Know when to go
Some times someone needs to tell you the Signs it is time to quit your job. This list makes sense to me. I think the most important items are No. 2: The environment is toxic and No. 10: You feel stifled. I find that these are two things that will cause to hate a job.
Five more signs that are missing from this list:
1 - No path for advancement - The keys to a career is job trajectory. What you are doing this year will lead you to what you are doing next year. You can stay at a job that has no path for advancement for a while, but you will need to advance sometime. In a job where you cannot advance, there is a clock on how long you can stay there.
2 - No personal growth in the job - You have to be learning things at your job. If you are not it can get boring fast. It is way to easy to become a clock puncher if you are not growing in your job.
3 - Unrealistic requirements - Everyone has a line. For some people it is 30 hours a week and others it is 60 hours a week. Whatever your line is, there are other people who are jobs that will always ask for more. If the job is crossing the line for you, it is time to leave. If you are doing the work of two or three people a company will not correct that if the job is getting done. I understand time to market and budget constraints, but the nature of work is to keep on pressing until people break. Sometimes the only way to correct this is to find a new job.
4 - No sense of accomplishment in your work - At the end of the day or at the end of a project everyone wants to feel like they are doing something worth doing. We do not want to feel like we are getting paid to be Sisyphus. Your performance will suffer if you do not believe in what you are doing.
5 - Personal agendas get in the way of business agendas - I hear about this all the time. I know companies where the VPs rate their importance by how many people are in their org or how big their budget is. That can cause a lot of bad work to be done to protect empires. That is a company you want to leave.
This list is odd because it combines signs that a work place is not right for the individual with signs that the workplace is dysfunctional. Often when a workplace is not right for worker they should look to fix the situation right away. Few good things come from a workplace where you do not fit in.
Dysfunctional work places are kind of funny. Sometimes people can thrive in a dysfunctional work place. You can get a head if you understand the dysfunction. You can get opportunities you might not get other places, but you are taking a risk. At any moment the dysfunction can turn on you. A worker always needs an escape plan from a dysfunctional work place.
Five more signs that are missing from this list:
1 - No path for advancement - The keys to a career is job trajectory. What you are doing this year will lead you to what you are doing next year. You can stay at a job that has no path for advancement for a while, but you will need to advance sometime. In a job where you cannot advance, there is a clock on how long you can stay there.
2 - No personal growth in the job - You have to be learning things at your job. If you are not it can get boring fast. It is way to easy to become a clock puncher if you are not growing in your job.
3 - Unrealistic requirements - Everyone has a line. For some people it is 30 hours a week and others it is 60 hours a week. Whatever your line is, there are other people who are jobs that will always ask for more. If the job is crossing the line for you, it is time to leave. If you are doing the work of two or three people a company will not correct that if the job is getting done. I understand time to market and budget constraints, but the nature of work is to keep on pressing until people break. Sometimes the only way to correct this is to find a new job.
4 - No sense of accomplishment in your work - At the end of the day or at the end of a project everyone wants to feel like they are doing something worth doing. We do not want to feel like we are getting paid to be Sisyphus. Your performance will suffer if you do not believe in what you are doing.
5 - Personal agendas get in the way of business agendas - I hear about this all the time. I know companies where the VPs rate their importance by how many people are in their org or how big their budget is. That can cause a lot of bad work to be done to protect empires. That is a company you want to leave.
This list is odd because it combines signs that a work place is not right for the individual with signs that the workplace is dysfunctional. Often when a workplace is not right for worker they should look to fix the situation right away. Few good things come from a workplace where you do not fit in.
Dysfunctional work places are kind of funny. Sometimes people can thrive in a dysfunctional work place. You can get a head if you understand the dysfunction. You can get opportunities you might not get other places, but you are taking a risk. At any moment the dysfunction can turn on you. A worker always needs an escape plan from a dysfunctional work place.
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