You have been in your job for a few years now. It was the job you went to school for, and the one you wanted since high school. But now, it’s not feeling like you.
It could be that it’s your work environment. Your boss is hard to read. Your co-workers are catty. Or you find yourself looking forward to the weekend more than you ever did in school (if that’s possible). You’d love to make a change but you can’t figure out if it’s your career or your job, you’re wanting to get away from.
How do you figure out what to do?
And how do you know when it’s time to make a change?
In life, there are the changes we want, and the changes we don’t want. When it comes to what we do for a living, both kind are stressful. The former we spend working to make happen, and the latter we work to avoid. Only for many of us, it is the changes we want that plague us.
As millennials, we are the generation most likely to switch jobs. According to this Gallup report, twenty-one percent of us reported changing jobs in the last year alone. Many of us struggle to feel engaged where we work. And the things that kept our parents in their jobs for decades don’t seem to have the same hold on us.
Just because our generation is prone to wander when it comes to our professions, it doesn’t mean we aren’t finding it stressful.
Only, just because collectively our generation is prone to wander when it comes to our professions, it doesn’t mean we aren’t finding it stressful. That making the right decision isn’t important to us. In fact, I would say the conditions and ethos of where we work matters more to us than those who’ve come before.
With this in mind, today I want to share three reasons not to make a job change in your life right now. Rather than tell you right away that you should make a change, I want to share reasons for why you shouldn’t. Our generation easily pulls the trigger when things aren’t what we planned or expected. But sometimes, there are unexpected skills and experiences that we will only gain if we stick around.
Thursday, I will share three signs it is time to leave your job, but for now don’t leave your job if:
There is still room to grow.
When I was twenty-five, I wasn’t considered for a job I wanted where I worked. Then, a whole lot of bad things happened in our department. I wanted to leave. In fact, I even applied to a grad program on the other side of the country—that is how far I wanted to get away. But, deep down I knew I hadn’t mastered the job I was in. I still had a lot to learn and plenty of room to grow. Though the conditions weren’t perfect, I learned so much more by staying than I ever would have if I left. If there is still room for you to develop your skills and expertise where you are, don’t waste this opportunity.
If you are in the middle of a project you are leading.
If you leave in the middle of an unfinished project, you may be leaving your supervisors scrambling, and with a bad impression of you. Don’t burn your bridges. Also, you may miss out on the experience of seeing your project through to completion, which matters to you more than you think. You have already put in so much time and effort, you deserve to see how it turns out.
You’ve been in your job for less than six months.
Unless you are in an abusive work situation, you need to give your job more time. Staying creates more character than leaving ever will. Put your head down and keep working. Gain experience. Build relationships with people you can learn from or who you may need help from in the future. Try to improve the pain points of your work environment, rather than escape them.
Do any of these apply to you?
Do you need to stay where you are?
Are you experiencing change in your life right now? Does your mind feel cluttered will all that this change could mean? If so, sign up for my email list and get your FREE copy of my Five Steps to Declutter Your Mind, to help you find clarity and peace on this journey.
