Quitting a job wihout another one lined up?

seoban

Is it ever a feasible option?

I kindof drifted into my current role a while back. I knew from the beginning it wasn't for me. But i was offered a higher role and a promise that my skills would be put to good use. So i went against my gut and accepted.

The role itself turned out to be awful. The environment is very oppressive and stressful. The work is uninspiring and over complicated and no training is provided.

Everything and everyone is watched and controlled and management have their own agenda.

From the beginning my plan was to keep the head down until something better came along.
So i soldiered on, applying for other jobs on the side, all the while my health was suffering.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck with interviews (I had 1 but didn't get the job). I also found it very hard to even motivate myself to apply for anything.

Anyway, I had my review recently and a few issues cropped up which have lead me to believe that its time to cut my losses and move on.

People are being coerced into managerial roles, which effectively puts a target on their backs. I didn't go for the last promotion and it was commented upon. There's another round coming up soon and i am 'encouraged' to apply.

It was also noted that i arrive on time and leave on time, which is seen by some as 'not taking ownership'.

I'm sick at the thought of going in tomorrow.

I'm lethargic, depressed, have stomach problems, not sleeping etc.

If i quit how can i explain it to future employers ?

The whole - 'easier to get a job when you have a job' chestnut echoes in my head but its hard to even get time off for an interview never mind motivate yourself when you're stuck in a rut?

Is there a way around this?

Can i just up and leave or would that be career suicide?

I want to stick it out until something better comes along but i can't go on like this for much longer.

Any words of advice would be most welcome!

GingangGooley

Two fundamental questions:

1. What is the job market like for the type of role you want? If you're in something like IT or finance, you'll probably be sorted soon enough. If you're in other areas, you could be out of work for considerably longer. Are there recruitment agencies who specialise in your field, or are you in a line of work where YOU will have to do all the work to get something suitable?

2. Based on your responses to the above, how long can you financially support yourself without a job? Again, if you're in an in-demand field, maybe you'll only need a month or so's salary to live on before you get a really great role. If you're looking for something less in demand, maybe you'll be waiting 3-6 months or even longer before you get the job you really want.

I know someone who quit a job without having a new job ready. He got sorted with a new, better job within six weeks. But he was in finance - the IT side of finance/trading systems, at that. So highly, highly in demand skills.

There's no black and white answer to this question until you look at your own specific circumstances.

seoban

GingangGooley wrote: »

Two fundamental questions:

1. What is the job market like for the type of role you want? If you're in something like IT or finance, you'll probably be sorted soon enough. If you're in other areas, you could be out of work for considerably longer. Are there recruitment agencies who specialise in your field, or are you in a line of work where YOU will have to do all the work to get something suitable?

2. Based on your responses to the above, how long can you financially support yourself without a job? Again, if you're in an in-demand field, maybe you'll only need a month or so's salary to live on before you get a really great role. If you're looking for something less in demand, maybe you'll be waiting 3-6 months or even longer before you get the job you really want.

I know someone who quit a job without having a new job ready. He got sorted with a new, better job within six weeks. But he was in finance - the IT side of finance/trading systems, at that. So highly, highly in demand skills.

There's no black and white answer to this question until you look at your own specific circumstances.

Thanks for the reply!

I'm currently in an IT related role. However my background is in multimedia, found it hard to find work in that area so sold out to a big corporation.

I'm hoping to get as far as christmas. Keep the head down and keep plodding along. Keep my eyes out for other opportunities and reassess in the new year. Try and get over the financial hump that is xmas at least.

My main worries would be that the net is closing in. Pretty soon i'm going to be under fierce pressure and coerced into going forward for promotion. If i can see light at the end of the tunnel i reckon i could just about cope.

I'm also concerned about how quitting a job would look to a potential employer?
How do i explain myself?

Senna

I would go the other route, apply for the promotion. Will it look better on your CV to say you are X (your new title) rather than Y (your old title)? New employers wont know the job was a poisoned chalice, they just see the title.
I know its easy to say to stick at it, but if you can detach from the job because you know you can leave at any moment, it makes it a lot easier to stick it out.

If you are in IT, then you know there are roles out there, so keep applying and as usual, get someone to check your CV, practice interview etc etc

gercoral

go travelling!

scurnane

I was in a similar position whereby I handed in notice without another job lined up. It worked out well for me that I got a better role within within 6 weeks.

In my case I was so stressed over the job that I was willing to risk walking away into nothing for an extended period of time. But your own sanity/happiness must come first.

BreadnBuddha

scurnane wrote: »

I was in a similar position whereby I handed in notice without another job lined up. It worked out well for me that I got a better role within within 6 weeks.

In my case I was so stressed over the job that I was willing to risk walking away into nothing for an extended period of time. But your own sanity/happiness must come first.

Your sanity and happiness may well be affected by your work, be that the particular company you work for, the manager to whom you report, the people with whom you work.

It's also very much the case that being unemployed and finding it next to impossible to get interviews can have an equally negative effect.

If the OP has the financial means to maintain his/her own acceptable standard of living (meaning, what they do outside the office) for a period of time they could conceive to be unemployed, so be it. Pack in the job and go find something else to do or somewhere else to work. If you can cover all your costs and not sacrifice too much of what you fund from your paycheck in terms of leisure and personal time, the choice is yours to make.

However, if you don't have the resources to do so, consider carefully where else you'll take pressure on yourself and ultimately what your options will be to get out of the situation you'd effectively create for yourself now, by giving up the position you have today. Rent, bills, travel, phone, social activities, clothing.... It all adds up very quickly indeed and social welfare allowances won't make ends meet. If you count on your paycheck to cover your basic expenses each month, you'll be trading one source of stress for another.

As Senna says, the silver lining in this cloud could be to go for that promotion while you keep your eyes open for a new opportunity elsewhere. At least then you'll have continued employment and salary income, new experience to offer another employer and so on. If it's really just not for you, then it's time to take a good hard look at what you're actually doing to improve your situation. Are you doing everything you could be doing to move on, rather than just quitting a job you don't like?

For example and please don't take offence as it's not intended, but don't make excuses about getting time off for interviews as though that's a bit obstacle. You've only been asked to attend one. Prospective employers will be very reasonable with scheduling for someone they know already has a full-time role, so get more interviews and let them know your time constraints. I've interviewed in the past by phone during lunchtime when I couldn't get time off, which is completely normal. If that goes okay, a late interview after office hours has been facilitated by the hiring manager, again not at all unusual when they want to hire the right person for a position.

You also should examine your mindset when it comes to the company and the role of managers. Like them or not, they HAVE an agenda to promote and act upon and while you may not like it when you're the one on the coalface, it's not sensible to get riled up by a manager doing their job. You had feedback and they've told you some things they think you could change up a bit. Manage your response. If you can't or don't want to work outside your hours, let them know you've other time commitments but that if there's something you can do better during office hours, you're all ears. It's sickening to do that, I know, but having been on both sides of that table during my career, I can tell you it's remarkably easy to come out of that kind of feedback loop absolutely smelling of roses. If you just push back from the start, they'll manage down on you. It's the way it works. If you at least 'ACT' like you want to work with them, they'll start to back off and usually be much more reasonable with you.

Anyway, long answer but maybe there's some food for thought in it. It's not as simple as 'sure, jack in the job coz who needs that crap'. It's more 'pick your battles' the way I see it. Some jobs and some people just aren't a good match, but make the best of what you can while you look for something else would be my advise.

Giacomo McGubbin

Your health is your real wealth. Put that first and foremost, not the rat race. It's so named for a reason.

omen80

Giacomo McGubbin wrote: »

Your health is your real wealth. Put that first and foremost, not the rat race. It's so named for a reason.

+ 1

I would just quit. No job is worth being miserable over. You will wonder why you didn't quit sooner. Just put your new found time into getting something better. Do some online courses or night courses that you are interested in.

seoban

Thanks for the replies folks!

Lots of food for thought there.
Particularly BreadandBuddha's comments about a managers mindset - very insightful - my thanks!

To answer a few of the questions - i'm already looking at night courses / up-skilling .
I went to a career coach a few weeks ago but it was complete nonsense ('I want you to arrange these objects on the table')

I'm networking, revamping the cv and searching online every day.

Was has me worried is that as i expressed before - the net is closing in..

I knew from the beginning that the role wasn't for me. The department is a house of cards and in order to keep pulling the wool over the top execs eyes management needs to pile on the pressure on staff.

I feel like the walls are closing in and have dug deep to even get this far.

To get back to my main question - if i did leave, is there anything reasonable i could say to a potential employer?

BreadnBuddha

seoban wrote: »

To get back to my main question - if i did leave, is there anything reasonable i could say to a potential employer?

Tell them you were asked/encouraged to step into the position to support the business at a time when they were under pressure to fill the role to deliver a project/service/function etc.

Tell them that you held some concerns about how it probably wasn't the right fit for you, that you discussed it in detail with the management team, but that you agreed to put them aside initially, to see if you could grow the responsibilities of the position to better fit with your own career aspirations in time.

Tell them that as often happens in business, the demands of the role have ended up being very different to what either you or the hiring manager had anticipated and that ultimately, you believe your experience and talents can be better utilised and your own personal goals can be reached in X position, for which you're interviewing.

Do not criticise any team/manager/employer. Do not allow the tiniest hint of bitterness creep into the discussion/delivery. Acknowledge that it was a side-step from your chosen path, made to help out at a time of great pressure for your team/department/manager and that now you want to get back on track. Keep it very professional and sincere.

If you jack in the job, make a point of doing something specifically to support your change of career path. Enrol in a course, take some online exams/certification etc. You can tell them you wanted to step down from your old role to allow them hire somebody who was a better fit for where they're going now, while you put your energy into better preparing yourself for the position you're applying/interviewing for... Make it sincere. Don't rely on this to work if you end up unemployed for a longer term though.

livedadream

one thing i would say is dont put yourself down by saying you havnt had much luck with interviews,

you say in your post that youve had one, and didnt get the job,

work off the 10% principle.

dont stress and saturate the market applying for other jobs.

only quuit if you can afford too.

ligerdub

I had a very similar experience to you, so much so that I had to double check that this wasn't an old thread I myself had started!

I took on a new role in April of '15, leaving a role I was very happy in, but had probably reached the end of my development in, and lacked the ability to push through in salary and influence. The draw of the new role was a higher salary, greater leave entitlements, shorter commute as well as moving to an organisation of certain scale to allow for progression. Importantly I was informed as to how important my skills would be to the organisation.

As it turned out I hated it from day 1. The environment was stale, dull, nobody seemed to communicate with anybody else, and the places I would add value to turned out to be completely ignored and not sought out. On top of this my boss was a control freak who had a lot of problems communicating exactly what she wanted at any point in time. It left me in a role I was untrained in, with skills unsuited to the role, and without the knowledge required to do the job, and where for the first time I felt I didn't fit in.

It left me hating going into work every day, particularly if the boss was there, and I learned to cling to the flexi days off or her holiday periods.

I ended up leaving after about a year of being miserable in the job, and although I'm left jobless currently, and the lack of income is stifling the plans I should have at this stage in my life e.g. buying a house, I don't regret my decision. The reason being is that I feel free of that misery and psychologically I feel better disposed to my next opportunity.

Having said all that I would first consider are there any avenues of recourse in your current predicament, and what exactly is the primary reason for your unhappiness. For example, you mentioned the oppressive atmosphere, is that throughout the entire place, or just centred around your team? Is it even just a single individual? If you were to get a transfer would that be worth trying? I'd consider requesting a meeting with somebody who could perhaps help you out in your problem. State that you want to contribute more, and use the skills where you can really add value to the role, better for the team, better for you. By bringing this issue up you are showing initiative that you want to improve things. You've had your performance review, but you have your own review of them, and maybe they need to hear some things too.

"It was also noted that i arrive on time and leave on time, which is seen by some as 'not taking ownership'." Yeah? So what. They can go f**k themselves mate. You work what you sign up to do, if other people want to "take ownership" then let them, that's their life, and if they can't finish what they need to do in their set hours then maybe they should buck up their efficiency or learn to delegate and trust. If you're working with a bunch of A-holes (genuine ones) then you're best off out of there, but by all means consider if the situation can be improved, that's the best case scenario right? You've got nothing to lose by having a chat. If they don't want to help you out and want rid of you then you know what sort of characters you're dealing with.

Godspeed.