Main picture credit to How to Quit Your Job – Lisa Cherry Beaumont.
I do not think there is an exact science to quitting. I know that many of us want to walk into our boss’s office and just let them have it. I know many of us to want to write a long and detrimental email to all management on how horrible they are and where they can stick their 2% raise and weekly pizza parties, but is it the right way to quit?
I mean nowadays with this whole fad about “quitting quietly” or “acting your wage” phenomenon it could be a way to just tell human resources exactly what you think on your exit interview. I am sure many have been in the position where we just can not take it anymore and want to run out screaming from our job, but what holds us back or what holds some of us back from doing this?
I am sure you stop and think, well I have a family to think about or maybe you have to think about your lifestyle, your bills, and what you are trying to accomplish in your life that it makes more sense to suck it up and stick to the job than trying to start somewhere else.
Many of us simply just take it, maybe you do it because you are comfortable where you are and change is not needed, but is it worth it to feel sadness, stress, and frustration instead of happiness. Can we just simply get out from where we are that is not making us happy. I think most of us can.
I have to say though that quitting angrily is not the best way to go about it. I think at the end of it all, just simply resigning and doing it professionally and calmly is the best choice. Why you may ask well because I believe it shows that you are the better person or employee and let me tell you but an employer gets frustrated when a good employee leaves on their terms and happy.
I recently worked for a company for 18 years and gave my heart and soul to the company. Always went above and beyond my duties, following all the rules and doing what my managers asked of me and told me to do for me to get ahead. What did I get out of it, was nothing but frustration, stress, more work, 2 % raises, and the last 5 years’ “NO raises”.
Now, I had mentioned this in one of my posts a while back, and one of the comments from a reader was, “Well they were probably trying to get rid of you, maybe you were not leader quality”. I thought about that comment and thought, well if that was the case just tell me and at that point, I could have looked elsewhere. The thing is that I was told by many executives that I would be a great leader, I had immense knowledge of the business and people simply seemed to love me, but there was always the same excuse.
Well, after 18 years and feeling unappreciated, and undervalued, I found a company that by simply looking at my resume, and interviewing me felt I was worth a lot. Not only did I get a 30% increase in my base salary, I will be given a 10% annual bonus, 18K in stock every year, and a 5 to 10% raise (merit increase) every year – of course depending on my performance, but that did not worry me because I am the type of individual that puts their heart and soul into what they do, and I really enjoy doing what I do.
So, my recommendation is to resign professionally, give at least a 5-day notice, do not talk trash about management or other employees. If you get an exit interview, offer suggestions on things that could be different, do not mention names, just state in general. The reason I say this is because they may say something like, “if it does not work out where you are going, you can always come back” – that is what happened to me. Also, they told me if a position happens to come up while I am gone and my name comes up as a potential candidate if I would be willing to come back – I said of course, all depending on what is offered.
I know what we really what to say when we quit a job that has sucked the life out of us, but hold yourself back and do it professionally, I promise you will feel really good without having to make it a bad experience. With that, I leave you with this thought, “Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing – Anonymous.”