But since the next call is more likely to be a software sales rep than Genie the Blue Headhunter (from Aladdin, silly), let’s get three possible reasons NOT to change jobs out there on the table.

Reason #1. You’re really just bored. Maybe you have too much time on your hands. Maybe you don’t have enough new challenges. Maybe you are in maintenance mode. Maybe you’ve stopped learning and that makes you feel dissatisfied with the status quo. Try some other options to change your perspective and look for new opportunities where you are before you quit. Take a vacation and do something really unusual for you. Take a look around and see if there’s something that you can take on – a project, new responsibilities, a process or performance improvement initiative. Maybe there’s a cross training opportunity. Maybe there are roles in other departments, divisions or locations that would offer you some new challenges and skills. Could you build a cross-functional team? By the way, all of these things will help build out the skills, expertise and accomplishment sections of your CV. So not yet…not until you’ve checked out the opportunities closer to home.

Reason #2. It’s easier to find a job when you have a job. Yeah, you’ve heard this one before. Cliche. Turns out that there’s some good stuff behind it. You don’t have to explain why you are out of a job. You will likely come across better in interviews, because you will be more confident. Being unemployed is almost always a confidence drain in our society. Sad but true. You have a paycheck coming in, you aren’t overly worried about money – so you won’t make a mistake out of desperation. You can have the luxury of taking time to do a good job of evaluating the job, the company, the culture and the role it’s going to play in your career quilt. You have time to make a good decision. And there’s also an energetic component to this – you tend to attract what you’re focusing on. If you’re unemployed, you tend to focus on that and it persists for longer than you actually want. So not yet…not until you’ve decided on something that really is better.

Reason #3. You think there’s a job out there that will make you happy. This is a twist on the Fairy God-recruiter. It’s like thinking that you’ll be happy when…you lose weight, you find the right partner, you save up enough money, you move to Australia, you get a new car…NEWS FLASH: none of these things will make you happy. You have to make you happy. No one and nothing can do that for you. And it’s not even a destination. This is a longer discussion, I know, but guaranteed: if you think that a different job is going to “make you happy” then you will be disappointed a few months down the road when you realize that the new job is the same as the old job. You’re just gonna take this stuff with you. So not yet…not until you’re clear enough on the right reasons to make a good decision for you.

So if one of the above is a “yes”, then you have your answer. You should not quit your job…YET. There are some things that you should do before you quit, to get ready to make a change, and, oh yeah, to make it fit you and support your success! Now sometimes, the perfect opportunity will drop in your lap. Hopefully you will recognize it and be able to evaluate and make a great decision for you. But no matter what, you need a plan. Actually, before you make a plan (which is usually a tactical list of actions to take) you need a strategy. So stay tuned…more coming on innovative ways to make decisions, understanding happiness, and  Next up: You need a strategy!

What do you think? Comment below!

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Sound like the kind of things you’re thinking about? Want help thinking things through? Ready to get some coaching? Let’s hop on a call for a Strategy Session. Email me to set it up: maggie@talktomaggie.com.