How do you know when it’s time to leave your job? That can be a difficult question to answer and probably for everyone there are slight differences to the situations but there are a few questions you need to ask yourself to figure out if it’s time to leave your job.
I probably stayed at my last job for too long. In hindsight there are red flags I should have been self aware enough to see but of course when I was in it I couldn’t recognize them. The straw that finally broke the back is when I cried at the office. Now, let’s get this straight my job in itself can at some times be very emotional. I hear awful things, I see awful things, secondhand trauma is very real in my job and I have cried at work. But if I ever got emotional in a courtroom I have always been able to control my tears. But one day, after weeks and months of overwork, everything sort of came to a head during a hearing and I got pushed too far. It was already an emotional hearing and I couldn’t control my tears. Thank goodness there wasn’t a jury but there was an audience and I was full on wiping my tears and having to force myself to breathe. It was awful.
I marched straight into my boss’ office and had what I referred to as a breakdown. I told my boss I couldn’t do this anymore, I couldn’t handle the amount of work without help anymore and I couldn’t handle not getting help from the administration. I needed to know how things were going to change because if there weren’t concrete changes I was going to quit. I let the office, called TM on the way home and had a panic attack driving on the highway and had to pull over and calm down. I straight up couldn’t breathe.
To be clear – that should never have happened.
I should never have let it get to that point. I should have been looking for a new job for months prior to that but for reasons: hopefulness, blind loyalty to my office, thinking it was normal, etc, I wasn’t looking. My biggest fault is seeing a job as the place I’ve “landed,’ and once I landed I have to stay. To be clear I love my career and I want to continue what I’m doing; it might be difficult to switch offices and geographically there isn’t a lot of options but I still could have been looking.
I had a coworker who was constantly looking for new opportunities. He sent out resumes constantly and was always looking for the next better job. At first I thought this was ridiculous but it’s not – he was putting himself first and that’s exactly what you need to do. Constantly be improving yourself.
Shop the Outfit:
Your company pays you to do a job – and only that job. They do not pay you for anything ‘extra’ you decide to do, any extra mile you go (and everyone determines what those extra miles are for their specific position) are coming out of your tank. This was a major realization for me. I took a hard look at what ‘other’ things I was doing and I straight up stopped volunteering, I quit taking on extra things, and I refused to do jobs I should not have been doing. It wasn’t malicious compliance or anything, it was more appreciation of a life/work/pay balance.
So let’s review what flags you could see to indicate it might be time to leave your job:
- You’re chronically understaffed
- The administration dies on the “we’ve always done it that way’ hill
- You cannot discuss a pay raise when you should be getting one
- Your workload had gotten bigger without reciprocating benefits
- The administration does not listen to complaints or cries for help
- Your mental or physical health is suffering from your work
- Your job no longer lines up with your goals
- Only “like” people get promoted
- There is no upward movement
Some of these things require introspection – you need to be in tune with your career and life goals, you need to be cognizant of your health, and you need to have a ground grasp of your work product. Some are easier to see – look at the last promotions, if any, look at open positions and the length of those opening etc.
If you are asking yourself ‘is it time to look for a new job’ then it probably is. Your gut is telling you to step up your resume and get on LinkedIn and you need to listen to it. There is nothing wrong with making sure your resume is up to date and taking interviews.
You cannot feel bad about leaving for a better opportunity. Your office is not your family; the administration isn’t going to loan you money, show up at your house to help you move, or inspect that mole on your back. Stop treating them with blind loyalty. You must lookout for your health and wellbeing. There are obviously nuances to this but broad big picture is – make yourself the priority.
Once you’ve decided you need to leave but before you put in your notice there are a few things you need to make sure you do. Get on it!
