When should you quit your job?
Recently I was talking to a dear friend of mine and I learned how unhappy he was at work. However, he wasn’t sure if it is the right time for him to change jobs. This got me thinking about what should you consider as the signs you need to change jobs. It is especially important to understand when to quit a job without another job. It is a big step and you must think through. Having said that, whether with a job or without a job, you should look for signs you need to change jobs. Just like Anuj, my friend, I know there are many who are confused about when should you quit your job. The idea is to look for signs. These will tell you what you should do about your job. In the interest of a happy working life, here’s a compilation of signs you need to change jobs. This should ideally help you decide when should you quit your job
List of signs you need to change jobs
While there could be many instances that may make you feel like it is time to hang the boots, it is important to understand the signs you need to change jobs
High anxiety in the morning
Every morning when you wake, your anxiety level is generally high or your interest level is low. You have a nagging feeling along the lines of – “It is morning again or It is office time again”. In some cases, you may even imagine various excuses or reasons to not go to the office; though you know you can’t skip work.
Email mess
There are multiple scenarios possible with emails.
- You may either be having a pile of unread emails. You are so disengaged that you don’t feel like replying to emails
- You are simply replying to emails only to clear the log of emails. You are probably not putting much thought before replying and simply replying to clear the log either by forwarding them to others to act upon them or by proving half-baked solutions
- You feel anxious the moment you receive an email. The first thought that comes to your mind may be along the lines of “Now what happened… what does one want”
Minimum required working hours
- This is a typical situation where your focus is on completing 9 or 10 hours as mentioned in the company policy. In fact, you note the time of your log-in and calculate the time of your log-out. For example, if you enter at 9:20 am; you will calculate that it is okay for you to leave by 6:20 pm for a 9 hours shift. You wait until 6:20 pm and leave as soon as possible after that
- Alternatively, you may not care enough about the timings because of the rebellious streak in you where you don’t care about the policies anymore
- A word of caution here – remember that even a highly engaged employee would not care about the time he spends and, in most cases, he will end up spending more than the required time. Make sure you aren’t in that category
Meetings
You often attend meetings with no purpose in your mind or without contributing much to the discussion or being on a call or meeting only to register your presence.
Boss is the only factor
An important sign that you need to change jobs is when you keep running like a headless chicken with not much clue of why you are doing certain actions. You may however be clear that it will make your boss happy. If everything that you do is only to make your boss happy, it could be a sign of stagnation unless your manager is super talented and clear with his vision and you can trust him/her blindly
Differing objectives
The company is passionate about achieving certain results but you are not passionate about the same. You don’t feel passionate at all about what the company is doing, it could be because you don’t align with the business of the company or your boss or the direction it is taking. In either case, if you are not passionate and simply finishing your job by dragging yourself to work every day, you may want to note that it is not helping you grow as an individual or a professional
No connections
The people around you are good yet you are not able to connect with them. You often don’t feel like having lunch with them, going out with them, or even talking to them. Chances are that you may be judging all of them and thinking of others as belonging to a certain tribe that may not align with yours
No attention to details
This is related to your performance on the job. You could be doing tasks only for the sake of doing them without paying attention to details. For example, when your boss asks you to make a plan and you simply put together a few slides without paying attention to the reasoning, assumptions, impacts, etc. Another case could be that you are asked to plan a meeting and you don’t care to check if all is in place before the meeting. There could be many other instances. The point here is that you may not have the drive to get into details of anything and finish your tasks only to tick boxes.
Salary
Probably one of the worst signs you need to change jobs is when your salary gets credited yet it doesn’t excite you anymore
Cribbing
Observe yourself and see if you are not a constant cribber yet most of your conversations now revolve around cribbing about your job due to your boss, the policies, or the culture. You could do it with your colleagues or your friends or family members. In either case, if you are constantly involved in cribbing about your office, there’s something wrong, unless, of course, you are someone who cribs or bitches about others under all circumstances
Constant negativity
Even when you are among your family or friends or away from the office, the thoughts of your office or your boss keep bothering you, it is time to note that the toxicity of the job has occupied your peace of mind. This could be imaginary or real, in either case, your peace of mind is getting screwed due to the negativities in the office.
Instincts
As mentioned in the end, the most important sign you need to change jobs is listening to your instinct. Your inner voice often tells you if you when should you quit your job. The issue is that we don’t often listen to it and keep crushing it. Listen to it and follow what it asks you to do
Given the above, I wouldn’t say that you should quit your jobs often. You must do your best to stick to your job. However, due to any or many of the above reasons, your job is costing you your peace of mind, you must find it as a sign you need to change jobs.