8 Signs You Should Quit Your Current Job was originally published on Ivy Exec.
Quitting a job can be scary, but it’s often necessary for career growth. Still, it’s tough to determine when you should move on, especially if you’re happy at your current workplace or in a tough place financially.
Recognizing when to quit your job will propel your career faster and help you explore better opportunities. It allows you to reassess your priorities and reset your goals. Here are some signs to quit your current job.
1️⃣ You Aren’t Passionate
When you’re passionate about your job, you find it more interesting, which motivates you to be more productive. Besides, you’ll be more creative and feel less stressed even when you have a lot of work.
Lacking passion will make your work tiresome, and you may not feel proud of your achievements. Some common indicators of lacking passion at work include:
- Feeling disengaged
- Recurrent boredom
- Constantly thinking about doing something different
- Feeling emotionally drained by the job
- Ignoring your career interests
2️⃣ You Underuse Your Skills
A job that isn’t challenging can be pretty comfortable, and you may not be up for a change. Sadly, staying in such a situation for a long time will do more harm than good in the long run. It limits your potential, and you may forget skills you spent your time and money learning.
It’s likely that you don’t utilize all your skills if you do the same work every day. This is also true if your responsibilities haven’t grown since you started working at the company. Another sign that you are underutilizing your skills is finding your job relatively easy.
If you notice that your current role isn’t putting your skills to good use, you should consider quitting. Find a position that allows you to practice what you know to improve your performance and climb the career ladder.
3️⃣ There Are No Growth Opportunities
Steady career growth makes you feel more fulfilled and expands your network. It lets you explore your potential and increases job satisfaction.
Are you feeling stuck in your current role? Does your workplace present opportunities to learn new skills and responsibilities? Also, is there room for challenges and promotions?
Asking yourself such questions will help you assess if there is room for growth in your current job. An ideal workplace should increase your responsibilities from time to time. Further, it should have opportunities for you to expand your skill set. This can be in the form of employee training, workshops, or job rotation. They could also be an opportunity to work in a new branch or a different project.
If you have limited or zero opportunities for growth at your current job, it’s time to move on. Advance your career by focusing your job search on firms with more opportunities. Ask prospective employers if they have mentorship opportunities. You may also check the company’s social media to determine how often they promote their staff.
4️⃣ Executive Roles in Your Current Workplace Aren’t Appealing
Most employees desire their employers’ jobs and work towards an executive position. If your boss’s role isn’t something you would like, chances are, you don’t find a promotion in that company interesting.
Find out if there is any role at your workplace that you are targeting. If executive positions are open, how eager are you to fill them? If you aren’t enthusiastic about such opportunities, you should quit your current job.
5️⃣ The Company Has Limited Growth Potential
Many companies have highs and lows depending on market trends and consumer behavior. During challenging periods, some firms retrench to stay afloat. Others collapse entirely, leaving the staff stranded and, worse, without pay.
If your company is struggling and has no potential for growth, it’s a sign to quit. Review the firm’s annual financial reports for more insights. If you notice that the cash flow is reducing year after year, there’s likely financial trouble. You can also review the client list to see if you’ve lost major ones.
Here are other signs a company is struggling and has low growth potential:
- Increased firings
- A high number of bad hires
- Increasing employee turnover
- Inability to pay bills and wages on time
- Decreasing sales
- Communication breakdown
6️⃣ You Aren’t Comfortable With Your Boss
You don’t have to be friends with your boss, but you should be able to communicate with them without fear. Likewise, they should be honest, respect your work, and maintain boundaries. If your boss crosses professional boundaries often, even after you address the issue, it’s time to take action. You may also need to quit if they intimidate and reprimand you inappropriately.
Some bosses show tough love to their employees, which sometimes seems like they hate you or your work. Knowing the difference between such a case and a boss who picks on you will help you determine when to quit.
An employer that believes in you will often give you challenging roles. While they may point out mistakes and require you to redo some work, they will still prioritize you for major projects. On the other hand, a boss who dislikes you will micromanage and ignore your requests with no valid explanation. They may also continually criticize your work without offering helpful feedback.
7️⃣ You Compromise Your Ethics
Compromising your ethics due to a role affects your morale and productivity. In some cases, it can impact your capacity to secure jobs in the future.
Jeopardizing your principles can be as simple as lying to a client to make them purchase a service or item. It can also be a major issue with legal repercussions, like falsifying financial records.
While compromising may seem like the only way to survive at your current job, it’s better to protect your integrity by quitting.
8️⃣ The Work Environment Is Toxic
A toxic workplace affects your mental health and leads to burnout. It may affect your confidence, lower your productivity, and slow your career growth.
Do you often feel anxious due to your boss’s or colleagues’ behaviors? Does your workplace have cliques, unhealthy office politics, and gossip? Besides, do your bosses micromanage every employee due to mistrust? If you are experiencing such issues in your workplace, it’s likely toxic, and you should quit.
Take Control of Your Career
Recognizing when to quit your job protects your career and mental health. It lets you plan your next steps so that you will feel more comfortable, valued, and challenged at your next job. Register with Ivy Exec for more career guidance resources.
