Ok – so this is the 4th and final episode in the series of 40 questions to ask yourself BEFORE you chuck in your job.
You might be unhappy with your job and thinking of chucking it all in, sabotaging your colleagues work or throwing something at your boss? Or are you contemplating quietly walking out, leaving the country and going to live a simpler life on an island? Thinking of changing jobs is normal for everyone – you have no monopoly on any of these thoughts – but doing it right, whatever that is, is important.
Career progression means changing jobs by definition – but why and how you do it can improve your life or totally screw it up. Changing jobs at the right time for the right reasons and in the right way may seem obvious – but emotions and feelings and irrational thought get in the way and can seriously mess up your career.
I have changed jobs and made a few career changes in my life and some were cleverer than others!
So before you start booking plane tickets, selling the house, moving to or from the big city, emigrating or physically throwing stuff at the boss, why not balance out the loud emotional voices of your feelings with some sober, boring logical stuff.
Once you have realised that the problem is the job, the only way to fix it is to quit, and you know where you are heading is the deed; actually quitting. This can be a difficult process especially if you are leaving somewhat reluctantly. But it is the final necessary step to getting a new job.
Here are 10 questions to answer to decide How To Do The Deed before changing jobs:
- How would your departure leave your company and the jobs and security of your colleagues?
- How are you going to tell them?
- Do you need a reference?
- What notice are you going to give them? What day will it be – the day after payday?
- How and when is the best way to tell them? Blurting it out may get it off your chest but if you are that wound up you will probably screw it up.
- Are you going to offer a handover – what should be in the handover?
- How likely are you to see your current team and boss in your new role?
- How important will they be to your future?
- What do you want them saying about you? Do you care?
- Will you do this in a way that will make you proud in retrospect and that shows some class?
This is the final part of a 4 week series. Previously in this (really exciting) career-based mini-series:
10 questions to ask yourself before changing jobs (The Problem)
10 questions to ask yourself before changing jobs (The Fix)
10 questions to ask yourself before changing jobs (The Decision)
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