When Is It Time to Move Out?

It often starts with the feeling of being boxed-in, trapped. When is it time to move out of a job, organization, industry, profession… when the fit is gone?

The full question is “When is it time to move out of a job, organization, industry, profession… when the fit is gone?” This question comes up more easily for professionals who feel either:

a) confident enough to have their condition improved by competing in the open labor market or
b) discouraged enough that they have nothing to lose by pulling the rip cord.

Already Running Your Search for Work?
Look under our Resources tab for a Search Maintenance Checklist to see if I can help you enhance your energy-level and search productivity.

Maintenance Checklist for Work Search

For the rest of us there is reluctance to raise the “Move Out” question because it requires changes to many aspects of our life in addition to work. But there can be powerful reasons to proceed.

Values Reasons: Ethics or beliefs don’t align ….even if knowledge, skills and abilities do align.

Emotional: Passion for the work wanes.

Cognitive: You’re not learning. (see Moving Up)

Behavioral: The work is dangerous, too strenuous or psychologically stressful.

The Entrepreneurial Option: Is this the business model you crave. Are you a fit? How to decide?

Job Termination: It’s been decided for you and now it’s time for a smart job search strategy.

Criteria for Fit with Job, Manager, Team, Organization, Industry:
While only you can decide when it’s time to move out of your current work, you can find an extensive assessment tool in the book Answering The Three Career Questions: Your Lifelong Career Management System. Look at some of the criteria for fit (or non-fit) as a way of identifying the things you’ll want to be questioning about not just your current work but the work and situation that you’re searching for too.

You can purchase Answering The Three Career Questions on Amazon or right here, in PDF form.

Coaching for your Move Out means you or your employees gain permanent strategy building skills as well as tactical skills for:

Designing alternatives to quitting your organization and instead moving out of your current role

Designing a professional objective (your desired future state)

Composing a personal marketing plan to achieve that objective and communicate it to others

Resume design

Networking using a proprietary tool that reinvents the networking processes

Interview skills and strategy

Offer negotiation strategy

New Job Launch Plan to take advantage of the “honeymoon”