End Of The Line: When Is The Right Time To Get Up And Walk Away From Your Job?

3 min read By eCompareMo on April 20, 2015

A lot of us want to stay in our jobs forever, or probably at least we can save enough money and start our new journey towards financial freedom. However, our 9-to-5 jobs aren’t–and will never be–perfect, and there will be times that push becomes a shove. If your job has gone down from being a daydream to a nightmare, what are the signs that you should get up, walk away, and say “I quit” to your job?

The early signs

A disgruntled employee doesn’t just simply think of quitting his job on a whim. More often than not, there are always early indicators that you are not enjoying your job anymore–and little by little they accumulate until you reach your breaking point. So before you even find yourself handing your resignation letter to your manager, know the earliest signs first that you are already mulling on quitting your job:

• You already thought of resigning multiple times but kept on withdrawing in the end.
• You don’t want to take over your superior’s job, even theoretically.
• You keep on underperforming even on your simplest tasks.
• You feel unappreciated despite your efforts.

If you have already encountered these instances, then it is high time for you to take more drastic options before finally resorting to resignation.

Play an active role

Before you go out of style with guns blazing, you may want to mount one last attempt at mending your relationship with your current job. If you think that you’re stagnating in your current job regardless of the reasons, you may want to mount up a good performance before you even consider leaving. If feel dissatisfied even with a good performance, then you might want to leave as soon as possible before you do irreparable damage to your track record. Alternately, talking to your manager before you even think of quitting may also be a good idea, especially if you have positive feedback over the past few years.

Assess the risks–and find a workaround

When you leave your job, know that you are risking a lot of things the moment you leave your company. Primarily, the first thing you have to assess if you are financially ready to leave your company. In times like these, an emergency fund will come in handy, especially if you will not get any form of separation pay when you leave. Ideally, you should have an emergency fund that can cover six months’ worth of expenses, and this will help you wade across your transition period.

Another important thing you need to take care of before you hand your resignation is job security. Some people who are fed up with their jobs hastily hand their resignation letters without even worrying about their next move. This, in turn, will put them in a very difficult situation and leave them vulnerable during their phase of transition. To avoid this, you may already browse through different job offers on the internet before you even start your last 30 days with your company.

Leave with grace

It is easy to think that you can get out of your job in style and act like a rebel. If you think that you can scream at your boss or trash your workplace on your last day and suffer zero consequences, think again. You may be able to pull it off and even feel a bit relieved for doing that–but this may hurt your professional career for good because your potential future employer will definitely look at your employment history. To avoid this, you may want to leave the same way you started in your company: humble and grateful for the opportunity.

Quitting your current job is something that you should not take lightly. While logging out of your company’s Bundy clock for good may disrupt your personal and financial life, keep in mind that there is nothing more harrowing than staying at a job you hate to the core, and it will have dire consequences on your personal, mental, and professional life.