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Your #Career : This is What it Took for Me to Quit a Job I Hated…This Writer had been Putting Off Leaving a Job She Didn’t Like. But One Particular Moment Compelled her to Take Action.

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It was my birthday. I’d come into the office earlier than usual to get a jump start on my workload so that I would be able to sneak out on time to meet a group of people for a celebratory dinner.

No one at the office knew it was my birthday, and that was perfectly fine. See, I didn’t exactly have the best relationship with my boss or colleagues. I worked for a small hedge fund where the atmosphere was perpetually tense and intense. Nobody really seemed to like one another, and because my goal was to earn a paycheck rather than make friends, that wasn’t bothersome to me. What irked me, however, was the fact that everyone at the office treated me like dirt even though I had a solid work ethic and generally went well above and beyond the call of duty to make other people more money.

In other words, I wasn’t expecting special treatment for it being my birthday. I just wanted the day to go smoothly (“smoothly” being a relative term at an office where fistfights weren’t unusual and foul language was the go-to means of communication).

It didn’t, though. And that’s why I decided that day to quit.

REACHING MY BREAKING POINT

What’s funny is that nothing particularly disturbing happened that day. Sure, people yelled at me, but that was par for the course. Rather, there were two related incidents that helped me realize I was done.

The first was when a colleague asked me to jump on a 6:00 p.m. conference call in his place because he had to leave unexpectedly. I politely explained that I had plans after work and had to leave by 5:30 myself–something I rarely did, but also something I was by no means obligated to clear with him or my boss. Rather than accept my answer and pursue an alternate solution, he proceeded to berate me for wanting to have a social life. Fine.

The next episode happened just moments later. I had finished up my work for the day and was gathering my belongings when another coworker looked up at the clock, saw what time it was, and asked, in the snidest tone possible, “Half day today?”

I left on time. I went to dinner reeling over the two incidents while my friends tried to distract me with just about every other topic imaginable. And the next day, I composed my resignation letter.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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KNOWING WHEN IT’S TIME TO QUIT

The funny thing is that I really should’ve resigned from that job years before I did. The environment was toxic, and while the work itself was interesting, it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my career. The only reason I stayed so long was that the pay was fantastic, and I was hesitant to give it up. But what made me finally throw in the towel was the fact that as I sat there at dinner that night, I couldn’t stop fuming over the events that had just transpired.

Then I realized that I’d been doing the same thing for months– letting an unpleasant work experience spill over into my personal life and mess with my general well-being. I could no longer let that happen, and so I resigned.

Of course, I did so respectfully. I gave my firm a month’s notice, which I was able to do in the absence of having another job lined up. In my official letter, I thanked my boss for taking me on and teaching me a lot, which he actually did. And I made sure to wrap up all major items I was working on before my last day to not leave anyone particularly in the lurch.

I also made sure I was prepared financially to kiss my paycheck goodbye. For months, I’d been adding to my emergency fund to allow myself the option to quit. I also looked into my health insurance options in advance, since I knew I’d need to secure coverage of my own. And I’m grateful I did those things, because they bought me the option to leave when I’d truly had enough.

NO ONE DESERVES TO BE MISERABLE AT WORK

Why am I sharing this story now? It’s simple: I still have many friends who are utterly miserable at their jobs.

Now obviously, not working isn’t an option, since we all have bills to pay. But it pains me to see so many people I know unhappy day in, day out. So if there’s one takeaway here, it’s this: I was dissatisfied at my job long before I quit, but what drove me over the edge was realizing that I couldn’t shake those bad feelings from work even after leaving the office. That wasn’t acceptable to me, and it shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone.

If you’ve been unhappy with your job to the point where it’s impacted your overall well-being, it’s time to start planning your escape. I’m not saying quit on a whim, because frankly, you should really have a backup plan. Rather, I’m suggesting you figure out what it’ll take to allow you to quit your job, whether it’s more savings and/or a series of leads, and find a way to escape that bad situation. And who knows? It just might end up being the best thing you ever do for your career.

 

FastCompany.com | May 21, 2018 | BY MAURIE BACKMAN—THE MOTLEY FOOL 4 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : On Thin Ice ( #JobTermination) ? …. Have you Ever Wondered If you Were on Thin Ice at Work? You are Doing your Job, Contributing to the Company and Even get Good #PerformanceReviews . But Something is Different.

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Have you ever wondered if you were on thin ice at work? You are doing your job, contributing to the company and even get good performance reviews.  But something is different.  You can feel it, but you can’t quite pinpoint it. Maybe you were left out of a meeting. Or someone made an odd remark to you.  You wonder if you’re being paranoid, if you are making a mountain out of a molehill.

To write my book, “Fired:  How to Manage Your Career in the Age of Job Uncertainty” I interviewed 65 people who lost their jobs.  I asked them if they saw it coming.  The vast majority of them said they were completely shocked.  Then, I asked them if looking back, they could see some of the signs.   With hindsight being 20/20, many of them were able to identify warning signs that their jobs were in jeopardy.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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One of the biggest signs was changes in interaction patterns at work.  For examples, meetings were canceled or removed from their calendars.  Co-workers avoided them or cut conversations short. There were even out of the blue comments like “Are you still here?”  or “I hope you quit before I have to fire you.”  Most of the time, the people I interviewed said they  brushed off the comments and kept working.  But in hindsight, they could see that these were signs they were about to be let go.

The unfortunate reality is that many people are aware of an impending termination before the employee is told.  Human resources, security, information technology, the supervisor’s manager may be notified  that the dismissal is coming.  Sometimes word leaks out and others become aware.

Knowing someone is about to be let go is awkward.  It’s hard to “act normal.”  People generally don’t want to be fake or lie, so they avoid.  Others make nervous jokes.

The lesson here is: Pay attention to changes in interaction patterns at work and listen to that little voice inside of you telling you something is wrong.  Then develop an exit strategy and a back up plan in case you need them. 

Dr. Nancy Koury King is a guest author on the FSC Career Blog (https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/) & is a participating member of the FSC LinkedIn Network ( www.linkedin.com/in/fscnetwork ) . 

As mentioned above, her publication of the book, “Fired:  How to Manage Your Career in the Age of Job Uncertainty”  & is available on Amazon below.

https://www.amazon.com/Fired-manage-your-career-uncertainty/dp/1978407130

 

FSC Career Blog (https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog)  | March 25, 2018

Your #Career : Even If Your #NewJob Is a Bad Fit, Don’t Quit…How to Evaluate Whether the Challenges Can be Overcome or it’s Really a #ToxicWorkplace.

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You’re psyched for your first day on a new job—until you arrive and find your new colleagues miserable, the atmosphere stifling or the boss overbearing and obnoxious.

Is it ever OK to quit on your first day? Making a wise decision requires pausing for a moment. The key is to distinguish between challenges you should try to overcome and fundamental problems that are true deal breakers.

More new hires are heading for the exits fast, employers and career coaches say. Two-thirds of employees have taken a job only to realize later that it was a bad fit, and half of those employees quit within six months, says a recent CareerBuilder survey of 3,697 U.S. employees. Many young workers have two or three jobs listed on their résumés by age 30 and leave out those that lasted less than a few weeks.

Lori Cheek quit after a few days on a furniture-sales job several years ago. She was exhausted by dragging a suitcase loaded with heavy product manuals around New York City all day on the subway to meet with customers, then continuing to work at the office until 8 p.m. She snapped up what looked like a better sales job at a showroom nearby, selling stylish designer furnishings.

“It was the worst decision ever,” Ms. Cheek says. Her supervisor on the first job, who had spent time training her, was deeply disappointed, and one manager on her new job pained her even more. “At first sight he could not stand the way I dressed. He wanted an Ann Taylor look, and I’m more Gwen Stefani, edgy,” Ms. Cheek says. She grudgingly toned down her jewelry, makeup and hair. To avoid earning a reputation as a job-hopper, however, she stuck with the new position for almost a year. Looking back, Ms. Cheek, owner of a free mobile dating app called Cheekd, wishes she’d stayed on the first job and tried to negotiate better terms and conditions.

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Starting a new job can be overwhelming. People under stress in situations that are uncertain or ambiguous tend to make decisions that are risky or unwise, according to a 2016 study by German researchers.

Quitting abruptly risks earning bad references from former bosses and their contacts. It also may mean living without a paycheck for a while.

Rob Hill was dismayed two years ago to learn that he was expected as a manager of a new manufacturing plant to work the 5 a.m.-to-5 p.m. shift, plus several more hours—a fact he says hadn’t been clear to him during interviews. He quit after two days. After working long hours on similar jobs in the past, “I just didn’t want to hurt like that anymore,” Mr. Hill says. He had to live on his savings for a month, but he landed a more fulfilling position, as director of operations for a Denver community foundation.

Before resigning abruptly, new hires should ask themselves if they’re giving the job a fair chance. New employees’ behavior helps determine the amount of support they receive, according to a 2017 study of 273 new hires and 203 managers. Those who seem committed to the job and ask questions get more help from managers, says Allison Marie Ellis, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of management and human resources at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

Having a new hire quit is costly for employers. It forces them to restart the hiring process and damages morale. Several people Julie Jansen hired and trained as recruiters on a previous job years ago quit after only one day. “It was devastating. You think you know if someone is a fit, and then they just disappear,” says Ms. Jansen, author of “I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This,” a best-selling career book.

It isn’t wise to exit just because you don’t like the person next to you or have to do grunt work all day. If the boss is abrasive, push back a bit. One intern at a Wall Street financial-services firm whose boss seemed unduly brusque asked him, “Are you just having a bad day, or are you always like this?” says Rebecca Zucker, a career and executive coach at Next Step Partners in San Francisco. The intern not only survived the exchange but earned better treatment from the boss, Ms. Zucker says.

Quitting early may be warranted if an employer tries a bait-and-switch—promising one job and assigning you to a different one, or violating other agreed-upon terms, says Chicago career coach Jody Michael. “If you’re told you’ll be reporting to the CEO, but in actuality there’s someone positioned between you and the CEO, that’s a problem,” Ms. Michael says.

One manager learned on his first day at an automotive company that his base pay would be cut in half under a new company compensation plan, says Carlos Kingwergs, Latin America regional director for AutoKineto, an international executive-search firm based in Columbia, S.C. The employer increased his bonus to make up for it, Mr. Kingwergs says, but the new hire quit, saying, “That’s not what I signed on for.”

Other job seekers take a position because it’s their only offer, then exit after receiving an offer for their dream job that requires them to start right away, Ms. Michael says. That’s not an ideal path, but some opportunities are simply too good to refuse.

Whatever the reason, it’s important to leave on as positive a note as possible, says Jill Tipograph, co-founder of Early Stage Careers, a New York City coaching service for recent college grads. Most employers won’t want to keep a new hire around if he or she gives two weeks’ notice right away. But ask if you can help with the transition in other ways, such as leaving notes on any work you’ve done. “First and last impressions are what people remember,” she says.

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com  Appeared in the January 3, 2018, print edition as ‘A Checklist Before You Quit.’

WSJ.com