Should I Quit My Job?
Posted 13th June 2014 at 11:45 AM by imarkedy
Tags entrepreneur, entrepreneur advice, entrepreneur blogs, entrepreneur business, entrepreneur forums
Asking the question should I quit my job is a sure sign it is probably best. There are many reasons people ask this question but few understand why. Whether stress, frustration or simply being fed up with the ‘rat race’, this decision can totally alter the course of your life. I don’t put this forward lightly and in no way suggest ‘alter’ means something negative. In this post, we’ll examine hard truths anyone must come to grips with whether working skilled jobs or those classified as unskilled.
First, there are essentially three types of people who struggle with leaving a job;
1. The lazy
2. The scared
3. Entrepreneurs
If you fit into the first two categories, this article may not be what you are searching for because chances are, you’ll just end up with another job you hate. If you are an entrepreneur, however, keep reading. There is a fact many in today’s workforce must accept; no matter how well you perform, everyone is expendable. At my last job, which happened to be in a ministry based career (non-profit organization) I began the assignment highly motivated, ready to serve and believing all employees shared the same values.
By my last day, I well understood that even those of faith, professing a higher, moral calling, don’t value anything other than power, vain glory and money. As in corporate America, leaders of social cause focused organizations emerge by unethical conduct, nepotism, cronyism and ‘cutting the throats’ of others. Since they are religious, ‘the ends justify the means’, right?
Like you, I’ve been burned many times in the work place and most often by those claiming to care for me and whom I’d worked alongside for years. My last boss was a kind man who allowed tons of flexibility with how I performed my job. However and keeping in mind the last organization I worked for professed ‘faith’ and a higher moral calling – I was devastated to discover he was a coward and religious hypocrite. You know the kind – someone much beloved, more than competent in a supervisory role but will not stand up for those she or he leads to senior leadership. It is said “everyone answers to someone else in an organization”. Knowing this to be true, there are only two types of people in your company – those on the way in (new hires) and those on the way out (voluntary or involuntary separation).
Which group do you belong to? No need to answer, I’ll help you along – the latter and thus, have come across this article. Just because you don’t perceive a threat never means it isn’t present. What are your next steps? That is a broad question with many answers. In lieu of hasty exit from an employer, adopt a mind-set which accepts, first, you are unhappy next, within company policy, use organizational resources to build momentum for your own brand! Using your employer’s resources doesn’t mean ‘cheating’ the company of money or any such unethical or illegal behavior.
Examples of ethical resource allocation can mean (but not limited to);
1. Keeping all third party contact information you acquire: in business as in life, you never know who or what may come in handy at some point in the future. No contact information is irrelevant so when emailing or otherwise making contacts, store business contact information of third parties. Is it possible to connect with third party business contacts on social media?
2. Be flexible with job assignments: as an entrepreneur (to begin with anyway) you will be ‘CEO, shipping clerk and janitor’. Make yourself available to take on special projects which increase your knowledge base. For instance, I volunteered to build my department’s Microsoft SharePoint page and while I would hardly call myself an expert on the subject, I am now competent and the non profit organization paid for the opportunity.
3. Never believe your value outweighs leadership’s agenda: before coming to the non-profit, faith based organization, I worked in corporate America. I mistakenly believed a non-profit would be a different experience but found this untrue. As a for-profit corporation’s leadership seeks money and self-aggrandizement, so are their non-profit counterparts. However, non-profits (religious based) hide behind a cloak of social good.
Personal experience has shown me the CEO-Pastor of a mega church is not much different than the CEO of Microsoft, Apple or other Fortune 500 company.
4. Maximize company benefits in pursuit of entrepreneurship: you may have vacation, sick time or other personal days awarded while employed. Refuse to ‘relax’ on your time-off! Write a quick business plan and execute it (as much as possible) while a paycheck is rolling in. ‘Burning the candle at both ends’ will lay the ground work for success.
5. Spend less time trying to stave off unemployment and more time building a foundation: in the strongest terms possible, your employment will end whether voluntarily or not. Avoid babysitting other employees, participating in work place gossip or any other activity which steals time better spent reaching your goals.
Finally and with the job market so competitive, you should accept that corporate ‘team work’ is, in reality, no such thing. With fellow employees competing for promotion, higher salaries and prestige, they are typically only interested in making others look bad and themselves, good. I would never suggest not participating in team functions because it will bring, probably quicker than needed, an end to your employment. However, follow your job description as closely as possible but always, without exception, anticipating a visit from Human Resources with your ‘last paycheck’.
Those most affected by becoming unemployed are often they who failed to plan for its eventuality. Refuse to be unprepared by envisioning your company and take steps toward that end every day, without fail.
B.D. Dale
Entrepreneurial Coach
First, there are essentially three types of people who struggle with leaving a job;
1. The lazy
2. The scared
3. Entrepreneurs
If you fit into the first two categories, this article may not be what you are searching for because chances are, you’ll just end up with another job you hate. If you are an entrepreneur, however, keep reading. There is a fact many in today’s workforce must accept; no matter how well you perform, everyone is expendable. At my last job, which happened to be in a ministry based career (non-profit organization) I began the assignment highly motivated, ready to serve and believing all employees shared the same values.
By my last day, I well understood that even those of faith, professing a higher, moral calling, don’t value anything other than power, vain glory and money. As in corporate America, leaders of social cause focused organizations emerge by unethical conduct, nepotism, cronyism and ‘cutting the throats’ of others. Since they are religious, ‘the ends justify the means’, right?
Like you, I’ve been burned many times in the work place and most often by those claiming to care for me and whom I’d worked alongside for years. My last boss was a kind man who allowed tons of flexibility with how I performed my job. However and keeping in mind the last organization I worked for professed ‘faith’ and a higher moral calling – I was devastated to discover he was a coward and religious hypocrite. You know the kind – someone much beloved, more than competent in a supervisory role but will not stand up for those she or he leads to senior leadership. It is said “everyone answers to someone else in an organization”. Knowing this to be true, there are only two types of people in your company – those on the way in (new hires) and those on the way out (voluntary or involuntary separation).
Which group do you belong to? No need to answer, I’ll help you along – the latter and thus, have come across this article. Just because you don’t perceive a threat never means it isn’t present. What are your next steps? That is a broad question with many answers. In lieu of hasty exit from an employer, adopt a mind-set which accepts, first, you are unhappy next, within company policy, use organizational resources to build momentum for your own brand! Using your employer’s resources doesn’t mean ‘cheating’ the company of money or any such unethical or illegal behavior.
Examples of ethical resource allocation can mean (but not limited to);
1. Keeping all third party contact information you acquire: in business as in life, you never know who or what may come in handy at some point in the future. No contact information is irrelevant so when emailing or otherwise making contacts, store business contact information of third parties. Is it possible to connect with third party business contacts on social media?
2. Be flexible with job assignments: as an entrepreneur (to begin with anyway) you will be ‘CEO, shipping clerk and janitor’. Make yourself available to take on special projects which increase your knowledge base. For instance, I volunteered to build my department’s Microsoft SharePoint page and while I would hardly call myself an expert on the subject, I am now competent and the non profit organization paid for the opportunity.
3. Never believe your value outweighs leadership’s agenda: before coming to the non-profit, faith based organization, I worked in corporate America. I mistakenly believed a non-profit would be a different experience but found this untrue. As a for-profit corporation’s leadership seeks money and self-aggrandizement, so are their non-profit counterparts. However, non-profits (religious based) hide behind a cloak of social good.
Personal experience has shown me the CEO-Pastor of a mega church is not much different than the CEO of Microsoft, Apple or other Fortune 500 company.
4. Maximize company benefits in pursuit of entrepreneurship: you may have vacation, sick time or other personal days awarded while employed. Refuse to ‘relax’ on your time-off! Write a quick business plan and execute it (as much as possible) while a paycheck is rolling in. ‘Burning the candle at both ends’ will lay the ground work for success.
5. Spend less time trying to stave off unemployment and more time building a foundation: in the strongest terms possible, your employment will end whether voluntarily or not. Avoid babysitting other employees, participating in work place gossip or any other activity which steals time better spent reaching your goals.
Finally and with the job market so competitive, you should accept that corporate ‘team work’ is, in reality, no such thing. With fellow employees competing for promotion, higher salaries and prestige, they are typically only interested in making others look bad and themselves, good. I would never suggest not participating in team functions because it will bring, probably quicker than needed, an end to your employment. However, follow your job description as closely as possible but always, without exception, anticipating a visit from Human Resources with your ‘last paycheck’.
Those most affected by becoming unemployed are often they who failed to plan for its eventuality. Refuse to be unprepared by envisioning your company and take steps toward that end every day, without fail.
B.D. Dale
Entrepreneurial Coach
