One of the toughest things about life, both personally and professionally, is that there’s only so much you can control. You can’t change your nature, for example, and become wildly extroverted if you’re someone who draws her energy from within, and you can’t necessarily make a bad job into a good one. You can, however, learn to make things better by cultivating certain skills and improving your attitude. And sometimes, you can quit your job and go on to another one — if you go about things the right way.
(Photo Credit: Alan Cleaver/Flickr)
Alison Doyle at About.com’s Job Searching: How to Quit Your Job With Grace
If you’re like most of us, you probably don’t think about the process of quitting your job until it’s almost time to make the change. Job searching is such an intensive process, especially when you’re trying to keep up with your responsibilities at an existing job, it’s hard to spare any energy for planning out your quit day. But the way you leave can have lasting repercussions for the rest of your career.
Alison Doyle explains:
When it’s your choice to move on, it’s important to resign gracefully without burning any bridges. You will probably need a reference from your employer at some point in time, and it should be a good one. Take the time to carefully plan your departure, give as much notice as you can, and offer to help with transition.
Marc and Angel Hack Life: 7 Ways to Change Your Attitude When You Can’t Change Anything Else
Hate your job, but can’t quit? If you’re stuck in one place for the time being, Marc Chernoff of Marc and Angel has some advice on how to make things better, starting today:
Sometimes changing your circumstances isn’t possible — or simply not possible soon enough. You can’t get to a new job in an instant. You can’t make someone else change against his or her will. And you certainly can’t erase the past. So what options do you have left?
Change your perception, belief or opinion about your circumstances. Doing so will help you change your attitude and ultimately allow you to grow beyond the struggles you can’t control.
The Introvert Whisperer: 3 Things Introverts Do to Screw up Their Careers — and What to Do Instead
Being an introvert doesn’t necessarily mean being shy, but with inner direction often comes a certain amount of social awkwardness. It’s hard to get enthused about that networking function when you’d always rather be home reading a book, after all. Dorothy Tannahill-Moran explains how to deal with the problem:
It’s easy, especially if you’re in Introvert, to slip into a mode of simply not interacting with others enough to build your social skills. Let’s face it: it’s hard to develop the all-important Know-Like-Trust recipe with someone who is difficult to interact with.
Do this instead: If you aren’t sure if this is you, find out immediately. You need to get some feedback. Ask your boss who is apt to give you the most unvarnished view of your behavior. Ask an HR representative, coach or therapist. (This may have been something your mother never told you but should have.) Consider taking classes in speaking, emotional intelligence, communication or even sales to help build your social skills.
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