It’s good to have a job, to have a steady salary coming in that provides stability. But simply having a job isn’t enough sometimes. You could feel unhappy, dissatisfied, or generally unappreciated in the current job you have, and inevitably thoughts will turn to you looking elsewhere for another more fulfilling area of employment.
This is always a risky venture – “better the devil you know” as the saying goes – but sometimes the internal restlessness with your current job is such that you feel it’s time to move on to pastures new. In such an instance, what is the criteria for you to decide on embarking upon a new path?
It’s a big step not to be taken lightly, so we’ve compiled a list of 8 reasons why potentially leaving your job may be necessary, plus one pretty big counterargument against. So join us, if you will, and let’s dive in…
1. LACK OF GROWTH
Perhaps when you first joined your current company, you were promised career advancement opportunities, or the potential thereof existed for such, but in the intervening time since, it hasn’t worked out that way and you’re still largely in the same position with a salary not substantially more than when you began.
This stasis will understandably leave you deeply frustrated and perhaps if you feel strongly enough that your talents are going unnoticed and/or unappreciated, then that could be a good reason to consider a new career elsewhere.
The article “8 Tips To Help You Climb The Career Ladder” might also be of interest to you. We recommend giving it a read.
2. INSUFFICIENT SALARY
Let’s face, money makes the world go round, right? You need money to live so it’s an absolutely essential part of life. But sometimes its not enough. Maybe your salary hasn’t grown the way it should or how you hoped it would. Perhaps there has been changes in your personal life that necessitate a greater salary than you receive currently.
Talk to your boss about a salary increase, explain both your loyalty and worth to the company in addition to your current personal circumstances. If you’re promised an increase, make sure you get it in writing and with a witness present. If they decline a salary increase for you, perhaps it’s time to start looking elsewhere for new opportunities.
3. LACK OF PROSPECTS
Jobs are by nature routine (mostly), so that is a given. But if that routine has become so monotonous that you feel desperately unfulfilled, perhaps it’s time to search out new employment prospects.
Again, talk with your boss and see if there are opportunities for advancement and expansion. If so, grab it with both hands and see how they develop. If not, then perhaps the road beckons…
4. UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Even if you’re in a job that you love and enjoy, there may come signs within that company that it may not have a stable long-term future. Perhaps your salary is delayed more than once, or you received a double bonus for two consecutive months in advance, or a reduction in salary bolstered by company products being given to you in lieu of the reduced amount.
If these signs, or other ones, start setting off alarm bells for you, talk to your boss and ensure you know the state of the company. Regardless, now would be a good time to start looking for a new job… just in case.
The article “Working in One Place Makes You Stagnate or Why Is it Important to Change Jobs” might also be of interest to you. We recommend giving it a read.
5. NO SYSTEMATIC APPROACH
If you’re supposed to have a set role and responsibilities in the company but increasingly find yourself handling a scattershot range of tasks not supposedly in your job description and without any real clear focus or purpose, this speaks to a disorganized internal management within that company.
If such an approach continues even after you bringing it up, it’s probably best you start perusing the jobfinder sections of your local area, a disorganized company is one without stable foundations.
6. LACK OF ENGAGEMENT
Most of us would rather not work if we didn’t have to, we’d love to put our feet up and enjoy life on our own terms. So there is a certain amount of obligation in us performing our duties at work. However, if that obligation starts becoming a dead weight around our necks and becomes not just profoundly uninteresting but actually starts breeding resentment from yourself, it’s perhaps time to start looking for a new challenge elsewhere.
7. LACK OF RESPECT
Respect is everything in life. We want to feel needed, appreciated, or at the very least not looked down upon. In the close confines of a company, any lack of respect among employees will be magnified and create stress and tension. If you feel your efforts are being demeaned – intentionally or otherwise – by a fellow employee or management, don’t let it fester. Approach those you feel are disrespecting you and see if you can clear the air. If the situation is unresolved and management isn’t interested in your plight, start looking for another job. You deserve better than that.
8. CHRONIC EXHAUSTION
Even if you love your job, you enjoy working with your fellow employees, and you are fulfilled by the work you’re doing, nonetheless there’s only so much of you to go around. Every battery has only so much charge in it, and you’re no different.
If you find yourself working increasingly long and crazy hours, often way past even when you should have clocked off, and you equally find yourself perpetually exhausted, irritable, tetchy, with a lack of interest in your private life and/or leisure activities, then things need to change.
Can you reduce your workload somewhat, space it out more? Insist to your boss on clocking off when you’re supposed to. Impress on your fellow employees your exhaustion and suggest ways they may lighten your burden. If none of these produce results, it’s time you look after your health first and consider looking for a new job. Work to live not live to work.
The article “10 Tips On How To Avoid Burnout” might also be of interest to you. We recommend giving it a read.
A GOOD COUNTERARGUMENT FOR NOT QUITTING YOUR JOB
We’ve given you ample examples for quitting your current job, but we can also give a pretty bulletproof for you NOT to… take your time.
Sounds overly simplistic, but consider this also; are you so deeply unhappy at your job, is your boss so terrible, your salary so low, your fellow employees so annoying, are you so chronically exhausted to the point of collapse that you can’t see if the job you have really isn’t THAT awful!? Leaving a job is a big step and not one to be taken lightly… so whatever you choose to do, make sure you’ve thought long and hard about it, weighed up all your options, considered every and any alternatives, and only then decided on a course of action.
We’re hoping this article will help you make that informed decision… good luck!
