Ready to quit your job? Here are the 17 questions to ask yourself first
It has been termed “the Great Resignation” and a “turnover tsunami”. But whether it is because of a shift in priorities during the pandemic or simply a desire for a change, many people have left their jobs, or are thinking of leaving. In the US, the department of labour reported a record 4m resignations in April.
A Microsoft survey of more than 30,000 workers worldwide revealed that 41% were considering quitting or changing professions this year, while in the UK and Ireland, research by the HR software company Personio found 38% of respondents were planning to quit in the next six to 12 months.
But how do you know if you are in desperate need of change or just in a pandemic fug. Here are 17 questions to ask yourself to help you clarify your thinking – and your future.
Should I even consider staying?
If work is causing you significant mental or physical distress, perhaps because of bullying or chronic overwork, it may be that you have to quit, says the psychologist Lee Chambers.
If it feels like a question of selfpreservation, “something that is effectively pivotal to you feeling like a human being, it’s almost as if that decision needs to be made for you,” he says. “Otherwise it’s going to have an increasingly negative impact on your health.”
But, he adds, you must be brutally honest with yourself. “What are your frustrations? What’s that primary sticking point, the one thing that’s really tipped the balance so this question has become prominent in your mind?”
The more precise you can be about the cause, the greater clarity you will have. Drill down not only into your role and responsibilities, but particular projects, pay, potential for progression, workplace culture, workload, colleagues, company values and any recent restructures or takeovers.
“The ‘why’ question is where everyone starts, but the first answer you give yourself is rarely what’s really going on,” says Eleanor Tweddell, the founder of the post-redundancy coaching consultancy Another Door. She suggests writing down every thought and feeling you have about your job for 10 days.
How did I get here?
As you consider your next steps, it can help to zoom out to see those that led you here: why did you take this job? What has been your career path so far?
Reflecting on your past can help put your present situation in perspective and lay a blueprint for your future – if only by underscoring your own agency. “Knowing that it’s not the first time you’ve taken a step in your career can make another one feel less daunting,” says Chambers.
How long have I been feeling this way?
It may help to think about when you were last consistently happy at work. If it’s been years, predating the pandemic, Chambers suggests it might be time to act. It is easy to keep giving it another six months, he says – “but there’s a reason why you’re feeling that way”.
If, however, your dissatisfaction is more recent – say, since February 2020 – “a lot of that is pandemic-related,” says Chambers. Now that restrictions have eased, it is easy to underestimate the impact of the disruption and stress of the past 18 months. But “most of us have not been through something as serious or significant as this, ever”, he says. With the future still uncertain, it could be that your desire to quit is rooted in wanting to exercise some control over your life, or feel as if you are making progress. “But a change of job is not actually going to change the [wider] situation,” says Navit Schechter, a cognitive behavioural therapist.
It’s also worth considering whether you may be burnt. If so, talk to your manager about taking some time off. What do I actually want to do? This can be the hardest question to