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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask - when did you know it was time to leave your job?

36 replies

mangoandraspberries3 · 19/02/2022 20:27

I am about to resign from a job I enjoy, but I just can't continue due to management politics. It's also a dead end job and offers nothing in the way of career progression. I still have another 35+ years to work so this is the time I need to progress.

I have been offered a new job which is a great step professionally and will open lots more doors. Plus it's a bit more money.

But I am still sad about leaving. I don't think I will enjoy the job content so much in my new job, and of course I do have some friends I will miss.

How did you know it was time to leave a job and move on?

OP posts:

Xmassprout · 19/02/2022 20:28

I knew when I was having to mentally prepare myself for work

Smileyaxolotl1 · 19/02/2022 20:31

When a job that I was pretty much already doing but which was officially a promotion and attracted a larger salary was advertised outside the company without anyone even mentioning it to me.

LBB2020 · 19/02/2022 20:33

Agree with @Xmassprout!

MrsDoraDumble · 19/02/2022 20:34

When I kept waking up at night and worrying/remembering things I still had to do! Work load was unmanageable even with going in early and staying late. Family life suffered massively and so did my mental health! It seemed to consume my thoughts, even at night and weekends.. I knew then it was unsustainable and had to go.

DramaAlpaca · 19/02/2022 20:34

I agree with Xmassprout too.

Knittingnanny2 · 19/02/2022 20:36

When my lesson observation was deemed unsatisfactory- I didn’t ask the children ( reception, “ playing” treasure hunt for coins, maths, in the sandpit) what they could have done to get better. Also, having to attend a maths training day entitled “ innovative ways with a number line” I’d been an infant teacher for 39 years at the time.
Early retirement swiftly beckoned at 60!

Sofiegiraffe · 19/02/2022 20:39

The day my boss shouted at me in the corridor in front of colleagues and shoved the office chair aggressively across the room.

Totalwasteofpaper · 19/02/2022 20:42

God you sound way better adjusted than me.

My time to leave realisation is generally either:

when I get Sunday night dread
find myself going to the disabled toilets for a lunchtime cry
I am doing both of the above 😂

Knittingnanny2 · 19/02/2022 20:45

Yes I also had the Sunday afternoon dread

sunshineandshowers40 · 19/02/2022 20:58

Sunday evening dread. When I started leaving the house as late as possible to get to work on time and when I was moaning about absolutely everything.

Darbs76 · 19/02/2022 21:01

Yeah I think you tend to know when it’s time to move on. I work for a large organisation with many different departments so completely different type of work I could do. I’ve been thinking of leaving my current team for a while. I’ve applied for a couple of jobs next step up the ladder. There’s a chance of staying but doing my bosses job as she’s due to leave soon. But I’m not sure as I do need a new challenge now. Will see what happens with the interview I have

gettingolderandgrumpy · 19/02/2022 21:02

The thought of going to work makes you want to cry .
You dream of walking out.
Don’t ever think oh well everyone hates their job no they don’t .

autumnboys · 19/02/2022 21:06

I changed jobs last year. I came across the ad for my current job while helping a friend look for a new job and it really grabbed me, gave me a sleepless night thinking about it. It was a leap into the unknown (from religious/charity sector to education). I loved my old job but now I’m not doing it anymore, I can acknowledge the elements of it that I found hard. The continual recruiting and training of volunteers was not easy for me at all and I don’t miss it.

Coffeencrochet · 19/02/2022 21:08

Definitely when you begin to get that feeling of dread the night before/keep pressing snooze on the alarm because it's a few more minutes not in the workplace. I loved my old workplace and would wake up ridiculously early despite it being a 10 minute walk. I can't stand my current job and dream about the end of the day before I've even started my day.

PumpkinPie2016 · 19/02/2022 21:17

Last job- when I started to dread going to work and realised that, no matter how hard I worked, I would never be valued by management.

Current job - haven't got to 'needing' to leave but I am leaving at the end of the academic year as I have recently been offered a promotion in another school. Excited for the challenge but I will be sad to say goodbye.

Technosaurus · 19/02/2022 21:23

In a meeting of about 20 people, two of them started arguing about how best to use Salesforce.

I zoned out and daydreamed for a bit, probably about 20 mins, "came round" and they were STILL arguing about the exact same point. Nobody else had said a word, everyone's eyes were glazed over.

Wrote my notice letter when the meeting finished. Couldn't waste my life like that any more.

LonelyInAutumn · 19/02/2022 21:27

When I woke up and couldn't wait to come home already

CaptainMal · 19/02/2022 21:32

When I woke up one morning and realised I didn't care whether I was doing a good job, which is so, so unlike me. It really was a light bulb moment - I started looking for jobs the same day.

pastabest · 19/02/2022 21:32

when I couldn't open my work laptop lid without bursting into tears.

Alarae · 19/02/2022 21:37

When I realised I wasn't learning anything new and had no challenge.

I couldn't face doing the same thing day in day out anymore.

Catwoman1985 · 19/02/2022 21:40

Like others have said, when the Sunday night dread becomes regular. When I feel my energy and passion for the job has fizzled out and died or is on the way out. When I feel I can't undertake my role with a clear conscience because of the ethics of the management/ leaders.

phoenixrosehere · 19/02/2022 21:51

When I noticed the manager was wishy-washy with me to the point I had to say an affirmation every time I saw we were working the same day. She would be nice to me one shift and rude the next. She gave me the worse tasks, almost gave me a red for communication on my appraisal due to the one time my bus was taking longer than usual and I didn’t call and say I was going to be late. I hadn’t called because I knew I would make it and I was late by a minute because she stopped me to question me making me late when she saw me come in. Yet, the next week, she was running late, she called one minute before she was scheduled and didn’t arrive til 15 minutes later. I had been there for over a year, was rarely late and usually came early and on top of that she said some pretty xenophobic things that I let slide because I loved where I worked. She would even be rude to me in front of customers while I was helping them asking me what I was doing when it was obvious.

I did second guess myself for a moment on the last day until I answered a phone and said she wasn’t there only to be told by my colleague that I shouldn’t have said that because it was likely the area manager and she wasn’t supposed to leave early. I wasn’t told this and everyone knew that you weren’t allowed to leave early during the Christmas season and this was the day before Christmas Eve.

There’s only so much I will tolerate and I won’t hang around to be treated unfairly.

GingerGloucester · 19/02/2022 21:53

I felt a bit like this leaving my last job, mostly sad because of not working with people anymore and I was worried my colleagues in my new job wouldn’t be as nice / friendly.

Four months in and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made, absolutely love it and the people are great too.

Limmers14 · 19/02/2022 22:00

I felt like you OP in my last job. Really enjoyed the work and the people. I’d been there 2 years so I was the subject matter expert but the turnover was high and they couldn’t increase salaries. I realised that I’d jump through hoops to be promoted and only get a 3/4k pay rise that didn’t match the high level of extra responsibility so I turned on “open to work” and paid for Linked In premium and got head hunted into a new role with a 22k pay rise.

My new job is challenging in a different way and a lot drier but to be honest, especially right now, money means a lot and my old organisation, no matter how much I enjoyed it, just wasn’t keeping pace.

Limmers14 · 19/02/2022 22:01

Also forgot to say I’m 31 with no kids yet and also felt making the move now for salary and career progression was the right thing to do

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