When do you know it is time to look for a new job?
Beyond the obvious indicators – bad boss, bad coworkers, bad work environment – it can be hard to know if it’s time to leave the job, or just change it a bit. Remember, you can stay at a company you love and just change the aspects of your job to make them more (or less) challenging if that is what’s needed. But we will get to that. Let’s start with the basics.
First, let’s examine why you are even questioning your current position. Is it the people? Most clients I work with tell me they LOVE the people they work with and that is the number one reason that they find it so hard to think about leaving their job. But, if so many people love the others that they work with, then isn’t it possible that the next place you find to work will have just as great a group? Maybe better? Are you going to continue to work in this job that you may not truly enjoy because of the people? Can’t you see them outside of the office? Do you? If not, they don’t seem like they are that important to your life. You can find new work friends. Plus, if they are that great, you’ll become not-work friends, Trust Me!
Ok, the people are wonderful. There isn’t someone at your current work that you’re trying to get away from (if there is, you should be talking to a supervisor or someone in HR, not reading this…). So, let’s look at your work environment next. Let’s say that you like structure at work, for example, having policies and procedures to follow. If these don’t exist or are not followed, then you can feel frustrated, often annoyed by your coworkers or management and stressed. On the other hand, if you are a free-thinker who find rules restrict your process, a supervisor who strictly enforces these policies and procedures will probably make you feel put down and frustrated as well. In both these cases, before you throw in the towel, I suggest you talk to someone. Preferably, talk to someone who can do something about the situation. If there are no policies and procedures, offer to write them. If you need some freedom ask to do one project on your own without the rules holding you back. Once you show what you can do, you’ll find that you can grow and you’ll feel less stress/frustration. Open communication and compromise is going to be key!
The last area for us to look at is your job duties. But before we go there, I want you to do an exercise for me. On one side of a piece of paper write down everything you like to do. I mean, EVERYTHING. Not just those things that are work related, but also those things that you do at home, with family, friends, on your own, etc. Now, on the other side write everything that you really don’t like to do. Those things that you can do, but they really suck the energy out of you. Finally, go through and make a mark next to those things you do at work. What does it look like? Is there anything on either side that you do at work? 80/20? 40/60? 0/100? Well, there’s your answer.
Now, I said at the beginning that you could stay at your company and change your job. Let’s look at that. Now that you have your list, we’ll say that your list is 40/60 for like/hate job duties. Are there things that you like to do that you Could do at your company? Would it be a new position or could you add them on to your current position if you dropped some or all that 60 that you hate? With this information, you can go and have an honest dialog with your supervisor and perhaps within a short period of time have a changed position in the same company working with the people you love!