It’s happened to many of us. You work a job for months or years possibly browsing other options here and there for one reason or another, and then seemingly out of nowhere a real opportunity arises for a change and you now have a life-altering decision to make.
What do you do?
That’s what many of us have asked ourselves. It can be scary, especially if you’ve been in a position for a long time, perfected your craft and made tons of work-friends. In many cases, the answer is clear, but sometimes we are left paralyzed and unsure of what to do which doesn’t mesh well with the sometimes short timeframe we are given to make decisions with such a lasting impact.
If you’re feeling like a professional ice cube at the moment frozen with uncertainty, here are a few questions to ask yourself.
Why am I doing this?
Sitting back for a moment and simply asking yourself “why” can surprisingly clear up a lot of confusion. Sometimes we’re in such a hurry to get to the finish line we forget why we started running in the first place. After you jot down what’s really going on in your head, you may have more clarity about what you really want and why.
Is this an emotional decision?
Let’s be honest, we all have bad days. Your supervisor may have made you stay late for the third Friday in a row, a challenging colleague may have sent your task back with yet another round of heavy revisions or you may have gotten into yet another respectful, but uncomfortable disagreement. All of these scenarios happen all the time, but are they significant enough to turn in resignation papers? Learn to distinguish a bad day from a bad work situation.
How will this impact my career in the long run?
If you have longterm career goals, such as becoming an executive or occupying a hard-to-get position within your industry, you may want to think ahead and try to guesstimate how this change will impact that. Sometimes changing organizations means rebuilding trust and loosing a bit of authority, even if the new position is higher up the organizational ladder. Your previous employer has seen your skills and deemed you worthy of great responsibility. If you transition, you may have to demonstrate who you really are for a while before you regain this type of power and flexibility.
Is money the motive?
Sometimes life circumstances will demand the need for more money, and that’s okay. But other times a bigger paycheck is just a glittery obstruction. We see those around us who we have about the same amount of experience or even less with bigger paychecks and automatically feel we deserve the same. While that may be true, we can’t always afford to have money be the driving factor. We must also take into consideration what the organization actually stands for, its core values, how it treats its employees, work culture and other important factors. A big salary shouldn’t blind us from seeing the big picture.
Am I afraid to admit the obvious?
Sometimes we know right away what we should do, but we’re just afraid. We’re afraid to turn down what seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity, even if it’s not right for us, or we’re afraid to leave a place where we’re now not only professionally invested, but also emotionally invested. Use the courage you do have to make what may be one of the hardest decisions and remember it can also be one of the best decisions.
We believe in you and we’re excited for your future. Share this with anyone who is in the process of making a tough professional decision.
Wishing You All The Best In Your Career!
Post Graduate
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