The Last Straw - Copeland Coaching

The Last Straw When is the best time to leave your job? Have you ever wondered when you should look? Most people wait until things are painful. Change is hard. It hurts. So many people wait until the daily pain at work outweighs the pain of change. Heres the problem with this idea. When you wait until the pain is too much, youre letting someone else control your outcome. Youre waiting for the very last straw. Youre waiting for the last thing to go wrong. Youre allowing external factors to drive an internal decision. Youre allowing someone else to decide when you should leave. And, on top of that â€" if you wait until youre at the last straw, your entire outlook changes. Youll be running away from the things you hate rather than toward the things you love. Youll be impatient. You may be stressed in interviews. You might be willing to take less money or less vacation. If youre not careful, you may even share your work sob story with your future hiring manager or future colleagues. If you wait until things are bad, you may also risk being laid off or even worse, fired. As attractive as some company buy out packages may be, the stress of looking for work when you dont have a job is much higher than when you do. Just recovering from a layoff takes time. So, when should you look for something new? Id argue that you should always keep your eyes open. In todays job market, you cannot assume your job is secure. But, the topic of when to leave makes me think of a friend and social parties. Years ago, a friend shared to me that she likes to leave a party while things are still fun. Most people wait to leave until the very end. They wait until its winding down. But, by then, guests have potentially had too much to drink. Its later than you might like. And, the party has typically gone downhill in some way. But, if you leave on a high note, you have a wonderful time with no bad memories of the partys aftermath. The same applies at work. Leave while you still have a positive relationship with your colleagues and your boss. Leave after youve done a great job on a project. Dont wait until things are spiraling down. Dont wait for the last straw. Looking while things are good also allows you to find a job that you want. Youre not desperate. You need to be paid fairly. You have requirements around benefits, such as vacation. You may want a job thats considered a promotion. Perhaps you want to work in a new part of the business. When you arent at the final straw, you can take your time. You can evaluate options carefully to find something thats the right fit long term â€" not just the right fit right now. I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here. Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If youve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in iTunes or Stitcher. Happy hunting! Angela Copeland @CopelandCoach