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May 2008 |
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Career CornerTough Questions to Face Before Leaving Your Job A lot of career advice centers around whether it's time to quit your job. But Debt Matters doesn't think you really need help figuring that out. If you dread going to the office… If there's little hope for advancement… If your job keeps you up at night… If you're bored out of your mind… All of those are reasons to move on and most people know it. Problem is, most everybody needs to find a job before quitting their current one. So the trick becomes recognizing the right opportunity when you see it. Here are some questions to consider when shopping around for a new job. How much do you really know about where you're going? What did you learn in your interview at a new company? Do you know the office politics? Do you know how hard everybody is working to keep up with their workload? How flexible is your new boss going to be if your child gets sick? Will this be an opportunity to learn and advance? Will your boss micro-manage you? You can't always get clear answers to these questions in an interview. And that's alright, as long as you keep these variables in mind when weighing your current situation against a prospective job. Assume it won't be as perfect as you expect when doing your calculation. The grass tends to look greener from the other side of the street. Are you leaving to get somewhere or merely to get away? Many people have a resume full of jobs, not one of which was satisfying. The reason is most likely that they always left a job with little thought about the destination. Bad jobs tend to get worse the longer you are in them and the temptation to flee for the sake of fleeing gets bigger and bigger. And as the need to leave grows, it can make any place new look really good. Make sure your new job is what you want and not just what you don't want. Will your new job truly pay you more money? There's nothing wrong with leaving for more money, but ask yourself if it's truly worth it. If another employer offers you $1,000 more than your current salary, that is likely a backward move. There's a cost to changing jobs. You'll have to start over accruing sick time and vacation time. If you are ineligible to participate in the new company's 401(k) for a year, you'll effectively give that $1,000 right back in the first year because you won't receive a company's matching contribution. Unless you just got your annual review and presumably a raise, changing jobs will postpone your next review for a year. So, even if more money is your goal, there's a lot to consider besides the salary amounts. Another big thing to consider is how long it will take to develop the new skills you need to achieve and advance? A good rule of thumb is that if you're going to leave for money, make sure it's a lot of money. |
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