Is it time to quit?  Whilst the current season of my career has seen more stability with a long-term post, I have moved around a lot in the job market over the last two decades – which involves a lot of quitting. 

From my observation, there are only two real drivers to quit a job –  a push or a pull.  A push is a scenario that’s driving you away from your current post; a pull is a situation, often an alternative job opportunity, that is luring you away from your current job toward something new.  Here are some examples:

• Push Factor
  • No room for progression – in order for you to progress you need someone immediately above you to leave.  Even if they did, you may face a competitive selection process before you can take that role.  You appear to have hit a ceiling.
  • No opportunity for growth – you’ve already achieved everything you can in the current role and learned all you can; and now it’s boring.  You need to move to grow.
  • Toxic workplace – you are working within a culture that is negatively impacting your mental health and/or job satisfaction.
  • Lack of support – you’re in a role where management are not willing or able to give you the support and resources you need to be successful, meaning failure is inevitable.
  • Mismatched values – your company wants to work in a way that is at odds with your values.  It’s not the same as the toxic workplace, it’s more about your personal values being in conflict with the company’s mission and culture.
  • Risk – you heard the rumours, you’ve seen a pattern of changes and restructuring, or your spidey sense just started tingling.  You suspect your job may be at risk in the future, or maybe the industry itself is changing and your employer is at risk.  It’s time to take your destiny in your own hands and leave in a time and manner of your choosing.
  • You’re falling behind financially – the cost of living is going up, but salaries aren’t matching it.  By standing still, you can see in your bank account that you’re falling behind. 
  • You’re about to be fired – you may have created your own push by behaving in a way that doesn’t align with the needs of your employer, or you’ve misrepresented your capabilities to land your job and not bridged the gap quickly enough.  Basically, it’s jump or get pushed – you know if you don’t leave you’re going to get fired.
• Pull Factor
  • Rewards.  Another company recognises you’re capable of doing work for them in a role that pays more than your current role.  Or a better reward and recognition process.  Or has a better work-life balance.  Or a better pension plan.  Someone, somewhere is offering you something that will enhance your life.
  • Growth opportunity – you find an opportunity that gives you a chance to progress in your career with the next progressive step up in seniority or responsibility.  Or maybe a few steps up.  Basically, you’re going up the ladder with this move.  This doesn’t always come with a pay rise, but it comes with valuable new skills and experience that you can monetise later.
  • Market demand – You know that people who move jobs frequently tend to get paid more – with loyalty being less rewarded than mobility.  I nearly counted this as a push as the lack of reward of loyalty and staying still is a driver, but ultimately I felt the appeal of moving was a more powerful pull factor.
  • Embracing Change – You just want to do something new.  Maybe you’re drawn to a new career, a new skill set, a new location, a new boss.  You just want to shake things up with a change.  Time to go!

As strong as the reasons to quit are, they may be balanced or outweighed by reasons to stay.  Maybe you can see you’ve no opportunity to grow, but you love the job you’re doing?  Or you’d love to make a change, but the job market is cold and economic climate is uncertain and you feel it’s too risky to move today?  It could be that your benefits package is so good it makes sense to stay? 

These are all valid reasons to stay, but there’s one I caution against.  Fear.  Fear that there isn’t another opportunity out there for you.  Fear that your next job will be worse than your current one; that your next boss could be a monster.  Fear that you’ll try something new and fail.  Plenty of people stay in bad jobs (and poor relationships) because of the fear that they can’t make it, that they don’t deserve better.  If that’s you, I want you to try this – it’s called “filling the cookie jar”.  I want you to think of something you’ve succeeded at – anything no matter how big or small – and write it down in a notepad.  Then repeat.  Then keep doing it every time you have a success, every time you have a win.  And then, every time you feel a sense of fear stopping you from taking the next step in your career (or anything else in life) – go back to that notepad and take a cookie out of the jar by reading your success stories.  It’ll help you to build the confidence you need to take a chance, and most likely improve your life.

Now, the next step is finding the next role if there isn’t one already, and planning an appropriate exit.  That involves resigning professionally – and I’ll write about how to do that soon, so make sure to follow me so you don’t miss it!

If you planning on finding your next career opportunity, my course Find Your Next – Or First – Project Management Job can help. Check out the details here.

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