At what point do you decide to leave your job?
A few decades ago, it was considered unwise to leave your job, even if you had a new job lined up. It was the accepted norm to stay with the organisation as long as possible. Build up your reputation, your credibility, your experience and stay loyal to your employer. The social contract of loyalty between employer and employee is disappearing. Permanent positions are no longer a guarantee of a job for life. Up to 50% of employees leave a job within year one, because their expectations were not met in terms of role and training.
Are you leaving the job you are doing, or the organisation you are working for?
This prompts the question of why people leave jobs. Perhaps the role was completely different to the one advertised, or the promised training and mentoring did not materialise. Sometimes personality clashes occur and there is no mechanism in place to deal with this. People constantly tell me that they like their job, they love the work they do, but they have a problem with other people, either work colleagues or management.
Before making any decisions to leave a job, it is essential that you stop, look around, research and make informed decisions. The grass may be greener sometimes, but this is not always the case. We need to examine why we are leaving, in more detail. Is it really about the work, or is there something we can do in order to make our lives in work more bearable or enjoyable? How we choose to react to other people is entirely within our remit, and small changes can often make big differences in the workplace.
When we start to research other jobs, we may find that the terms and conditions are not as good as we are currently enjoying. It is important to look at the small print, to speak to people working in the new organisation, and to compare both the organisations and the roles, before make a reactive decision.
Time spent with a career coach will assist you to carry out the type of research needed before you change organisation or job. Coaching will also help you to look at ways to stay in your existing job, but manage your time, your work and your reactions better, and therefore improvement your working environment.
If you have a career decision to make, contact Angela at Career Coaching Matters.