Gone are the days when you took the best available job after graduation and stayed put for as many years as you could possibly stand, say Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, and Suzy Welch, a best-selling author and business journalist, in a recent LinkedIn post.
Today things are different. It’s not unusual to hear of “perfectly legitimate careers built on multiple job stints,” they say. That’s because professionals are more willing to jump ship when they have a good reason leave.
Here are two perfectly good reasons to quit your job immediately:
1. Your employer or job doesn’t help you fulfill your personal mission.
You need to ask yourself if your company “jibes with your life’s goals and values.” “Does it require you to travel more than you’d like, given your chosen work-life balance? Does it offer enough upward mobility, given your level of ambition?” they say. There are no right or wrong answers to such questions — but they will give you a better sense of whether you are investing your time at the right or wrong company.
2. You can’t picture yourself at your company in a year.
Jack and Suzy say a year is about how long it takes to find a new, better job. They suggest you try to look forward and think about where you’ll most likely be in the organization 12 months from now. Also try to predict what work you’ll be doing, whom you will be managing, and who will be managing you, they say. “If that scenario strikes you with anything short of excitement, then you’re spinning your wheels.”
They say you shouldn’t necessarily up and quit at the first inkling of dissatisfaction, because at some point in your career, no matter where you work, “you will have to endure difficult times, and even a deadly dull assignment, to survive a crisis or move up.” But it makes little sense to stay at a company because of inertia, they add. “Unlock your door and get out.”
