Nine good reasons to quit your job

Are you wondering if something better is out there? Do you spend countless hours each day feeling like your job is going nowhere? Job satisfaction is at a 10-year high, but that still means that one out of eight workers hates their job. If you fall into that group, you probably have one foot out the door. Here are nine reasons to quit a job.

1. You hate going to work

Personal satisfaction is everything. You only get one chance at life, and you don’t want to squander it. Your job comprises most of the waking hours of your life. An eight-hour workday plus commute time and lunch represents more than half the time you’re awake. If you’re miserable at work, you’re statistically miserable in general.

You’ll also feel ramifications of your unhappiness at home. Few people can leave their emotions at the door when they arrive at the house. So, if you’re blasé about your job, you’re unlikely to shake this feeling for part of the time you’re home. In this way, your work life bleeds into your home life. People who hate going to work need a change. It’s that simple.

2. You feel like you’ve peaked

When you take a job, your long-term goal is to get a better position at some point. You want to leverage the new skills and achievements that you gain into a promotion. That sort of career improvement means more money and influence within the company.

Unfortunately, you can’t get that sort of gig if you’ve peaked at your current job. When you stop learning new skills, you’re at a disadvantage. That’s because other people inside and outside the company are improving. When you don’t join them, you fall behind them. The moment your job stops offering new challenges, you either need to ask your boss to help you find new ones or you need to find a new gig.

3. Your salary never increases

You only work at a job for two reasons: pay and title. The latter only matters in terms of influence and credibility. Money is the reason you leave your home each day. Few people are willing to work for free, and you don’t want to become one of them.

One of the most important job skills is maximizing salary. You should always know what you’re making and what your best opportunity is to make more. Ask your boss for feedback on what you could do better. Also, try to learn what they’re making as well as the salary of others with similar job titles. If you realize that lots of people within the company make more than you, understand that you’re not valued correctly. That’s when it’s time to leave.

4. You face a difficult work environment

Some companies have toxic work environments. As an example, Uber faced accusations of sexual harassment in early 2017. Women who worked there felt the need to leave. They also felt justified in suing the company because high-level executives at Uber heard their complaints yet did nothing. One of the worst signs about an employer is they don’t act on constructive criticism.

If you feel discomfort at your job, make a list of the issues that bother you. Present them to a member of the Human Resources department. Pay attention to how your employer responds to these complaints. If they do nothing to address your concerns, you don’t want to work there. You have good reasons for leaving a job.

5. You don’t like your boss

Even if you work for a good company, a single person can make your life difficult. Workers who don’t get along with their bosses are often miserable. The problem is that your boss determines your workload and grades your performance.

Some bosses are better than others at delegating. Others simply do nothing and then take credit for the work of their underlings. Finally, some are just impossible to please. If your boss falls into one of these categories, your work life suffers. You should check to see if you can switch to a different department or, at the very least, work for someone else. If neither of those options is available, you should look for new work.

6. You can make more money elsewhere

Again, you’re not working for altruistic reasons. You’re a capitalist, and salary is the best measurement of your worth as a worker. The money you make also determines what you can buy during those blessed times when you’re not at work.

For these reasons, the onus is on you to know what you’re worth on the open market. Your company would replace you with a cheaper employee if they needed to cut payroll. You have no reason to show loyalty to them. Instead, you should keep an updated LinkedIn profile and resume. You should also check ads for jobs in your field at least once a month. That way, you always know where you stand in the marketplace.

7. You get recruited

Of course, some jobs fall in your lap. The job of a recruiter is to find qualified candidates who are undervalued at their current jobs. Nobody understands the job market better than recruiters, as their livelihood depends on finding the best workers for new jobs.

When a recruiter contacts you, always talk to them. In fact, you should schedule a lunch or some other appointment to meet in person. That way, you can state your career goals in a concise way. The recruiter will take this information and use it to find a professional match for you.

You should always have at least one recruiter in your contact list. That way, you have options when your job situation takes a turn for the worse. If you’re not currently in contact with a recruiter, ask your friends and coworkers for recommendations. A recruiter takes care of a lot of the hard parts of switching jobs for you.

8. Your company is struggling

Businesses face many challenges to survive and sustain. You have an insider perspective about your company. You know whether ownership runs it well or if it’s on shaky ground. You should use this information as an asset when evaluating your job status.

For example, workers in the newspaper and retail industries both knew that they were losing customers at an alarming rate. They had the opportunity to find a new job or stay loyal to the company. In the case of retail employees, many big box businesses like Circuit City, Barnes & Noble, and Sears collapsed. With newspapers, a couple of major players bought out the competition and then switched to digital sales.

The workers who stayed with the failed companies had to find work immediately after layoffs and closures. The ones who anticipated the job market and changed to more stable industries never had that problem. Instead, they leveraged their old jobs into better ones while they still had negotiating power. Businesses almost always prefer to hire people currently in the workforce over the unemployed. If you know your business is in trouble, act in your own best interests.

9. You need a change

Some job switches aren’t about salary or title. Instead, these changes happen when a worker looks in the mirror one morning and realizes that it’s time to do something else. Generally, the company hasn’t done anything wrong, and the worker has given their all for the business. It’s simply an employment opportunity that has run its course.

If you’re struggling to find the enthusiasm to do your job, consider it an early warning signal. Take the opportunity to think back to when you first interviewed for the job. What did you want from the experience? Have you gained that? Do you still feel the same sense of satisfaction from a job done well? If the answer is no, you’ve reached the end of a mutually beneficial relationship. Now is the time to make a change.

As you can see, plenty of good reasons exist to find a new job. Your current employer understands the situation, too. If you’re ready to move along to a new gig, or even start your own business, simply show the company the courtesy of explaining that they didn’t do anything wrong. Thank them for the opportunity. Then, start looking for your next job, the one that fits better with who you are as a person.

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