Most people don't make a career move for a single reason. Leaving one position for another usually has a mixture of causes. Yes, we all need money, but most of us won’t hop from job to job to make an extra buck or two. Satisfaction and feeling challenged and appreciated usually rank higher than salary in our list of needs.
Job markets are extremely competitive and many people make changes they later regret. So, today I wanted to talk about how to know it is time for a new position or company.
Here are 4 reasons you might be ready for a change.
You Are Done Learning And Growing
Feeling you have learned everything a position or company has to offer can trigger a career move. If nothing has changed in your role for several years and you can do your job reasonably well on auto-pilot, it might be time for a shakeup.
Being stagnant in a position limits your knowledge base, your satisfaction level, and your future prospects. Look to make a change when you feel yourself becoming beige.
You Aren’t Being Used To Your Potential
How much of your training, skills, and experience is actually being put to use? If your special flavor of diversified skills is not being utilized, how will you ever realize your full potential? Maybe the company doesn’t have the bandwidth for your skills or maybe their structure will never let you move outside of the box they see you in. Either way, experiencing different challenges only helps you grow.
There Isn’t Room To Grow
When you know you have nothing to strive for, you start shutting down and not caring. Because ultimately why should you? If you can do the same job today as you can in 10 years, what’s going to propel you forward? Talk to your boss to make sure you have the right idea, but if you can’t move forward and upward, you are spinning in circles or losing ground.
Dollars and Cents
OK, so at the end of the day, sometimes it is about pay. Increased income is always a good motivator. However, this should not carry as much weight as any of the other factors. Leaving a job you love and can excel at just because of pay rarely works out favorably.
If you know for certain you are being paid significantly less than others in your market and you answer yes to any of the other factors, moving towards more money makes sense.
I would suggest you talk to your manager before you leave, but make sure you can walk the talk. Just because a sales leader at another company makes $20,000 more base than you, doesn’t mean you are actually worth the same amount or can produce the same successes.
Lastly, you need to remember the intangibles – work environment, training and mentoring programs, job satisfaction, etc. are way more important in the long run.
Before you put in your notice or start sending out resumes or worse, stay at a job you don’t love, take the time to evaluate these happiness factors.
