How to know when to quit your job

Quitting your job is a personal and important decision. Before you make a potentially hasty decision, here are a few guidelines to help you recognize if and when the time is right to quit your job and make a change:

• First determine your financial situation. Evaluate your finances. Do you have enough money to pay your bills, and if so, for how long? This is especially important if you don’t have another job lined up. Knowing where your finances stand provides you with some freedom in your decision as to whether or not to quit your job.

• Get a sense for how long finding a new job might take. Explore what kinds of opportunities are available and just how marketable you are. Network with others in your industry. If you feel confident in your abilities and you see there is lots of opportunity then perhaps you can quit your job without one immediately lined up.

• Remember, general wisdom says it’s easier to find a job when you already have one. That’s because many prospective employers see people who don't have a job as somehow deficient.

• Recognize when its time for a change before it is evident to others. Several signs can let you know when its time to quit your job: Are you sleeping longer? Dread going into work to see that client, boss or co-worker? Get bummed out on Sunday night? If you’re miserable in your job, chances are it shows, making you more at risk to criticism from your boss, being laid off, or even terminated — particularly if your company isn’t reaching their financial goals.

• When you are planning to quit your job and are looking for other opportunities don’t take advantage of your current employer. Look for a job on your own time and with your own resources; don't use the company phone or computer equipment.

• You don’t need to be an expert in any one thing to be marketable. Let prospective employers know you have a variety of talents and skills, and that you're adept at applying those skills to new situations.

• Don’t be afraid to make a change. Contemplate what your dream job is and plan on how to get on the path from where you are to where you’d like to be.

DENISE: Hi, there. I’m Denise Richardson and this is howdini.com. Are you thinking about quitting your job? Don’t do it before you listen to Maggie Mistal, who is our life purpose and career coach and who can be heard on Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius. Big deal, to quit a job.

MAGGIE:  Yes, to walk away.

DENISE:  To walk away.

MAGGIE:  And for some people, it takes a lot of straws before you break the camel’s back and they actually walk away. But for others, it can be really freeing; it really depends on your situation.

DENISE: So how do you make the decision? What are, are there rules to make that decision?

MAGGIE:  I like to think that there’s guidelines and things you can think about because for each one of us, our career’s an individual decision and one of that biggest pieces that, pieces of information that people use are finances. How am I financially? If I was fed up, and I were to walk out tomorrow, could I pay my bills for a month, two months, three months, six months? So knowing where your finances stand is a great way to give you some freedom. Secondly, you want to know if you have, if you’re in an industry where there’s lots of opportunities. And if you feel that you’re the type of person who has marketable skills. And one great way to do this is to network. If you’re out at a, in an association meeting or you’re out with people who are in your industry but are from other companies, you can get a sense for, hey wait a minute, I’m, I’m pretty marketable here; I have lots of opportunity. So if that’s the case, if you feel pretty confident that, you know, I’m pretty good at what I do, and there’s lots of opportunity, it can be easier to walk away from a job you don’t like even if you don’t have one lined up already.

DENISE:  Well, Maggie, people do say that when you’re looking for a job, you should stay in the job and should have the job.

MAGGIE:  Well, yeah, usually –

DENISE:  Use it for leverage.

MAGGIE:  Right. Well because, think about it this way: if you’re not in a job, automatically you’re damaged goods. You know, that’s the assumption; there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And you’re fighting that assumption in an interview; doesn’t mean you can’t overcome it, but that’s the assumption. In the interview, you can overcome that, and say, you know what, I really had a difficult situation; they weren’t appreciating the work I was doing. And although I was developing skills, it got to the point where I was spinning my wheels and I felt it more important to my career at that point to take some time for myself, than to continue to stay in an environment that was negative and bringing me down.

DENISE:  It’s interesting; what are the signs, and I, I think about this, if you’re sleeping a little later, if you’re not motivated and you don’t have that energy to get out of the room –

MAGGIE:  Sunday night; how do you feel on Sunday night?

DENISE:  Oh.

MAGGIE:  Right? You get that pit in your stomach, like, ‘ugh I can’t believe I have to go to work tomorrow.’ And, ‘Oh god, I have to face that client’ or, ‘I have to face that boss’ or, ‘I have to face that coworker.’ If you start to dread – and I use that word deliberately – dread going to work, that’s a pretty big sign that you’re, really, your time is limited in that job. Because the other piece of this, right, if you’re staying in a job you don’t like, don’t think you’re hiding it very well. If you’re unhappy at work, and you’re dragging yourself in, most likely your boss knows it and your coworkers know it. And they’re either waiting for you to leave anyway, or, if they do have to lay somebody off, you’ll be someone they’re thinking about.

DENISE:  How do you look for a job when you’re in a job?

MAGGIE:  I am such, I really focus on being a professional, and I don’t think it’s right to take advantage of your current employer to be job searching online with company equipment; to be even making phone calls on the company phone; I am not a fan. We all have cell phones these days; if you need to call a recruiter or a hiring manager or someone else, whatever you need to do, you know what: do it on your lunch break, take it, do it on your cell phone. Don’t take advantage of the company’s resources for your own personal use.

DENISE:  If you happen to be in, let’s say, the advertising industry, and you lose two major accounts, then you might know that your job might be ended.

MAGGIE:  Yes.

DENISE:  You might be laid off.

MAGGIE:  Right.

DENISE:  What are some other signs that you may be terminated, and how would you go about finding that out if it’s not the advertising industry?

MAGGIE:  Right. Most employees are not up to date on the financial news of their company. They don’t know, they haven’t read the annual report; they’re not following any types of earning calls. If you work for a public company, there’s a lot of information available that you can get free – on the internet, or even through your own company’s website about, not only where the company’s been, but where they’re going.

DENISE:  There’s this expression, and you’ve used it because I’ve looked at your website: jack of all trades, master of none. Do you have to be master of one thing?

MAGGIE:  No. That’s the most exciting thing I could say to the people out there who are saying, ‘oh my god! I’m a jack of all trades, master of none!’ Really, more and more, because of the way the economy, our economies are global, right, there’s globalization. People are changing careers upwards of seven, eight, or nine times in their lifetimes. We have become this worker who needs to be adaptable. The employee of the future, and of the current world even, needs to be adaptable; needs to be able to learn and grow and do new things and show new talents and skills. I tell the people who have all these different interests, you know what, you’re the perfect type of employee that’s needed.

DENISE: Bottom line: don’t be afraid about making a change.

MAGGIE:  Absolutely not. Instead, focus on how, the, what you really want the change to be; what’s the ideal career I’d love to have? Then think about how to get from where you are now to where you want to be. It’s really just a matter of planning and getting yourself onto the right path. Every day you spend in a job you hate is a day that you’re not getting onto the path that you really love. And it’s really wasted time because you’re investing in a career you don’t want to stay in. So I can’t say it enough, that it’s really important to, to dream and to think about the ideal, and then plan it out in ways to get there.

DENISE:  Dream dreams, but don’t make dreaming the object. Maggie Mistal, thank you very much.

MAGGIE: Thanks, Denise.

DENISE: For being with us.