What does it feel like to quit a job?
Questions asked and answered for my daughters
There are many great reasons to stay in a job, but there are many reasons to leave a job for your next adventure. I wrote about them in my Lesson from a Step Ladder story, where I use the analogy of trading a current ladder for a bigger one, when you reach the top of the one you’re on.
HOWEVER, there is an angle I didn’t touch on in that story though…
what does it FEEL like to quit or voluntarily leave a job.
Honestly, it usually goes one of two ways:
1) It’s bittersweet
You feel a bit of happy with a bit of sad. This usually happens when you don’t want to leave, but you can’t pass up an opportunity to challenge yourself at a new level, or you feel like you’ve done all you can for the organization.
Fortunately, most of my experience of leaving a job falls in this category, and I still maintain great relationships with my former colleagues.
2) It’s refreshing
You feel a great sense of release, freedom, and loads lifted off your back… kind of like “good riddance!” This usually happens when the job you’re in isn’t fun anymore (because let’s be honest, work should be fun), or the people you work for aren’t doing what you think is right.
Story of How I Felt Leaving a Seasonal Job
During my undergraduate years, I worked in a call center between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, which was winter break. I made about $1,200 for the season, and I worked there for 4 years, so it was good money and experience.
But, it was mind-numbingly boring, brutal work… sitting in a little booth, computer in front of me, phone headset on, and a massive paper catalog next to me. I took orders from people calling in and helping them resolve issues for shipments that didn’t arrive or arrived broken.
Call after call for 8–10 hours straight… when one ends, the next one beeps in immediately. Saying the same script over and over again. I stared up at the call queue numbers on the wall, along with the other approximately 200 people crammed in the giant cubicle farm room, literally.
While I learned a lot about customer service, gained speed in listening and working software simultaneously, and understood why I was doing what I was doing, I also realized what I DID NOT want to do for a full-time job or career (which is an AMAZING outcome by the way).
I still use the customer service skills I learned during the time, and I have respect for the people serving others through the phone, but I do not regret leaving the company. I felt relieved, happy, and fulfilled.
I had the opportunity to meet the leaders of the call center, and I also learned what type of leader I DID NOT want to be… treating people like cattle or numbers whether employees or customers is not for me.
I was instructed to hold customers out for more sales and get money out of people, after I calmed them down after a bad product was received. The leaders’ methods were transactional, and while I understood it, I didn’t prefer that way of doing business.
So, I left.
It was my last day as planned. I was going to graduate in a few months, and I was never going to work there again. I was sitting in the chair hunched over with my forehead laying on my desk… banging my head in boredom waiting for a call to beep into my headset.
I looked up, looked around, looked at the clock — 4 hours to go. Ugh. I took my headset off, logged off, and clocked out.
I saved the company a few hours of my hourly rate, and I saved my time. As I walked out, I felt like I left a chapter behind… a huge sigh of relief and “graduation” from a place I spent time in. I never looked back.
You will have jobs like that where you feel like you’ve reached your potential and need to graduate from the position.
I hope that you choose to work for good people who have your personal and professional best interest at heart, and you feel more bittersweet feelings as you move through your career jobs, as opposed to the good riddance feelings.
