Should I stay or should I go?
Leaving a job to move onto the next one or the next thing can be a liberating if daunting experience.
Sometimes moving jobs can be a no-brainer. There will be clear reasons either why you want to leave your current set up or clear reasons why the new role is better for you.
But what do we do when either of these things fall into the grey areas? That your current role is ok, there is nothing wrong with it and it ticks all the boxes and the new role doesn’t offer anything that is clearly better but you feel like a change?
So how do we navigate this dilemma?
It’s important first and foremost to really dig into why you want to leave. What actually is it that isn’t working in your current environment? You may think that there is nothing and things are OK, but there will be a reason as to why you took that call from the recruiter and why you have gone down the road of interviews and meetings. Was there a trigger? A bad meeting? A critical appraisal? Are you bored?
Start making notes of these and see if there are any patterns or if something jumps out as really resonating.
Once you have that or there maybe more than one, write that down and keep coming back to it.
Secondly, do the same exercise with the new opportunity. Is it as simple as more money? Better benefits? A new challenge? Working with a new team that inspires you?
Write that down and keep coming back to it.
Now write both reasons on a piece of paper or on your phone and see if one reason has a stronger pull than the other. It may be that here you find your answer!
If you find out you want a change but actually your existing company offers you everything you want, you have good colleagues and a good environment, it could be time for a conversation with your manager to see whether a change can be facilitated in your existing environment.
5 key questions to ask yourself if you are thinking of leaving and the pull or push is not strong enough:
Drill down into your ‘why’ for leaving
Drill down into your ‘why’ for the new role
Ask yourself if there were no consequences to either decision, what would be your choice?
Don’t react immediately once you see the new contract / salary or numbers. You may be asked to make a decision quickly, take your time (within reason!).
Try to remove yourself from the thought process for a while. Do something you love outside of work. Then ask yourself what your first thought is when you go back to it. If you are still unsure, repeat this exercise. Write down what comes up when you allow this back into your brain and see if there are any patterns.
If you want some help in exploring these ideas, please get in touch via my contact page.
I would love to help you make the right decision for you.