You've hit the 1-year mark at your company. Is it time to leave?
A few of these telling signs can help you decide.
You’ve been at your job for a year and it’s been quite the journey. You’ve had your handful of frustrations and maybe you even thought of quitting once or twice. But maybe you have a flexible work schedule, a great team and you can see the “potential” at your current employer.
Obviously, you’re thinking, should I stay or should I go?
There are many factors that weigh into a big career decision like changing jobs and it isn’t always cut and dry—but we can tell you what signs you should look out for in making such a life-altering decision.
Signs you should stay
For Iowa state government human resources generalist Alexis Baker, 26, it is all about learning lessons and making connections. “A job has been worth it—priceless, even—if it's taught you lessons that you can apply elsewhere in your life,” she says.
Baker also advises to acknowledge the importance of strong connections with co-workers—even if you don’t necessarily like them.
“Many of my former co-workers I rely on constantly for insight, support, laughter, and maybe even a job reference,” she says.
If you are looking to advance your career and aren’t in a just a “tide-me-over” job, then the work environment should fit you, says Diona Roberg, 56, operations and human resources manager at Water Energy Distributors, Inc. in Hampstead, New Hampshire.
“This doesn’t mean that you are blissfully happy every day, but instead, you should find the people around you respect you, your work ethics and the job you are doing,” she says.
Signs it’s time to check out
If there’s a lack of challenges, opportunities to advance financially or responsibility-wise, or if the environment is not a good fit, it’s time to leave your current job, Roberg says.
Molly Ryan, 27, practice services manager at Centering Healthcare Institute in Boston, recently transitioned into a new role and says if you want to avoid leaving as an outcome, it’s important for both the employee and the company to have a timeline or plan for promotion.
“I think there's always this dance,” she says. ”You want to demonstrate you're a reliable team player who can go above and beyond, but you also need your commitment to be valued."
Even though it is important to make sure you’re happy at your job, Ryan says, “don't base your decision off of one bad day, or even one bad month.” She advises to consider the bigger picture and to ask yourself what specifically about your current job is causing you to consider leaving. Once you come to an answer, ask yourself whether these are things you can affect or ultimately are out of your control?
If you plan on checking out, how long should you stay?
Do we gain experience and then move on? Is there a magic number of years experience you need to be able to show on a resume to land a job interview somewhere else? There’s really no one answer, according to Baker.
“There's nothing that says you need to stay in a job any longer than you have to...except for the voice inside your head, ” she says.
But it is important to make the most out of your current role before moving on. “I think you owe it to yourself and the organization to push your role to its limits,” says Ryan. “Your next employer will want to know that you didn't just jump ship at the first hint of boredom.”
Roberg, who oversees hiring at her company, recommends you learn something that you can demonstrate or explain to another potential employers so you can show you’re not just bouncing from job to job—”which really looks bad,” she says.”
For her, seeing this type of behavior from a job candidate “is a drop to the bottom of the pile.”
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