Should I Quit My Job? 6 Questions to Ask First
Everybody fantasises about quitting at some point. Usually it follows a bad meeting, a missed holiday request or one email too many. The hard part is telling the difference between a rough patch and a real signal that it’s time to go.
Here are six questions that help.
1. Is it the job, or is it this month?
Think about the last three months. If the stress comes from one project, one deadline or one difficult person who is about to move on, waiting may fix it. If you’ve dreaded Mondays for half a year, it’s probably the job.
2. What exactly is wrong?
Write it down. Pay, workload, boss, culture, boredom, no progression, commute? Each has a different fix. Pay and progression can sometimes be negotiated. Boredom can sometimes be solved with a new project. A toxic culture usually can’t be fixed by you.
3. Have you tried to change it?
Have you asked for a raise, a different role, flexible hours or a lighter load? Employers often can’t help with something they don’t know about. If you’ve asked clearly and got nowhere, that’s useful information.
4. Could you afford to leave?
This is the practical one. How many months of expenses do you have saved? Many people aim for three to six. If you’re short, “plan the exit” is a better move than “quit tomorrow.” Start applying, build the buffer, and leave from a position of strength.
5. What are you running toward?
Quitting to get away from something is understandable. Quitting for something, a better role, a course, a business, a move, is easier to defend and easier to explain in interviews. If you don’t have a “toward” yet, start looking before you leave.
6. How is it affecting the rest of your life?
Sleep, health, relationships and mood all count. If work is leaking into everything else, the cost of staying is higher than it looks on a payslip. If you’re struggling with your mental health, talk to a doctor or a counsellor as well as thinking about your career.
Three honest outcomes
Most people end up in one of three places: stay (the problem is temporary or fixable), plan your exit (the job isn’t right but you need time and money first), or go (the cost of staying is clearly higher than the risk of leaving).
Our Should I Quit My Job? quiz walks through these factors and gives you one of those three verdicts. It’s a quick way to see which way your own answers lean. It isn’t career or financial advice, so check big decisions against your own numbers.
Whatever you decide, decide on purpose. Staying because you chose to feels very different from staying because you never decided.