Finding a job where one is completely happy with one’s work position, the work environment – Everything that goes into making its acquisition akin to the finding of the elusive moxie. Well, it’s the fulfillment of this very ideal that makes its pursuit all the more challenging as it is exhilarating.
But in times such as these, where every penny counts and the world economy seems to be steeping low, it becomes all the more mandatory to cast away dreams that require hard perseverance and even then having a sliver of a chance to make it into reality to that white / blue (even) collar job in the dreary cubicle working for an idea one doesn’t believe in, caught in a straitjacket in the attempt at making ends meet.
Being in possession of a job that pays the bills and even keeps the inner fount ever surging – suffice to say, it isn’t easy having your cake and eating it too.
Here are ten reasons why you shouldn’t quit your job (or at least rethink it):
1. Intrinsic or Extrinsic? First off, are the reasons that seem to be urging you to quit, valid ones that are intrinsic or ones that are short-lived, namely extrinsic?
A recent study by Accenture reports that:
31% of the sample of employers move away because they don’t like their boss; 31% also feel a lack of empowerment in the jobs that they’ve been dished out; and yet another
35% yield that they can’t take the internal politics; whereas
an overwhelming 43% go on to say that they do not find enough recognition.
Now, really though, it’s up to the individual himself to finally make the big decision since it goes without saying that there is a lot at stake. Usually the problem is that there is not enough information to make a full, well informed game plan.
So there you go, chalk out the reasons why you feel you have to quit your job and synthesize the entirety to within the grid.
2. You can’t understand your management’s leadership style – Melissa Llarena, author of Career Outcomes Matter states that the biggest reason for employees to give up their jobs has been because they no longer trust their corporations. Quoting her,
“the options that they seek right after is seen by the statistics that inform us that nearly 40 percent of men and 25 percent of women want to become their own boss (54% of Millenials, 46% of GenY, 35% of Gen X-ers and 21% of Baby Boomers, by age)”.
It comes as no surprise then that you find your management’s approach to dealing with business and workload more so jarring than you can be forced to admit.
But corporate leadership can still achieve productivity and keep employees engaged by offering them more latitude in how they seek to accomplish company and personal goals – this is a factor that your management system places in its stronghold for development, and it is up to you to get through to them, in case you cannot see them implementing such a discourse.
3. There’s an old saying: “People Quit Their Bosses, Not Their Jobs” – Just because you aren’t too happy with the sort of boss you’re under, doesn’t mean you’d be able to escape that sort of treatment in another workspace.
Bosses are known to have been in your shoes, and the sort of micromanaging that they do (which does drive you up the wall), is because they want to make sure that their subordinates are up to the mark at the end of the day.
Of course, there exists the other extreme, where they completely leave on hiatus for an indefinable time and later pop into your cubicle to ask if the document from a case 3 months ago has been pushed. It can get infuriating, but, set things straight with your boss, if that are the major reasons why you’d want to quit your job.
4. It may all just be at face value – If you’re tempted by a steak of an offer, medium-rare – just as you like it, better think twice before you champ down. More often than not, you’re not too aware of the work culture that persists at the other venue. Find out first about the company’s appetite for change, the intensity, the politics, and the sophistication of the infrastructure – and then go ahead and make all the decisions you want.
5. You’re not being paid enough – It’s a down economy – quite obvious. In the US, festering in a climate of business uncertainty and an unemployment rate of 7.8%, the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics has noted that 2 million Americans voluntarily leave their jobs every month.
Startling, isn’t it?
Harris Interactive’s recent study states that at least a full 74% of people today would consider moving to a new job in search for better finances.
Things might take an indefinite while to hit back on the track of progress, but it might not be the best time to go in and place your resignation letter. Better earn that “meager” salary rather than find yourself unemployed.
6. Experiment first – If you’re planning on quitting your job for the sole reason of wanderlust, think again before you make the plunge. Savings can never truly be enough and if you’re serious about becoming a freelancer at your job, it goes to use your corporate job as a platform to determine what you’re good at and how you can get better.
7. Health – By all means, if you find your health deteriorating because of work or such, look into the reasons why you find yourself stressing out. You don’t want to allow yourself to burn out, now, would you?
But in case you do quit your job, do remember the risk that you’ll have to be willing to take – you need to have funds to help you access the best medical professionals if you or your dear ones find themselves in the sordid demise with a terminal illness.
8. Monumental Change – Best stick on to that desk, if you find out that your wife is with child or you’re getting through a divorce or even, perhaps, dealing with the loss of a family member. It might seem at these moments that you do know what your priorities are, but unless you can actively cross out the dire straits that you could perhaps, land in, don’t leave your job before or post your life being rocked by harbingers of monumental change.
9. Having ⇒ Doing – In case your future employer puts you past some brain-teasers or riddles of the sort, and even attempts to pigeonhole your skills, ask what or where such an attribute would come in handy in the role you’d be expected to fulfill. It’s also a given to look through the organizational scheme if you fancy yourself being fully informed. (Image Source)
10. Reality Bites – It is understandable that you know you have it within yourself to have the potential for owning your own business or get to that long standing dream of owning your own ice-cream franchise, but you have to realize, if you do indeed go through with it, cultural factors need be, amongst others, kept in mind. 
If you do give up on the job you’re currently in, you will lose the advantages of long-standing, accumulated, seniority. As much as one would like to give in more emphasis to merit, the number of years you’ve been at a job qualifies you more so, unofficially, at being permitted to deal out the cards at the place.
Also, say you’ve changed too many jobs already, in the effort to get a better job. Your resume would seem to be lacking a major concrete call out from appraisal by a potential corporate, making your lack of stability the point in question. (Image Source)
It’s a strange, strange world, my dear. And only if you are completely equipped for the consequences that would be inevitable to rank the order of your choices, better not venture out – decisions made mustn’t be done so by the faint of heart…or wallet.
Eye opener…wonderful article.