As a Career-professional one of the important questions I deal with is when a client asks “should I resign?”. An answer to this question depends on the individual, and their circumstances. Items that a client (and a Career professional) need to weigh out are quantitative, qualitative, and emotional. We (especially us men) tend to remove out the emotional component – but this is a mistake. Emotion can give us clues on what is the best course of action, and we need to listen to our emotions – not deny them. But practical matters need to be considered as well. Most of us still have mortgages, and other bills to pay, and these realities need to be called out. As a career professional I often call out the long-term impact of leaving a position. Age, job stability, and long term goals all come into the mix. Below are some items to consider if you are considering leaving your position.
Do you dread starting your work day: This is the reddest of red flags. If you have felt for many weeks, months that you dread starting your work day, this is a clear sign that you are unhappy in your current position. I am not talking about a day here, or there – most of us have an occasional tough stretch. But if there is a sustained pattern of disdain with starting your work day – your chances are good you need to leave your position.
Are your Opinions always in the Minority: This is an aspect that we tend not to consider – minority opinion. If you are seeing that most often than not, your opinions on best course of action, or sense of the right thing to do is contrary to others on your team – especially your management – this may be a sign you are marching to a different drummer. As a qualifier, I ask that you do keep an open mind, and listen to different opinions on your team. Actively hear the alternate opinions, and ask open ended questions to understand the position of others. But if you have tried to actively listen, and voice your opinion clearly – but are consistently in the minority on decision topics, this may be cause for concern. Not the reddest of flags, but one to consider.
You are not meeting your Financial Expectations: This is a quantitative metric. You may have accepted a job at a lower pay scale to learn new skills, or branch out in a new direction. If so you probably accepted a monetary set back. But if after being at your job for a significant amount of time – say 2 to 4 years, and the income is not what you expected, or you can live with, you need to take a cold look at your situation. One way to see how you compare is to get a copy of a salary survey, or research salary for your position yourself. Often recruiting companies have a good handle on what companies are willing to pay for specific skills. You may want to connect with a trusted recruiting firm with this objective in mind. But do look at your budget as well. Some people are great with setting budgets, and some not so good. Again, a professional, such as a Career Coach, can help assess your monthly bills, and help setup a budget that is reasonable.
You have been passed over for promotion more than once: Most of us want to be successful. This is a natural, and actually a very good thing to strive for. However, not all of us are meant to have a manager career path. As you consider this item, be honest with yourself. You may think you want to be a management role, but you actually may not be happy in management. A Career professional can help in this area. But assuming you have what it takes to be successful in management, and to progress, and you have been passed over for promotion a number of times – this may be a sign you need to look elsewhere to grow. In interest of disclosure I need to mention that sadly some organizations may tend to keep employees at a lower position as long as they are willing to do the work. They are filling a need, and are doing let’s say, less than glamorous work that needs to get done. There may even be discussion of growth in the organization – but it just does not happen. This is the invisible carrot. You will need to judge for yourself if your organization is not interested in seeing your grow. However, it is a fact that sometimes you just need to go elsewhere in order to grow.
Your Job is holding you back from Goals: A career has a shape. It has preparation (education and training), a beginning, a middle, and an end. To take charge of your career you set goals. These goals may be financial. They may also be geared toward utilizing our skills and personality to the fullest. Your goals might even be philanthropic. Whatever the nature of your goals, if you start to see that your job is not supporting your goals, or worse yet, blocking your goals, you need to consider a move. As a side note, if you do not have goals written down, this is a great area where a career professional, such as a career coach, can be of service.
Your job provides poor Business Quality of Life (BQL): I have written extensively on Business Quality of life. The formal definition is as follows: "Business Quality of Life is the degree of social interactions, personal freedom, fulfillment, satisfaction and health we experience as impacted by our business environment, relationships, and demands.” Consider these aspects of your life with relationship to your job. If your job is not supporting a good, or even acceptable BQL it is time to look at options.
What will replace your job: Part of consideration of leaving a position is how to continue paying our bills. So, there is a financial consideration. But there are other considerations as well. Jobs, among other things, provide a social outlet. If you leave your position how will you fill your need to interact with people on a daily basis? Jobs can also give us a sense of worth. They validate our daily effort. Will this present a gap if you leave your position? If so how will you fill this gap? The most common transition is to leave one position to obtain another position. But this is not the only option. There is also retirement, or perhaps semi-retirement, or even starting your own business. If you are considering any of these options you still need to consider financial, social, and personal validation aspects of making a change. And have a plan to address any gaps.
Considerations to leaving your position, and resigning, include quantitative, qualitative, and yes, emotional. Each individual, and individual circumstance is unique. You need to work through considerations at a personal level. But some key indicators can be dread of starting our work day, feeling our opinions, and values are in the minority, financial, personal growth, poor Business Quality of Life (BQL), and consideration of what will replace our current position. Considering these aspects, as well as engaging with a career professional, will help you in your decision to stay put, or make a change. Continuing status quo without examination is the coward’s way out.
Author: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a professional Career Coach, and Business Consultant. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
Do you dread starting your work day: This is the reddest of red flags. If you have felt for many weeks, months that you dread starting your work day, this is a clear sign that you are unhappy in your current position. I am not talking about a day here, or there – most of us have an occasional tough stretch. But if there is a sustained pattern of disdain with starting your work day – your chances are good you need to leave your position.
Are your Opinions always in the Minority: This is an aspect that we tend not to consider – minority opinion. If you are seeing that most often than not, your opinions on best course of action, or sense of the right thing to do is contrary to others on your team – especially your management – this may be a sign you are marching to a different drummer. As a qualifier, I ask that you do keep an open mind, and listen to different opinions on your team. Actively hear the alternate opinions, and ask open ended questions to understand the position of others. But if you have tried to actively listen, and voice your opinion clearly – but are consistently in the minority on decision topics, this may be cause for concern. Not the reddest of flags, but one to consider.
You are not meeting your Financial Expectations: This is a quantitative metric. You may have accepted a job at a lower pay scale to learn new skills, or branch out in a new direction. If so you probably accepted a monetary set back. But if after being at your job for a significant amount of time – say 2 to 4 years, and the income is not what you expected, or you can live with, you need to take a cold look at your situation. One way to see how you compare is to get a copy of a salary survey, or research salary for your position yourself. Often recruiting companies have a good handle on what companies are willing to pay for specific skills. You may want to connect with a trusted recruiting firm with this objective in mind. But do look at your budget as well. Some people are great with setting budgets, and some not so good. Again, a professional, such as a Career Coach, can help assess your monthly bills, and help setup a budget that is reasonable.
You have been passed over for promotion more than once: Most of us want to be successful. This is a natural, and actually a very good thing to strive for. However, not all of us are meant to have a manager career path. As you consider this item, be honest with yourself. You may think you want to be a management role, but you actually may not be happy in management. A Career professional can help in this area. But assuming you have what it takes to be successful in management, and to progress, and you have been passed over for promotion a number of times – this may be a sign you need to look elsewhere to grow. In interest of disclosure I need to mention that sadly some organizations may tend to keep employees at a lower position as long as they are willing to do the work. They are filling a need, and are doing let’s say, less than glamorous work that needs to get done. There may even be discussion of growth in the organization – but it just does not happen. This is the invisible carrot. You will need to judge for yourself if your organization is not interested in seeing your grow. However, it is a fact that sometimes you just need to go elsewhere in order to grow.
Your Job is holding you back from Goals: A career has a shape. It has preparation (education and training), a beginning, a middle, and an end. To take charge of your career you set goals. These goals may be financial. They may also be geared toward utilizing our skills and personality to the fullest. Your goals might even be philanthropic. Whatever the nature of your goals, if you start to see that your job is not supporting your goals, or worse yet, blocking your goals, you need to consider a move. As a side note, if you do not have goals written down, this is a great area where a career professional, such as a career coach, can be of service.
Your job provides poor Business Quality of Life (BQL): I have written extensively on Business Quality of life. The formal definition is as follows: "Business Quality of Life is the degree of social interactions, personal freedom, fulfillment, satisfaction and health we experience as impacted by our business environment, relationships, and demands.” Consider these aspects of your life with relationship to your job. If your job is not supporting a good, or even acceptable BQL it is time to look at options.
What will replace your job: Part of consideration of leaving a position is how to continue paying our bills. So, there is a financial consideration. But there are other considerations as well. Jobs, among other things, provide a social outlet. If you leave your position how will you fill your need to interact with people on a daily basis? Jobs can also give us a sense of worth. They validate our daily effort. Will this present a gap if you leave your position? If so how will you fill this gap? The most common transition is to leave one position to obtain another position. But this is not the only option. There is also retirement, or perhaps semi-retirement, or even starting your own business. If you are considering any of these options you still need to consider financial, social, and personal validation aspects of making a change. And have a plan to address any gaps.
Considerations to leaving your position, and resigning, include quantitative, qualitative, and yes, emotional. Each individual, and individual circumstance is unique. You need to work through considerations at a personal level. But some key indicators can be dread of starting our work day, feeling our opinions, and values are in the minority, financial, personal growth, poor Business Quality of Life (BQL), and consideration of what will replace our current position. Considering these aspects, as well as engaging with a career professional, will help you in your decision to stay put, or make a change. Continuing status quo without examination is the coward’s way out.
Author: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a professional Career Coach, and Business Consultant. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
RSS Feed