How To Decided It’s Time To Leave Your Job
Do you have a dilemma that your job is too good to leave and too bad to stay? I do. I have been struggling with the decision for the last 4 years. Whenever I try to put a sheet together to list the pros and cons, they are perfectly in balance. It’s one of the largest companies in the world. They offer one of the best compensation packages and benefits. And they give their consultants great deal of freedom to arrange their time as long as the clients are happy. But in the same time, they work me to death and expect me to alter my lifestyle to accommodate the business needs. “We pay you well but we own your life.” That’s pretty much what the deal is. Whenever I thought about leaving, I was afraid that I would lose a great deal of money and amount of freedom I am currently enjoying.
Mira Kirshenbaum wrote a book talking about such dilemma in a relationship. It’s quite insightful when you can’t decide if your significant other is too good to leave and too bad to stay. That is, doing the pros and cons stuff, we end of beating our heads against the wall because the answer is rarely obvious to us. Instead, he suggests using an alternative thinking structure to help us to decide. That is, forget about the current losses and gains, and focus on the future. Although I think the same principle applies to the job category as well. So I come up with a list of questions to help us to determine if an employer is worth staying based on the future outlook:
- Ten years from now, will your company still be around based on the current data available to you?
Yes. I don’t think this company will ever go down, at least not in the next 10 years. - Do you see yourself gaining a lot of experiences by working in your current position for another 5 years? If you had to leave 5 years from now, do you think you would be a competitive candidate on the market?
My answer: Yes. I am learning everyday. - If you have altered your life style to accommodate your business needs, do you see yourself living like this 5 years from now?
My answer: I have to be a business traveler flying every week for this job and I work 60 – 80 hours a week. If I have a family 5 years from now, this won’t work. - Five years from now, which position would you like to take in your current company? Or, should I ask, are there any positions you are interested in?
My answer: Maybe I can be a regional sales Architect. There is not much else I am interested in. - Is this “dream” position achievable in 5 years?
My answer: I can be a sales solution Architect today. There is not much difference. I don’t want to be a manager, so I don’t have many choices here. - Be honest, will you be happy with this “dream” position you just picked?
My answer: Probably not.
I honestly think that if you answered one “NO” from this list, you should leave. So take a look at the questions and hopefully you won’t be banging your head against the wall anymore.
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3 opinions for How To Decided It’s Time To Leave Your Job
Christine(Yuna)
Dec 12, 2005 at 9:20 pm
making decision is still the easier part.. now the hard part I am facing is to get my lazy butt in action and actually start working towards the change… :-)
Anthony
Dec 13, 2005 at 5:53 am
I can tell you this from experience, that the grass isn’t always greener on the otherside.
I moved countries not companies and found I didn’t enjoy my job as much as I did in the US. So I have been searching for a new job (nearly a year) and really haven’t found one that I believe will satisfy what I want now and in the long term. On the surface they looking like good opportunities but it isn’t until you get into the role you really find out what they really want from you.
Making the jump from you comfort zone to a new job I am finding is really hard to do, even if the opportunity looks really good and the offer is right.
But one thing I am starting to realise is that knowing what you want for the long term is very important and I think this is one area that has stopped me so far from making the move.
GirlPaint
Feb 26, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I disagree with the assessment that if you answer NO to even one of those questions, you should leave. I agree that we have a much broader range of choices and options than say, our parents, but I have to say that as a generation, we’ve lost most (if not all) of our discipline. We all seem to be chasing that magic, happy career that will make us both exceedingly happy and comfortably wealthy (because, after all, ‘do what you love and the $ will follow’). We need to face the fact that whether we keep our ‘crappy’ job that pays us well or find some new ‘magic’ job that we love (for about a month), that there will always be pros and there will ALWAYS be cons. I owned my own business for 10 years, and yes, it was great. But it was also incredibly hard. I’ve never sacrificed more time, money, mental sanity, etc. to one enterprise–but hey, at least it was for me, right? I look at your situation and think, “sounds like she’s got is pretty good, but she sounds like she wants to travel less and work fewer hours.” So, guess what? You do have it pretty good, and you can tell your boss the things that you aren’t so happy about. If she/he doesn’t do ANYTHING to offer to help your desire to stay with this great company, but work fewer hours, then and only then, is it time to consider moving on. You know what, though? I’ll be your boss will take a look at what you’ve been doing for them…and agree that it is reasonable for you to ask for a little more time to yourself. You want to start a family, right? This alone is a huge argument in your favor. Surely your boss (and their boss, and their boss, and on up) can understand your desire to have a life…with a family…and a future…somewhere else? Perhaps. But they’ve thought about it, too. Hang in there and ASK for what you want before you hang it up and start all over somewhere else.
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