Are you ready to move on to a new job? From participating in hundreds of these discussions with career counseling clients, I have learned the common elements that lead workers to raise this question:
1. There's no chance for promotion. Whether the problem is one of structure (there's nowhere else to move in this company) or of personality (the boss doesn't like me), the result is the same: a stagnant career path.
2. There are no more raises to be had. Again, the reasons can vary, but if the wages can't or won't move up, it's natural to begin looking outside the company.
3. There's nothing more to be learned. Some workers need to keep learning in order to be satisfied. They're likely to leave if they've mastered their current jobs.
4. This is the wrong industry/discipline. Sometimes you can't know a job doesn't suit you until you're actually in it. Conversely, the job may have been a perfect fit when you started, but it's not anymore because you've grown and changed.
Using these points as a guide, it usually doesn't take long to learn why someone is considering a new job. But laying out the problem is only the first step. The next task is to apply problem-solving to the situation.
Check all assumptions before moving forward. How do you know that there are no more raises to be had or that a promotion is unlikely? Who told you that the boss doesn't like you? Are you sure you're not exaggerating or projecting your feelings onto someone else? Depending on the answers, homework might ensue. It might be time to set a meeting with the boss, for example.
What if all the assumptions check out, and this job really has run its course? Given the disruption a job change can cause and the investment the worker already has made in this position, my instinct is to check one more time before sending out résumés. It's just my habit to wring the last drop of usefulness out of something before I let it go.
That said, I recognize that, when it's time to go, it's time to go. Unfortunately, that timing may not coincide well with the worker's finances or with the outside job market. This period — when someone wants to leave but can't — can be one of the most awkward in a person's career. It also can be the time when people slack off at work or say things they regret during staff meetings.
Rather than simply enduring these in-between months, a better strategy is to use them to grow and to prepare for the next stage in your career. The following are three ideas to help.
1. Network with others in your company. How many people do you know outside your own department? How many of them have you eaten lunch with? Folks outside your company are vying to get meetings with the very people to whom you have access every day. Take a few minutes to initiate a conversation with someone you don't usually talk to. Ask about his or her work, learn about his or her department and get better connected with what's happening at the company.
2. Seek out extra projects. I know, I know: You don't have time for this. But you're planning to quit this job anyway — what's the harm in trying to make some of the duties fit you better? At the very least, try to shadow someone else as he or she works on a task you'd like to learn.
3. Get more training. Yes, you're busy, but why? If most of your busy-ness is about keeping your head above water, you're not advancing your career. Put classes, conferences and outside meetings on your calendar ahead of time, and you will learn to schedule around them.
Here's a funny thing: When my clients follow the steps above, some of them stay in their jobs and get promoted to meaningful work. That doesn't always happen, but the frequency of it makes me remember that, when someone isn't moving to the next level, sometimes it's because he or she isn't putting in the work to make it happen.
- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.