You may hit a home run and make the best career change of your life.
Or you may be forever regretting it.
Knowing when to stay or leave a job is a defining moment in your career. That may be a bit dramatic but it feels like that. Tough choice, right?
Weve all been in a job where we know we want to leave but aren’t sure of the consequences of it’ll look like on our resume or if there is something better out there. Rather than relying on gut instinct, there are 3 things you need to look at before making a move.
1.Relationship With Your Boss
I’ve heard of some ridiculous bosses. There are even movies out there about them (“Horrible Bosses” for one!) I’ve heard everything from bosses stocking employees on Facebook, bosses that refused to give a sick day and even bosses that tell their employees they wouldn’t have hired them.
I’ve had my own share of people I would never work for again. These bosses taught me that they were crazy and there was nothing I could do to change that. No matter what their operating level of “normal” was, it was never going to match mine.
As a leader, I send people home when they are sick. I don’t care what they do on Facebook. I trust my people and work with them, even if I inherit them. They are now MY people. I wouldn’t have them on my team if I didn’t believe they were right for the company.
The lesson here is that there are LOTS of bosses out there that aren’t going to do what’s right. They won’t align with your values and that is okay. Let’s them be crazy with someone else’s life. If your values and their values don’t match, it ain’ a good fit.
2. Company Culture
Your company culture and your values need to be a marriage. A super good sexful marriage.
A great business coach once walked me through an exercise of creating my personal values and it was a defining time in my career.
Once you learn your values, it makes it easy to stay or go. After going through this exercise, I realized I value flexibility in my schedule, having a boss that gives a shit and the development of myself and my people. I knew I needed to leave a career where I was told my pay cheque was my reward…and they had everyone working every Saturday. This was not the career for me.
After going through this exercise of values, I realized I hated my job because it didn’t align with my values.
I value flexibility (I am a Millenial, after all). I value people that will do anything for their people and have a passion for what they do. And I value companies that do the right things when no one is watching. I knew I needed to leave my job when all of these things were being compromised.
When this company started asking everyone to work on Saturdays, I was told my pay cheque was my reward and they were an HR nightmare, I knew the message was just shut up and grind it out.
None of these things aligned with my values and I knew immediately it was a good decision to leave.
When your values don’t match those of the company and your boss, get both feet on the ground and get the hell out of there!
3. Deal or No Deal?
I’d never recommend leaving a job without having another job option. If you haven’t heard the rule ABI – Always Be Interviewing, I would suggest getting comfortable with it. There are may reasons that people recommend this approach but your skillset in interviews can get stale if you aren’t actively practicing. I would never recommend leaving a job without an accepted job offer.
Be prepared to answer the question of why you are leaving and NEVER EVER, NOT EVEN IF YOU THINK YOUR INTERVIEWER IS SUPER COOL, tell the interviewer that you left because of a conflict with your boss. This doesn’t show your ability to overcome obstacles and work with people.
That is a huge red flag and even it is true, I would prefer to hear your values with the company didn’t align which typically is the same deep rooted issue.
That’s all I got. All the best in your career change and enjoy the rodeo.
