From time to time, each of us has the feeling of being oversaturated and bored of his work, but there are some signs that it’s finally the time to quit your job and search for a new road to practice your skills on. Now I am not talking about the negative moods given by a bad day, when everything, from your coffee to your boss’ voice seems too bitter to be borne, although, generally, you are excited about what you’re doing, but about real alarm signals that things can’t be reconciled and you have to resign and change the direction of your career.
If the following “symptoms” perfectly describe your everyday position in front of the idea of going to work, just sit down, take a pen and begin to write your resignation letter.
1. Your chief and your coworkers are your enemies
The interaction with your colleagues and your boss is like fighting with a horde of devils? Opening the door of your office gives you the impression of entering into hell? Well, this association between the place where you spend half of your day and the most terrifying space ever imagined by the human mind is a clear warning that you have to look for a new atmosphere in which to do your job. Not only that a bad level of communication with your desk mates and your boss can hamper you to finish your tasks on time, make you misunderstand your duties, do something wrong and cause even a higher level of tension and hatred, but it can have terrible effects on your health and on your relationship with your family and your friends.
A study published on ScienceDaily underlines that co-workers’ rudeness has a great impact on the way people behave after they return home.
Thereby, the stress caused by the arguments had with the persons with whom you must collaborate day by day at your job is taken into your house as an unpleasant gift for your life partner. There is a direct connection between the probability of having a divorce and the social environment at your workplace. The voice set on a reproachful and dissatisfied tone, the headaches and lack of energy caused by the discussions with your colleagues usually have a huge negative effect on your social relations and even destroy your marriage.
So, if your job decreases your sexual appetite, your interest in spending time with your soulmate and your friends and determines you to act aggressive, impulsive or to neglect the ones you love, you really have to quit it.
2. It’s crystal clear that your company will go bankrupt
More and more of your competent colleagues are fired and you haven’t received your payment since two months ago. You’re chief keeps insisting that it’s just a bad period and that everything gonna be alright in just a few days, but the calculations made by the guys from the statistics office say exactly the opposite. If this situation sounds familiar, probably you would better give up your hope in a miracle and began to investigate the job market for something new.
3. You are in a continuous state of anxiety and fright
According to World Health Organization, the number of people who suffer from anxiety and/or depression has grown by nearly 50% in the last the last two decades and a great role in this increase is played by the great, unrealistic expectations employers have from their employees. The constant fear of being laid off, the big volume of tasks that needs to be done, all of these factors contribute to concentration problems, excessive fatigue, irritability, and less productivity.
If the previous description perfectly fits on your own current situation and, moreover, you have real sleeping problems because immediately after you put your head on the pillow your body starts shaking at the thought of tomorrow’s work, maybe you should seriously think about leaving your job for something less stressful.
In the end, your mental health is more important than all the money in the world.
Plus, there are many companies who understood that a friendly and peaceful working environment has a beneficial effect on their employees’ production capacity and implemented some strategies to make people feel comfortable about their jobs.
4. (You can get) no satisfaction
It is demonstrated that passion/pleasure is the most powerful motor of human motivation to work. On the other hand, the lack of interest and discontent related to what one does in order to earn his living makes him unproductive, bored, if not even sick ( with a profound negative meaning) about the idea of going to his job. If you don’t feel any kind of inner satisfaction (so I am not talking about the money you get for completing your tasks, but more about the enjoyment of doing your duties per sec) while you work, you should admit that something is wrong.
Although for a short period of time the financial stimulation can be enough to make you contented, sooner or later you will realize that not doing the things you have been born for is frustrating.
Don’t forget that any person is born with a talent (as Maya Angelou believed, and she was right) and only by following his own inclinations can be fully happy. If the salary day is the single day you enjoy your workplace, then…you already know what you have to do.
SHORT tip:
In case you don’t know already which career best fits you, try this personality test based on Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ personality type theory and then use the result to see which job suits you perfectly.
5. You are poorly paid
You have friends who work in the same domain and earn twice more money than you, although you have an equal number of responsibilities, same studies, and seniority. Moreover, almost every day you stay overtime in order to finish the additional tasks that your boss gives you right before you prepare yourself to go home and he doesn’t even pay an extra penny over the salary.
The perpetual feeling that you are treated like a slave in ancient Egypt it’s not something to swallow in a world where you can change your job as often as you want. Remember that your chief is not Ramses the II and that you’re enough good to find a job where your efforts are correctly rewarded.
Keep a close look-out on the section dedicated to employment in the local newspapers and on the specialized sites for finding a job on the internet. As soon as you find something better paid than your current post, go for it!
6. You never got promoted
This is your seventh year in the company and you have the same hierarchical position, the same salary and the same things to do. Unless you are in love with routine and monotony and you have such a bad impression about the quality of your work that you don’t believe you deserve to be promoted, perhaps it’s time to opt for a changing of direction on the working field.
A small observation: before to quit your job because of this reason, try to be objective and interrogate yourself about what you did in the last few years on your job. If you find out that, in reality, the problem was rather your carelessness that the boss’ unfair way of running and organizing the company, maybe it’s time to change your behavior and not the workplace.
Here is a list of tips that may help you to taste the pleasure of a promotion.
7. You’re not learning anything new, you don’t grow in any kind of way
This point is related with the previous one, but the main difference is that although you got a bigger salary by the passing of time, the only thing that has grown (excepting the money) is the quantity of the tasks you have to complete. Out of it, you didn’t learn anything new and you didn’t evolve in any kind of way. You should not limit yourself only to the skills you obtained during your studies and your first year(s) at the job.
Technology is changing day by day, innovative ways of solving different problems are born into the world right in the minute you’re reading this article, if your job doesn’t give you the opportunity to keep up with the latest discoveries related to your field of work interest, there might be the moment to search for a workplace where you have the possibility to participate constantly in different training programs and team buildings, so that you won’t wake up one day and realize you are 20 years behind the contemporary society.
To conclude, don’t be afraid of change. If you feel like the signs listed above are valid in your case, you are certainly ready to quit your job and get a mouth of fresh air in another office.