In this economy, it almost seems ludicrous to voluntarily become unemployed, but people still do it. A friend of mine quit two jobs in two months at the end of last year (the first he'd held for a while) and is now working a third, new one.
But there's no guarantee you will be that lucky—you could wind up unemployed for months, turned away even by "safety" jobs you don't really want.
First, I think it's important to consider
why you want to quit:
Is your job weighed down by temporary or recent problems? If you hate the new receptionist, the policy about taking long lunch breaks, or the fact that your office is under construction, keep in mind that these factors might not be permanent problems. Maybe you can fix them. Relocate your work area or reschedule your shifts to avoid loathsome coworkers; talk to you boss about rule changes you despise; and by all means wait out the annoying construction.
Is your job bearable? If you're commute is driving you crazy, your work is not satisfying or challenging, or you can't stand a certain aspect of the job (interacting with customers, being on your feet all day, whatever), then you probably should quit—but sticking around for another few weeks while you line up a new job won't kill you. In fact, it might make it easier to know that your days of sulking in stand-still traffic and so on are coming to an end.
Is your job the most important thing right now? Even if it's not the shrewdest career move, sometimes quitting is the best option. Maybe a family member is sick, or you're dealing with another personal or family issue. I once left an internship because I was having trouble with depression. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
As for finding work, that's usually easier when you have a job. Employers like to hear that you're working, and I find that every day I spend unemployed makes me forget a little more about dressing and acting professional, making the interview process and transition back to work more difficult. (Then again, I'm 22—mature people might not have this problem.)
At the same time, it's much easier to schedule interviews and such when you don't have to book them around a 40-hour weekly work schedule.
Have you ever quit your job, with or without something new lined up? How did it go?Image Source
Comments (28)
I just did quit my job. I'm still helping out until she can find a replacement, since it was an informal little assistant job in her home. I'm hoping that either I can find a new job soon or the 250 I get a month until graduation will actually pay all my bills. Lucky for me, I like peanut butter sandwiches...
i like my job. the girls I work with are the best so thats what keeps me around..otherwise. id leave. but then i think abt it and its like I also really need the money. well dont neccesarily NEED it..but I need to support my shopping habits some how. lmao.
and my gym bill and cell phone bill sooo no, I would not quit my current job without another one lined up. that would just be really stupid on my part cause I suck at getting jobs. I apply but I never get anything back. so all my job (( haha only 2 including this one)) have been through friends who are already there.........
thats another big factor that keeps me around...
my last day at work was dec 31 2009. i wasn't sure what 2010 would bring, and my last paycheck will arrive on jan. 15. some things (money) are worth sticking it out for, but what was i supposed to appraise my peace of mind and happiness for? something else will come up. i'm sure. i've been on a few interviews already and my faith is bigger than any recession.
The only job I ever quit I still would have quit if I didn't have another job lined up. I was frantically looking just so I could get out of it. It was a call center with abusive callers; I broke down in tears a few times and was getting panic attacks. Of course, most people don't have jobs that bad, so it's probably smarter to stay in one as long as you can manage and keep looking. It is easier to interview somewhere if you don't have something, though.
It really depends on what the cash outflow is (bills) per month. If you really need to have cash coming in, quitting with nothing lined up can be risky---and the risk goes up with the more money you need to bring in.
@chani@hardestlevel - Any job that breaking you down into tears and panic attacks is definitely one to leave - and props to you for sticking it out while you searched for a replacement job.
noodles
@chani@hardestlevel - That's the exact same job I quit, call center. I seriously couldn't handle the angry customers during the Christmas season. If a toy wasn't in stock (I worked for toysrus.com), people would bitch, and for example, I "personally ruined their child's Christmas". I even got a drunk caller, which baffles me because of the numerous prompts the site has before you speak to a representative. Yeah, it was bad.
It was hard because I am living with my boyfriend and we split rent. He really didn't want me to quit because of the bills but understood after a huge crying session about the job on my part. The job was not worth my stress, simply put.
Yeah, it didn't go well either. Instead of letting me go quietly, the ingrates threatened to sue. I was freelancing by the hour so it was more like a desperation move on their part. I don't know why they sunk that low. They had 3 other designers to finish the projects, which were almost done btw. I had my share of finishing their work in the past too. I wanted to ask HR wtf, but it's awkward when it's your friend that's protecting the interest of the company. I still felt betrayed. A few phone calls later, we cleared it up.
no, i would never quit my current job without another job lined up. are u serious? the market right now is too bad for jobs, especially where i'm currently living. i've thought about it numerous of times but then i realized that as much as i hate my job sometimes, i still have some authority and it pays for my bills for now.
I recently quit. I could deal with the stress, lack of communication, lack of appreciation, and lack of being paid regularly. I didnt have a job lined up, and Ive been unemployed for 3 weeks now. But Im still stand by my decision.
Hell no.
I've been at my job for over a year (checkout chick, hooray) and as boring as it is, it pays the bills.
I would like a new job but I would continue working at my current one until I secure another job.
Because it can be very difficult to find another job. It's hopeless if I've got bills to pay & I've got no job =_=
This past semester I was nearly on academic overload, was playing for the school's water polo team, and had a pretty decent social life. I worked more than half the semester 18 hours a week on top of that, but after an entire week of 6 total hours of sleep (Sunday to Sunday) I had had enough, and I did have a co-op set up for this semester so I felt good with quitting.
But if it was a serious job, I probably wouldn't; it probably doesn't look good on resumes, unless there was a moral dilemma, and I would need to know what I'm going to do for money (I don't live very effluent, I just have a SHIT TON of student loans I will have to pay back lol).
Yes, and it did not go well. :/
Also, I wanted to point out that it might be more prudent to keep working at the job you have, or line up a new one before leaving it, ESPECIALLY if you need to help out a sick family member. While you are working, even though it might only be minimum wage for example, at least it is money coming in each week to use to help in the care of that sick family member. :/ I know it sometimes is a common idea that one can't work and take care of a family member who is sick the way they need to be taken care of, but if you quit and then have trouble finding something more suitable, its going to cause even more problems in the long run most often. o.o;
@tracezilla@lovelyish - that's a good point -- in some cases, quitting your job would only exacerbate a family problem.
i probably wouldn't. depends on the situation.
i probably wouldn't unless working another day there kills me.
@chani@hardestlevel - Same here. Even though many of my customers ended up apologizing to me after a long bitch fest, I decided I couldn't take it anymore after a bad breakdown one night. It didn't help that company policy required the [otherwise very nice] supervisors to breathe down our neck. Don't regret my decision one bit!
I'm only 18 now, but I had my first job at Subway last year. I quit after only 6 months. It was so unbearable, and I did not have any jobs lined up after. I was only unemployed for about a month when I got hired at KMart. Not liking it after 3 days, I quit. The people were creepy & I didn't like the atmosphere. I didn't really try to apply anyplace after that in April. And I spent my whole summer just having a good time, but it wasn't until late Septemeber/Early October that I started looking again. I probably applied to 10 places within a day and only got called back by 2 places, Payless & Applebee's. Applebee's most likely only because my cousin worked there. I had 2 interviews for both jobs & got hired by Payless. Now after working at Payless I don't regret quitting the other jobs at all. I love it there and don't plan on quitting anytime soon :)
I usually don't, but a few times, I didn't have a choice. Under the circumstances, I had to leave.
I have quit a job without having anything lined up, but it wasn't a big deal. My husband was making enough money to support us and the only reason I had a job was so we could go out and do things instead of staying home. The reason I quit, is because my place of employment tried to keep me from going on vacation. I told them about the vacation before they hired me.
Both of my brother-in-laws will quit a job if they don't like it without having another one lined up for them. While they put in applications, wait for interviews and to be hired in somewhere, they tend to ask my husband for money.
I quit the first job I had after I graduated with my B.A.
I was working at a residential facility for juvenile delinquents. They were high level offenders with one foot in juvey. Shifts lasted for 3.5 days and then I was off the rest of the week. Sounds good--when you have an adequate staff to pull it off. My FIRST week I worked over 60 hours and I was salary, so I didn't get paid any overtime. As time progressed, I started staying 4 and 5 days at a time. Mind, you, I didn't get to leave the house. I had to sleep over for the duration of my shift.
A daily shift was 15 hours. 7 in the morning till 10 @ night....if the kids went to bed on time.
Then, there are the kids. I was punched, had my hair pulled, and even ended up having to put a 9 year old after he jumped on another staff member [we were licensed to use handcuffs]. The thing that did it for me, was when I walked in on a kid after he had hung himself. I found him just in time, but I thought "You know what, I don't want to have to answer someone as to why a kid died or got seriously injured on one of my shifts."
So yeah. The very day I put in my two weeks, my boss gave me my schedule and he had me working 105 hours in 9 days with half a days break. His reason? Staff shortages. We had walk-offs like twice a week. So, I did what everyone else had done. I didn't want to walk, but there was NO way I could do that.
It took me over a year to find the job that I have now. During that time I worked in retail...
So yeah. I would not leave my job now. For the most part, I like it--especially the hours and the people I work with. But looking back on my experiences, there, I learned how to say no...so walking off really wasn't a bad thing for my mental health, but it sure as hell hit my pocket book hard...for over a year. LOL
I've considered it, but due to other family and bill paying obligations, it's not the wisest thing to do in my situation. It would take a serious step of faith to leave one job, without having another form of income to take it's place.
I can only speak for my mom, who quit her full-time, had-it-for 20+ years head accounting job at a hospital. New management moved in and wanted to replace everyone with their own people. But because they couldn't fire everyone already there for no reason, they just acted really mean and domineering to all the employees, including my mom. There wasn't much of an option. Almost everyone in her department had already been chased away. My mom was making upwards of 45k at this job, selling Avon to co-workers, and getting my brother and I through high school. She decided her savings was enough to last until she found something else, and quit.
There were several months of nothing, then her next job was a seasonal bit at a Fannie Mae kiosk in the mall. Not too long after, she eventually went on to become the treasurer at my high school. Which was awesome, but (is) the work of 3 people dumped on one, and only paying about 19k. My own mother worked at the high school and I qualified for textbook assistance my senior year.
The catch is my mom is thankful either way. This job keeps us all hanging in there, even with me away at college. The only reason I'm able to be here getting a degree is because my mom makes so little for one person, for one job, that my FAFSA allows me enough grants and loans from the government to pay my college expenses.
You gotta do what you gotta do, and keep your faith.
If the job became too much for me to bear mentally, I would quit it without having another lined up. I have to think of my wellbeing and if my job is causing me nervous breakdowns and paranoia, then I'd be smart to get out of there asap.