I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately. I’ve heard it all from, “Life’s too short to stay at a job if you’re not happy”…“Stay at least three to five years”…”It looks bad if you change positions too often”… to ”If I was hiring someone for a position, and saw a resume filled with 6 month jobs, I’d be worried they’d do the same to me.”
The reality is… according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010 Employee Tenure Summary; people under the age of 30 change jobs almost once every year and a half (compared to the national average of once every four years.)
Another way to examine job changing is addressing the fallowing 3 basic factors:
Factor #1: Is the situation unsafe or unlawful? Make a quick escape from anything that just does not feel correct to you. If lives are at serious risk, if you are being pushed into illegal, dangerous, unsafe or unethical practice, or you are so miserable you cannot function…there’s trouble ahead you MUST move on.
Factor #2: Are you happy? Few jobs always offer you 100% satisfaction in all areas and Monday-morning blues are inevitable, but something’s definitely wrong if you find yourself dragging your feet to work every day and you are constantly wishing for the weekend. You need to thoroughly understand what is creating your job dissatisfaction. If you change jobs for the wrong reasons, you just take the discontent with you. So, before jumping at a hot new job offer, be sure you’re running toward something, not from something. Make good job change decisions using the formula: T + P + E x V:
- Talent. Inventory your strengths and weaknesses, then focus on your strengths and manage your weaknesses.
- Purpose. Talents develop best in the context of interest. Ask yourself what needs doing at work and in the world, and then put your talents to work on some area of need you believe in.
- Environment. For the best alignment, identify the work environment that best suits your style, temperament and values.
- Vision. (How you see the rest of your life). Talent, purpose and environment are about work style and choice. Vision describes how work fits into the rest of your life.
Factor #3: It takes 2 hands to clap…if one of the following things is happening to you, something is WRONG, and you should start reviewing yourself, your leadership, and your company:
1. No increase in compensation or additional benefits in 18 months – something could be wrong with you (you are not worth it…are your hard & soft skills the best they can be?), your boss (sleeping on your achievements) or with your company (decreasing sales, dying industry, bad leadership, poor business finance management, bad business strategy – these environments are not fertile for career success)…if no promotion and substantial increase is forth coming in the next 90 days…exit ASAP. Make sure to change jobs with at least a 12% increase in salary.
2. No increase in knowledge or skills (from trainings, new assignment, etc.) – something is wrong with your boss, your company and its human resources strategy and practices. Companies that fail to invest in employees jeopardize their own success and even survival. The skills and performance of employees and managers must be upgraded continuously. The average strategic U.S. small business spends – $1,041 per learner annually. The average hours of training per employee were 40.1 in 2010. If training and development are not taken seriously where you are…you have two options…find a new job where they are or find a way to develop the following 3 transferable skills on your own time and dollar. What are transferable skills? They are the skills and abilities that transfer from job to job no matter which position(s) you have held in the past. One of the things that make these skills so valuable is that they can be used in such a wide array of work settings.
Top 3 Transferable Skills
Technical Skills. Not having the basic knowledge or enough knowledge of computer programs and equipment is a problem. All jobs today require intermediate to advance Microsoft Office skills, Microsoft Outlook skills, and Industry-specific technology expertise (each industry has specific hardware and software you must know…find out what they are and learn to use them.)
Communication Skills. Regardless of the size of your organization – whether it’s a large corporation, a small company, or even a home-based business – you need good communication skills if you want to succeed. For starters, communication is about far more than the written or spoken word. It is about:
- Body language
- Tone of voice
- Timing
- Eye contact
- Listening skills
- Reading skills
Communication skills training should be an ongoing process, not a onetime thing.
Project Management 101 Skills. The four basic elements of any project are: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success. In general, if you can master these areas, you can succeed in most projects. For simple projects in a small organization, agreed milestones, a few checklists and someone to steer the project are all that are required. For complex projects in a large organization a more structured approach is needed, to set up and approve the project, monitor and guides its progress, solve its problems, deliver the end product (or gain) and close it down. The Project Management Institute at www.pmi.org offers a variety of learning opportunities – to fit your budget, interests and goals.
3. No increase in position or responsibilities – something could be wrong with you (you may not look capable or trustworthy for additional responsibilities) or with your company/boss (no upward mobility…business is too small, your boss has no respect for you or your needs)
Factor #4: Are you getting too comfortable at your current workplace? Lethargy robs you of motivation and without motivation you do nothing. If we do nothing we fail to live and develop. It’s often, but not always, easier to do nothing than to do something. But even the most lethargic among us will usually be motivated to scratch an unbearable itch. For me, getting too comfortable is not a good thing… it indicates that I’ve found myself a comfort zone which I might have trouble dragging myself out of next time I need to. If there’s still room to advance, and it looks like the next promotion is yours for the taking, it might be wise to stay put…if not, you are doing more damage to your career than you think…move on ASAP. If you are happy with being lethargic and just going along for the ride that’s OK but remember most lethargic people do not have successful careers.
After thinking through all of the above, you will be able to make a decision whether to stay at the job or leave the place. The most important career rule to remember when resigning from any job is that you never want to leave on bad terms…if possible. Courtesy, etiquette, and professionalism go a long way. So, as much as you may want to tell off your boss or a co-worker, you should never burn any bridges, and before you make that final decision to quit, make sure that you have a new job or another source of income.
See you at the top!
