"Should I quit?" - Are you currently asking yourself this question? Changing your job or staying - that's not necessarily an easy decision. But it's an important one. After all, you normally spend a large part of your life working. Therefore, a change of job should clearly none It should not be a decision that you make on a whim. It should be well thought out and made consciously so that you can be sure you are making the right decision. Because a change of job means some change, some effort for Resume & Co. - and perhaps also a little risk.
At the same time, it can be just as much of a risk to stay in your current job and miss out on the opportunity for a better job. So you have to weigh the pros and cons. To make it easier for you, I'll describe 10 good reasons to change your job in this article. If several of these signs apply to your job over a longer period of time, you should consider a job change.
10 good reasons for a job change
If the job does not affect your health enormously, you usually still have some time to think carefully about a possible termination.
Try to put yourself in the position of the following typical reasons for changing jobs. Maybe you will recognize yourself there.
1. your performance is not adequately appreciated
It is quite natural to expect an appropriate return for your work. Both financially and interpersonally. If you don't get this, you feel unfairly treated. And rightly so: you should never "sell" yourself below your value. If you're being paid less than the average person in your position and your company refuses to match your salary, then maybe it's time to look for an employer who will compensate you fairly. And while more money can't buy happiness, earning a decent wage can help you resolve financial issues and improve your quality of life.
Therefore it is worth the Demand considerationthat you have actually earned through your daily work.
At the same time, it can be frustrating not to receive recognition for your accomplishments. If your supervisor chronically refuses to acknowledge your accomplishments, he or she probably doesn't appreciate your skills - or can't show it. In either case, it can demotivate you over time. It also prevents your Job happy makes. If this applies to your work situation, it might make sense for you to change jobs. To a job where your performance is appreciated accordingly - financially and also interpersonally.
2. you are bored and do not evolve
Being bored at work is not in itself a reason to quit your job immediately. However, if you are regularly bored at work for long periods of time, this is a clear sign that something is wrong.
This may be due to the fact that you chronically underchallenged are. Most people need small challenges in their work on a regular basis to be satisfied with it. Not huge challenges, but doable tasks that require more from us than just our autopilot.
Because small challenges in your work fulfill two important functions at the same time:
First, successfully overcoming a small challenge makes you feel a sense of pride in yourself. This sense of pride transforms into a sense of self-efficacy, which is an essential component of your self-esteem. Second, overcoming a small challenge is always accompanied by a learning experience. After all, if there was nothing for you to learn in the matter, then it wouldn't be a challenge for you.
This means that you automatically develop yourself by solving this task. And the feeling of developing and progressing is a sure guarantee for satisfaction in your work. If you lack this feeling in your job and feel chronically bored, then you could consider changing jobs.
3. your social work environment demotivates you
Your job is not just about the tasks and projects you do and the salary you earn. We humans are social animals. Healthy interpersonal contact is decisive for our well-being. The social environment of your work, which accounts for a large part of your life, is particularly important for your job satisfaction.
If your co-workers are exhibiting uncompassionate behavior, such as cutting each other out, bullying, or backstabbing, it's most likely affecting you far beyond the confines of your job. You may be wasting your free time getting angry at your coworkers, or you may simply be taking your negative work environment into your off-hours as an unpleasant emotion. In either case, this is clear food for thought for a job change.
4. you no longer make an effort to perform well
It's one thing to be frustrated with your work from time to time and experience a temporary low in motivation as a result. However, if you have the impression that you don't care how well or badly you work because it doesn't make any difference to you anyway, then this is a reliable sign for a job change.
Doing a job and thus spending your days doing something you don't care about at all is a Waste of your talents and skills. In such a situation, a new job in which you are happy to make an effort can work wonders. You will find your job far more motivating and fulfilling if your performance in it is important to you. In such a case, the answer to the question "Should I quit?" would be yes in the best case. Everything else is wasted potential.
Fittingly, I recommend you read our article about productive work without stress.
5. you have no more time for yourself
If you regularly Overtime and you have to continue your work at home in order to get by, something is definitely going wrong. In a way, your work should already challenge you and thus provide you with opportunities for fulfilling development, but not your Eat up life.
It is tremendously important to maintain a healthy work-life balance. In the article Improve work life balance you will receive further tips on this.
If your job requires you to permanently put your private life on the line or even throw it completely out of balance, then you would probably be well advised to change your job. After all, the point of earning a living is to have a life.
6. you know more than your boss
It can be frustrating to work for a boss who is less qualified and knowledgeable than you. You may get the feeling of a unfair distribution of jobs and will most likely learn little to nothing from your job. But the real problem lies deeper: if you can't trust your managers to make good decisions to steer the company in the right direction, you'll probably worry about whether your efforts are worthwhile at all.
If you are actually right and your managers do not have the required competence, your "ship" may sooner or later hit an iceberg. So if you seriously question the competence of your superiors, it may make sense to change your job and quit in time.
7. your work makes you sick
Someone once said, "Man is the only machine that wears out if you don't use it." There is some truth in this quote. At the same time, every machine has a point where it breaks down under too much workload.
Temporarily in an intensive phase something more stress at work happens in many jobs. However, when your workload gets so out of hand that your body suffers noticeablythere is something wrong. No paycheck in the world is worth sacrificing your health for.
Chronic stress at work can lead to headaches, insomnia, depression, frequent illness, and worse. Such symptoms are signs of a strong imbalance between your workload and the rest of your life. Not only do such physical maladies prevent you from enjoying your free time. They also make you less efficient at your work and thus even more stressed than you already were.
And so begins a downward spiral. Don't let it get to that point. If you feel that too much is being asked of you for too long, negotiate with your supervisor and others in authority for reasonable working conditions. If that doesn't help, look for employers who don't ask their employees to work more than a healthy workload. In fact, if the work makes you sick, it's a good reason to quit and change jobs immediately.
8. you are unhappy at work most of the time
Do you feel most of the time during your work dissatisfied, depressed or misunderstood? Do you feel that the real you can't or isn't allowed to come to the fore in your work?
Then most likely the chemistry between you and your job is just not right. Of course, it doesn't take a genius to come to this conclusion. However, sometimes we get so involved in one thing that we forget to take a step back and look at the big picture. In doing so, don't deny how you feel about your work. Listen to your gut. It gives you clear signals about your needs.
Your gut is one of the clearest indicators of whether or not your job is actually right for you. You don't have to be miserable or give yourself up for your job to make a living. If that's the case, then you should already professionally revise your resume and prepare your cover letter, as quitting promises you a much better quality of life.
9. you do not identify with the values of your employer
We all want to be effective in our work and achieve the results we want. But if the results of your work contribute to something you don't support, it can significantly impact you. Maybe you care about environmental protection, but your work contributes directly or indirectly to polluting the environment. This creates in you what is known in psychology as a "cognitive dissonance" means: an unpleasant feeling as a result of, in this case, two things in your life that are not in harmony with each other.
This, in turn, can affect your work in different ways: either you stay effective at your work and try to downplay and gloss over the effects. Or you start to unconsciously sabotage your work performance yourself.
In the first case, an uneasy feeling will gnaw at you, making you understand that what you are doing is harming others and that you are doing good work for a bad purpose. In the second case, you will feel incompetent and dissatisfied. Neither case is ideal. So if your work undermines your ethical and moral values, that's a good reason to change jobs.
10. you have the feeling that you are meant for something else
Maybe your work is just fine for you, but you feel that there is more out there waiting for you. You may feel that you can contribute much more than what you are currently doing in your job. Some may not give this thought much weight and dismiss it as a pipe dream. To others, this thought may seem arrogant or even pretentious.
But as I mentioned before: your gut feeling does not lie. Your gut feeling gives you a clear sign. It is trying to make you realize that there is another direction for you that can bring you more happiness, success, recognition and fulfillment. If a fulfilling job and such a fulfilling life is close to your heart, don't hide from this feeling. Because it may be time to change jobs.
Should I quit - or not?
Have you already found your answer to the initial question? If you are still unsure, you can imagine the following scenario and think about three questions pose: Imagine you were 90 years old and looking back on your life. How would you feel if...
- ... you would have decided to change jobs and the decision was the best of your life.
- ... you would have decided to change jobs and unfortunately it was a failure.
- ... you would have decided against a job change and without having tried a new challenge.
The personal answers to these questions have already helped many people with such an important decision. Of course, changing jobs is not a small thing: for example, unless your job is seriously harming you, you should not necessarily quit your current job on the spur of the moment without having a next job ready. Start looking for your new job beforehand and make a clear plan for your job change.
Jobs with added value for you, society & the environment
A first step could be our new, sustainable job portal of CareElite. There you will find many exciting job offers from sustainable and ethically responsible employers. This gives you the opportunity to create value not only for yourself, but also for society and our environment.
I hope the advice I've given you has given you food for thought - either in terms of career reorientation, or maybe it's made you realize that your job isn't so bad after all.
Many greetings,
PS: In my Personality & Psyche Blog you'll find many more tips on how to live a healthy life. Learn there among other things, When a job makes you happy makes.
PPS: Falls du bis hierher gescrollt hast und gute Gründe für einen Jobwechsel siehst: Im Sustainable job portal of CareElite you will find job offers of jobs that will enrich you, the environment and our society.
