When To Walk Away From A Job

When To Walk Away From A Job

Nobody goes through the process of interviewing and discussing and negotiating and finally accepting a job just to walk away from the job only after a short period of time. Sometimes getting a new gig happens quickly but most of the time it is an arduous process that takes a long time.  Therefore it is a hard pill to swallow to have to face situation that might make you consider walking away from your job.  That being said sometimes it is the best thing to do.

We all know how hard it is to find a good job and often times a lot of people are forced to settle for their present job no matter how much they dislike the job, their coworkers, their boss, their resources, the pay, whatever. A lot of the reason is because of the difficulty in finding jobs and the fact that a lot of people do not have backup plans for when they get out of a job.  Most people tend to focus on what is in front of them and this includes their day to day jobs.  A good course of action that can help alleviate the pressure of having a job you don’t like is to keep your eyes open for other opportunities while gainfully employed.  In other words, have a backup plan.  You should know when to walk away from a job.

Thinking About Leaving the Job

When you are easier in your career and don’t have a lot of responsibilities, leaving a job may be pretty simple and not as much of a big deal.  When you only have to worry about yourself it’s not as big a decision to make.  With responsibilities come the need to have a steady source of income, so when you think about walking away from a job it becomes a bigger decision to make and you will have to consider a lot of factors before making that final choice.  Especially if you are married and have kids then that makes the decision that much bigger because other people are counting on you.

It is quite understandable that jobs can get unbearable and uncomfortable at times, that’s the nature of the beast.  The vast majority of my job I like or love but I’d be lying if I said I loved it everyday.  I have crappy days and crappy weeks just like everyone else.  Situations ranging from mean bosses, difficult co-workers, extremely huge workload, unfavorable working periods, low pay to working into late hours unexpectedly can all be contributing factors to getting fed up with your job.  This is especially true of things have a repeated pattern such as a boss who’s always an ass, ALWAYS having to work extra, etc.  If you are experiencing any of these and you feel you should walk away from the job, there are some questions you have to ask yourself which may help you ease your path through the time you may be jobless.

Some Things to Consider

1. Is your reason legitimate?

Some days at work come off as bad but not that bad to the point of walking away. To you it may feel like too much to handle but in reality, it may not be as bad as you think. Take a moment to reflect and ask yourself if this is the worst situation you could ever experience at the job. Reflect on if that reason is enough for you to quite that job. The first few days after quitting a job are the worst as you will be experiencing a myriad of feelings and wish you did not leave the job. However, if you ask yourself all of the above questions and you still feel strongly that you have to walk away from your job, then by all means take that into consideration.  Just remember we all have bad days and even bad weeks.  Look more at if it is a sustainable pattern of crappiness.

2. What other options do you have at the moment?

There are some people who, no matter how bad their workplace is, they still stick to their jobs and weather through the hard times. Often times, it is not exactly their choice to feel miserable every day at work; it is often due to the fact that they do not have another job to fall back on should they leave their current job. If you strongly feel that you should walk away from a job, do try to make sure there is just another job for you to move on to.  Obviously most people leave jobs for another job.  If you are seriously considering leaving a job the best case scenario is to have another job ready to start.  If you don’t then try your best to make sure you have a couple of irons in the fire, a few options that are looking promising even if you don’t have an actual offer……yet.

3. Will you be able to take care of your responsibilities?

Responsibilities include a whole lot of things such as family (feeding, expenses, school bills), mortgage, car maintenance, property maintenance and other miscellaneous expenses. If you will be able to take care of all of this pending the time another job comes then by all means, if your job makes you feel extremely uncomfortable, walk away. It is one thing to leave a job and it is another thing to be able to keep it all together. You sure don’t want to let down your family in any way, so keep this in the forefront of your mind if you feel like you’re ready to walk away.

Now that we have established the things that you should consider before leaving your job, we will be discussing the most common reasons why you can strongly consider walking away from your job.

Some Legit Reasons

1. Lack of career advancement opportunities

Besides the discomfort you are already feeling from your job, if your job does not hold out any prospects for you to advance career-wise and this is important to you consider a strong reason for potentially leaving. If you do not have any hopes of getting a promotion, a pay rise or more responsibilities, then the job is not ideal for you to continue on a long term basis.  If, on the other hand, you are happy with where you are with your current role and don’t have aspirations to move up then kick this reason to the curb.

2. Lack of trust from your boss or in your boss

If you put in the work, work the right number of hours and even longer hours on occasions, get your job done the right way and on time too, and your boss still does not trust you then ask yourself why would you want to work for this dude?   Conversely, if your boss has shown him or herself to be untrustworthy then this is a HUGE red flag.

3. You are always expected to work during off hours

It is quite understandable that once in a while, some work need to be finished or a deadline has to be met and everyone may need to put in extra hours. It however becomes uncomfortable when this happens very often or employees start getting punished for not answering phone calls or responding to emails during their off hours. This could be a good enough reason to walk away from a job.  There are of course exceptions to this like doctors but for the most part

4. Management does not care about the employees

The number one priority of every organization should be the welfare of its workers. If the management of your place of work does not bother about how you are faring under the set work conditions, does not value your opinion or generally care how you feel, then it is time for you to walk away.  This is a biggie.  Any good company culture is going to want good things for their employees.

4. You just don’t like what you do

Some people are built for sales, some aren’t.  Some people like number crunching, others don’t.  A lot of people like interaction with other folks on an ongoing basis but there’s plenty that like to perform solitary work.  If you find that the majority of your day to day activities are things you simply don’t like doing, it’s definitely time to consider leaving your job.

Here’s the Deal

No one should work for an extended period of time in a job they don’t like or are not appreciated at.  That being said sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do to put bread on the table.  But once you get into a gig that you THINK you want and it turns out to be different for any one of the reasons above (or a whole bunch of other reasons) take a long look and see if you want to stay.  If you don’t, make sure you’ve got some options.

All My Best,

Mat A.