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Does the dread set in on Sunday night? Do you sit at work wondering whether you’re wasting your time? Has your manager refused requests for flexible working or won’t discuss your future career path? It’s time to quit your job – and there has never been a better time.
Normally I’m a pretty good listener, but when friends complain about their jobs, I can’t help solutionising: if you hate it so much, I say, just quit. That idea has taken off amid the pandemic, sparking the Great Resignation, with an Adobe survey showing 35 per cent of enterprise workers want to switch jobs in the next year, amid higher expectations for workplace flexibility. In the US, a record four million Americans quit their jobs in April alone.
That, paired with economic rebounds ending hiring freezes, means there are plenty of empty jobs out there for you, be it a similar job at a better company or a fresh career in a different field. Recruiters are struggling to fill roles, with three-quarters of employers unable to find the right talent, according to hiring agency ManpowerGroup, while a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development shows 39 per cent of surveyed employers have “hard to fill” roles. For employees, there has never been a better time to quit, shift career to a new field, or request basics such as a pay raise or flexible working – for once, the power is in your hands.
That's perhaps a little optimistic, so don’t stride into your manager’s office making demands or dramatically handing in your notice. First, find out if there is actually a staff shortage in your field – there’s high demand in IT and computing as well as engineering, but it’s customer service, logistics and admin roles that are really driving shortages – and remove financial and emotional stress by landing a new job first.
Before jumping ship, read our guide on how to quit well and in particular take time to consider what you want from a new employer. “Investing the time to really explore the reasons you feel you want to move on first is really critical,” says Kate Mansfield, career coach and programme development manager with Career Counselling Services. Mansfield also warns that quitting without such consideration raises the risk that “the same issues just materialise in the next role”.
How do you know if you should quit your job? My own advice is to make an exit plan as soon as you notice you’re consistently unhappy at work. Kim Sprague, career and leadership coach at Seven Career Coaching, is more measured, listing five signs it’s time to ditch your role: you have anxiety just thinking about work, your professional unhappiness is leaking into your personal life, you can’t see a career path ahead of you, your managers aren’t offering support or addressing workplace problems, and you don’t want to talk about work with friends and family.
Marie de Champchesnel, also a career coach at Seven, adds that seeking a new role need not be negative, as you could just be bored. “You might have been in the same role for quite a while and things are running smoothly, your brain doesn’t have to work hard to be successful, you’ve stopped learning something new every day,” she says, adding that this means “you are ready for a new challenge”.
Quitting can feel stressful, but it shouldn’t be: consider it professional self-care. Once you’ve departed, don’t linger on regrets or what you miss about your old office, but look forward and build a better future for yourself. “There’s no such thing as a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ decision, only learning opportunities,” Sprague says. “The most important thing is that you simply decide – one way or the other – and then it’s the actions after that which ultimately shape your results.”
In the end, it’s up to you. But if your job isn’t bringing you joy (some of the time, at least), then why not find one that does? It’s never been easier than it is right now. Dust off the CV, update LinkedIn, set up some Zoom interviews, and make the next year and a half better than the last.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
