Last week, we talked about how to tell when your body is telling you you need to quit your job. Sometimes, however, you might feel great about your job — or at least, like it just fine — but still need to quit for various reasons. It’s not always obvious; learn to spot subtle signs and the writing on the wall.
(Photo Credit: sparktography/Flickr)
There Is Nowhere to Advance
“There’s an expected rhythm to a career, where we take on more responsibility, get new challenges, and increase our income,” writes Kristi Hedges at Forbes. “While it doesn’t have to be this linear — many people make work-life tradeoffs at various times — there still should be potential at your job.”
Even if you like your job, staying for a long time at a company with no potential for advancement may hurt you in the end. However, you may wish to stay for a few years and hone your skills, then look for advancement opportunities in other companies.
Damaged Relationships
If you have a strained relationship with your boss but generally like your job and want to stay, the first course of action may be to seek to mend the relationship. Putting your nose to the grindstone and doing your job the best you can may, over time, build a better relationship.
A relationship with your boss is built on trust. If you have missed too many days of work or made your boss feel, for any reason, like she cannot trust you, you will have problems at work. A boss has to trust a worker in order to give them responsibility. If you can improve a strained relationship with your boss, that is great. But if your boss has any difficulty trusting you for any reason, you may be better off finding a position elsewhere. Learn from your mistakes with your former manager and forge trust with your new boss.
The Company Is Failing
Saving the best for last, if you know the company is failing, then no matter how much you love your job, you are likely better off elsewhere.
Signs of a failing company include a dwindling client base or not a lot of work to do. If you hear too many clients grumbling, but you are not able to make the changes that would be necessary to fix the problems, you may wish to find a new job. Besides the fact that you will lose your job if your employer goes out of business, staying at a place that earns itself a bad reputation may hurt you in the long run.
Tell Us What You Think
Have you ever had to quit a job you liked? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.
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