Is it time to quit your job?

OPINION: No job is perfect but there are times when you know you have to move on to the next gig.

You might have been there for a few months, or years, and the doubts are starting to creep in for a swag of reasons. Lots of personnel changes with good people leaving and talk of more budget cuts and downsizings on the horizon.

Your chances of promotion or a pay rise have gone nowhere, your responsibilities have changed and the boss you have always gotten along with has decided to leave. We’ve all been there.

In those circumstances, you are likely to start thinking about leaving.

There has been plenty of advice on how to resign from your job covering areas like timing, not burning any bridges and serving out the notice period, but what are the signs when it’s time to leave?

According to the position ignition blog, there are some pretty obvious signs starting with the fact that you hate going into work, that you dread every Sunday night and that you start thinking about the weekend as soon as you walk in.

Another one is that your co-workers annoy you or are sending you mad. Or simply that your work bores you - you just don’t find it as stimulating and as interesting as you did when you started. Maybe your career is going nowhere, you just don’t feel valued anymore or that you're really making a contribution. Perhaps you just can’t stand your boss. Any of this sound familiar? All are valid reasons.

Another good reason to quit would be if you want to set up your own business. But then, you have to ask yourself whether you are prepared to jump ship into the unknown.

Remember, you might be your own boss but you are really working for clients, shareholders and customers.

You can set your own hours but for most small business owners, you are never off the clock. And when you divide the revenue by the number of hours you put in, you might discover it’s no path to quick riches. But then, there’s a lot to be said about being self-sufficient and I would take it any day over working as an employee.

An equally as important reason to quit your job is to just keep moving. We all know that the job for life has gone the way of the typewriter but many would argue that the only way to stay refreshed and in demand is to job hop. It’s a point take up by one of my favourite bloggers Seth Godin.

"Let's look at it from the perspective of evolution: Species that evolve the fastest are the ones that don't mate for life. By switching mates, swapping genes with someone new, you continually reshuffle the gene pool, making it more likely you'll create something new and neat and novel and useful. Our parents and grandparents believed you should stay at a job for five years, 10 years or even your whole life. But in a world where companies come and go - where they grow from nothing to the Fortune 500 and then disappear, all in a few years - that's just not possible … The time to look for a new job is when you don't need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable. Go. Switch. Challenge yourself; get yourself a raise and a promotion. You owe it to your career and your skills."

- © Fairfax NZ News