The article 6 Signs It’s Time to Leave Your Job by John Coleman in the Harvard Business Review is a good reminder that our career should be more than just a way to fill the day and earn a paycheck – it needs to be a source of inspiration and personal growth.
Coleman provides six good signs that you need to do some serious soul-searching and/or move on to greener pastures. However, keep in mind that reinventing or changing your career is a big step and needs to be taken thoughtfully. Here are some questions to guide the way:
1. Does your job encourage personal growth? Can you reinvigorate your current position by making small changes like taking on a new assignment or volunteering to organize a strategy session? This is referred to as ‘job crafting’ and it is a way to create a career that allows you make use of 100 per cent of your skills. If this isn’t an option and/or your current job doesn’t give you enough space for personal growth, it’s time to move on.
2. Have you achieved your goals in this position? Is there a stone left to turn or is there nothing new to aspire to? Making specific career goals for each position is important; however, noticing when we’ve achieved our career goals and need to move on can be just as important.
3. Do you look for ways to avoid your job? Do you find yourself procrastinating and choosing ‘busy work’ to distract you from tackling important new projects or finishing old ones? A profession that fills you with curiosity and anticipation should be able to hold your interest. Can you power through those big projects to develop positive work habits or do you need a break – temporary or permanent?
4. Does your job leave you exhausted or fill you with dread? Take time at the end of each day to listen to your feelings and notice how your job is impacting you. We need to be able to fall in love with our jobs – at least most of the time! How do you feel about Mondays? Life is short – so love what you do!
5. Are you developing bad habits in this role? Are your work habits changing for the worse? Is your job taking you away from your core values? If so, you need to let it go.
6. Is your workplace making you physically, mentally or emotionally unwell? There are many things that can make a job toxic – like bully bosses or conspiratorial co-workers. Sometimes it takes a health scare to wake us up. Don’t let it get to that point – move on!
There are many other signs that you’ve outgrown your current position. Hopefully, these six questions based on the article by John Coleman can help you uncover if it’s time to re-craft your existing job or let go of the old and try something new. Regardless of what route you choose, the process of getting there will help you build self-awareness and career resiliency – important skills for the professional road ahead.
Stay tuned for more reviews of relevant, timely and actionable information on how to make the job search easier. For information on how Career Aviators can make your job search easier, please contact me at donnalynn.clarke@careeraviators.com