Don’t Quit Your Day Job… Until You Have Another One Lined Up!

Share

Quitters are actually some of the most successful people we know. They leave roles in great companies for new opportunity in new companies, but quitting shouldn’t be something that is taken lightly. This isn’t a new topic, however, based on my experience with recruiting I thought I would share my thoughts to help anyone out there thinking of making a change. One of the things that I have seen often in recruiting are individuals who leave their company prior to having another opportunity lined up. Obviously there are a lot of driving factors that can cause someone to leave an opportunity; some of these that I have seen include: Their work or opinion being unappreciated, instability at the company, animosity with a co-worker, feeling over worked, an acquisition with new management and a new direction that doesn’t line up with the individuals ideas, or many other scenarios. This list could go on and on, but the main point here is that as a recruiter, I have learned one lesson from working with these individuals. This lesson is, don’t quit before you have accepted another offer. These candidates have ranged from being nearly entry level with a year or less of work experience to those Senior Executive level individuals. One thing I have personally witnessed is that it can take between 1 week and a year to change jobs. But regardless of everyone else, the only question you need to understand is; How long will it take you? You never know where you will end up on this spectrum until you have started in the next great role. Is it worth the risk of lengthy unemployment in a market that values hiring employed candidates? Granted, not everyone will find themselves unemployed for a year or more, however, I have met with some highly qualified individuals that have been out of the market for around that amount of time, so in my opinion, it’s better to be safe. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics report from May 2014 it takes an average of around 15 weeks for unemployed to return to the workforce and for some can take between 26 and 52 weeks depending on skills and circumstances. The longer it takes, the more frustrated one can become, which often makes it harder to perform well on interviews. This employment gap may raise concerns with potential employers about the ability to ‘hit the ground running’ as well. I’m not here to tell anyone to accept daily abuse or stay in a company that they are not happy with unnecessarily, however I would recommend weighing out all the options, taking it one day at a time and doing your best to overcome the urge to quit under duress. Instead, use this frustration to motivate your focus on finding another opportunity while still employed, using multiple strategies, including of course, a recruiter! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-quit-your-day-job-until-you-have-another-one-up-matthew?trk=prof-post

Share