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

[mangoandraspberries3]

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?

The morning I arrived in the car park and drove right back out knowing I’d never set foot in the place again after summer break.

Leading up to this here’ s some of the other reasons -

When a HT told everyone that they weren’t allowed to use or look at their phones all day even at lunchtime.

When a HT had eaten meals from the kitchen for 3 years free of charge then told everyone they weren’t allowed to eat meals with the children even although they were allowed to do this.

When a HT insisted they were copied in every email sent from any member of school staff.

I should have realised that 3 years earlier she stood at her welcome meeting and said “I have claws” and made her hands into a claw shape. We thought she was joking…

Managing a difficult department and difficult staff, the never ending "firefighting" and endless workload. I was getting home when the children were already in bed and it was making me miserable.

Having held the same job title for about 10 years and seen several people recruited above me, it was when they started getting promoted from below me that I finally took the hint realised I was being taken for granted.

I left because of the management, I thought I'd either stay and try to change things from within the organisation or stay and hope things will eventually maybe change or leave. The first two options had uncertain outcomes and would have taken years as I was at the lowest level of hierarchy. So I left. Very happy with my decision.

This is such a sad thread. I recognise all these decision points, they're awful. It's so sad employee's are treated so badly.

I have never been in a job for more than 2 years, so probs not the best to answer.
I usually leave when either of 2 things happen:

• I get bored with what I do. It becomes routine and I can do it with my eyes closed. This usually comes at about the 6 month mark. It's really annoying from then on
• i get caught up in office politics. I will not engage. Rather leave, then get sucked in. I am terrible at it, get burnt at the end, so no point. Others are masters of it it seems.....

My usual stint is about 1-1,5 years.

I had moved to a different part of the very large organisation I worked for after my marriage ended, not because I didn't like where I was but mainly for practical reasons, shorter commute, fitted better round childcare etc. I quite liked the new job and had a good team, but my manager's manager was a bit of a tool and didn't seem to understand how to manage people effectively. As team leaders we were constantly criticised and talked at & everything we suggested in relation to improving performance was dismissed. We favoured the carrot approach while his approach was the stick. I was criticised for allowing one of my team who was upset due to personal issues, to take an hour out, go for a walk and a coffee and who then came back feeling much better and put in an effective rest of shift, feeling valued and cared for. He thought I should have either forced her to continue nevertheless or make her go off sick. But he didn't tell me this directly- no, he got my line manager to tell me. He wanted to start timing how long people took at the toilet. These were just a few things that made me lack confidence in him.

So I was mulling over whether I wanted to stay. One day I and a colleague dealt with a very upset woman over the phone, spending quite a bit of time talking to her and going a bit above and beyond. About a week later she sent in a long glowing letter praising us both and saying how much she appreciated our help & how our boss should be proud of of us. Now there was a policy of sharing stuff like this as a kind of 'well done boost' so I took the letter and left it on the boss's desk as I particularly wanted my colleague to have some recognition as she wasn't always very confident. Bumped into boss as I was leaving his office and told him what I had left for him to see. He picked it up, started to read it then threw it back at me dismissively and said oh yeah I saw that 2 days ago. Not a word, no well done or good job, nothing. That was the moment I knew beyond any doubt this was not going to work out.

That day i phoned my old manager to see if there was a possibility of a transfer back to the old job. The next day HR was on the phone sorting out the details, and 4 weeks later I moved back after doing a handover with my replacement. That guy never exchanged another word with me after HR told him I was going.

About 2 years later I heard he had been dismissed for incompetence - only surprise was it had taken that long

Worked for the same employer for 26 years but fortunate enough to be able to change jobs and/or location about 10 times, getting promoted a number of times along the way. When I left it was to live abroad and give up working.

Oh god I wish I hadn't seen this thread!! Am in the absolute dream job in every way, except life outside of work has become a hundred times tougher as dh is absolutely broken juggling work and kids and the kids are missing me and physically I'm also finding it demanding. A lot of these answers are pointing to me having to leave1!! Best of luck OP, it's a tough one

@Xmassprout

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

This. Or if I get particularly bored / I've learnt everything and want a new challenge...I have had 11 jobs in 18yrs (3 different companies) and try to time leaving each one before it gets to the point where I really have to psyche myself up to go in every morning.

When I became completely and utterly bored. No challenge anymore.