A few days ago we were talking to Jared about the various employers he worked for before heading up Wilson Rogers. While chatting, we wondered what made him leave various employers. From that, we learned that when he was a “young” professional, he would be very quick to make judgments and contemplate whether he should hit the door. But as he became more “seasoned” in his career, he would tend to think about things a little longer before making his ultimate decision. However, just because he took longer does not mean that he didn’t have to ditch an employer, or two, to make his life a little happier!
If you think it may be time for a new job, we suggest that you ask yourself the same five questions Jared would ask himself. This will keep you from telling your boss off and security escorting you off the premises!
Do you truly hate what you do? If the answer is yes, the next question is not should you quit your job, but when will you quit your job. We have no idea what your financial overhead amounts to or what your debt is. What we do know is that even though life is short, doing something with it that you hate will only make it seem very long and very miserable.
Have you asked for a raise and the answer was “no?” If you’re truly working your butt off week after week, month after month, and year after year, and you’re not getting raises or growing your income, something is wrong. Even if you get just the national average annual raise (a little less than 3 percent), in five years you will have increased your income by over 15 percent. You need these increases to be able to keep your head above water financially. The increase in the cost of gas alone requires that you earn a raise. However, and this is important, the key is that you earn it.
Do you work for a company you don’t respect? If you’re not being paid well and not getting raises, and on top of that you don’t respect the company where you spend 40 hours or more a week, that’s a pretty amazing sign that it’s time to come up with a plan to quit.
So be honest with yourself right now: Do you respect the company you work for? Do you like what it stands for? Do you like what it does? Does it care about you and its customers? Does it have a plan for the future, or is it living in the past?
Do you work for a company that doesn’t respect you? The fact is that not all companies are created equal. There are bad, good, and great companies, and they all treat their people in radically different ways. Does your company respect you? You pretty much know the answer, don’t you? If they don’t respect you, then why would you want to pour all of your talent, emotion and drive into a place that probably isn’t going to reward these efforts?
Are you’re bored to death and not challenged? This is the hardest sign to recognize because it can change over time. You may be one promotion away from new opportunities, but things can be pretty brutal if you’ve been bored out of your mind for years.
It can happen, by the way, even when you’re experiencing tremendous success, getting raises, and working for a great company. It can happen when you run your own business. It can happen when you’ve worked for 5, 10, 20, or 30 years and achieved all you ever dreamed of achieving. And, yes, it can happen even sooner than that.
Plan Before You Go
Often, we reach a point where what we do simply doesn’t work anymore. We’re not fulfilled. At that point, you have to ask yourself if it’s time to change where you are, or what you do where you are. We’re not being cavalier here by suggesting that you simply quit your job today. What we are suggesting is that you think about these five signs. Ask yourself the questions. Talk them over with someone you love. If you already know that the answer is “yes, it’s time to quit,” then it’s time to start planning the “I quit” date.
Be smart, think it through, and once the decision is made, congratulate yourself for not settling on the status quo. Quitting a job often requires that you step outside your comfort zone – not always an easy thing to do. But once you’ve done it, new and exciting opportunities await. Good luck.
