Am I stupid quitting my “corporate career” with no back up?

[Superdupertired]

Planning on handing my notice in tomorrow as I’m generally just fed up of my role and I think people are starting to notice. I’m doing the same thing day in and day out it’s exhausting and boring and high caseload.I am NHS so my notice period is 3 months but I don’t think I can last that long.

I have about 4 months of savings so I will be ok for a little while. I’m happy to get a little part time job to keep us ticking over.

am I being silly? I have 3 kids mortgage bills to pay for. We will be really tight on our finances but at least I will be happy again.

Going off sick in your first year is nowhere near as embarrassing as being out of work, letting down your children and not being entitled to any support because you quit.

I know I sound harsh. I'm sorry. I completely understand the position you are in. But don't swop it for a worse position without a game plan. If you can survive on one salary, that is different. Otherwise, you need to consider all the options. Reduced hours, sickness, sabbatical, learning not to give a fuck, anything except putting yourself in a terrible position.

Apart from everything else, you have no guarantees you'll find something better within a reasonable period. Chances are it will be even worse, especially if you are looking to move to private. I know many people who moved to private from public/NHS and now miss it. You need a plan of where you want to be and how to get there and you can't really have one if you don't have a source of income.

The HR Job market really isn't great at the moment. I also work in HR and left a permanent job 4 years ago (after nearly 8 years) because I was getting fed up and stressed and was frankly too lazy to job hunt before leaving, so I do know what that is like. I'm very experienced and thought I'd walk into another role easily but in fact had nearly 5 months out of work which was quite worrying by the end.

Since then I've been doing temp, mainly longer fixed term jobs (maternity & vacancy cover) and currently in a day rate contract. But it's been hard and I had a few other gaps between roles that got a bit squeaky bum in terms of using my savings up. I'm single but no kids and simply wouldn't take that risk if I had dependents.

2 months is not long and leading up to Xmas is not a good time for job hunting as you must know. I would strongly encourage you to stick it out until you have a job offer. Being broke ad no job will not help your mental or physical health either. Get get some help via EAP or your GP if you need.

However another piece of advice is 'let go' and step back a bit. In my experience a lot of the stress in HR comes from trying to do too much, be all things to all people and sort of caring too much about stuff that frankly lots of other people just don't. Being a temp I've learnt that nothing matters THAT much and I've developed a thicker skin so people don't get me worked up or upset anywhere near as much as they used to.

If you are new to HR and already feeling like this, if you don't have a mentor it sounds like you need one. Someone experienced and calm who can give you some guidance. Or maybe it's the wrong career path for you and you need to move into a different role. Lots of people can't hack the frontline stuff like advising on disciplinaries and grievances but do well in recruitment, policy or L&D roles for example.

What do you meant by 'first year of career'? Unless you had triplets at 16 , that implies that you haven't had a 'career' as an adult. Quitting after a year doesn't bode well.

@LemonGelato Is right, the market is bad. Not just for HR, hiring across the board even in popular industries like finance and technology. The latter has always been boom bust but steady jobs have existed for those who knew where to look. Not this time. I've never seen it this bad.

At least try looking for a new job (or even an evening part-time thing) before you hand in your notice.

Sorry OP but your decision to resign sounds extremely irresponsible. What happens in a few months if you can’t find another job? Who is going to pay the mortgage etc? Always get another job lined up before you quit.

Im in my 50's and have walked out of 3 jobs without one to go to. And don't regret any of it.

My most recent was last year when I started a new job and for the first time ever in my working career was bullied. It was the CEO so I had no one to complain to.

Emptied my desk on the Friday and sent a curt email on the Monday telling them I wasn't coming back EVER.

Single parent of 2 kids, no savings. Got a job as a Care Assistant within the week (luckily already had an enhanced DBS with the update service).

I had 4 care assistant interviews lined up too. They are desperate for staff.

Didn't pay my mortgage that month, but the relief was tremendous, nothing is worth being that unhappy for.

I had to work about 50 hours a week just to survive but my god I loved it! I absolutely love being a care assistant, the difference you can make to people's lives is out this world.

Anyway did it for about 4 or 5 months and now have a new job as a very senior manager in the Civil Service. Which I love too.

Each time I've walked out of a job, I think how stupid and reckless I am, but it's all worked out.

If your husband is supportive, do it! Just do it!

Don't do it is all I can say.

Honestly I would find another job first.

Interested in this. Would you mind saying why? Maybe they don't need to work and have other income. Don't we all want the luxury of being able to take some time off to do other things or just simply be with our family for a bit rather than the dreaded juggle.

All work is boring and most jobs don't have holidays as good as the NHS

I’d go on the sick and start applying . NHS will take months to performance manage you out.

I quit my job because it was making me ill. I could do this though as we can do without me earning for a while. Got a job as a gardener within 3 months so no regrets. It really depends on your individual circumstances.

I was going to say yes absolutely, but I hesitate on the first year of career comment.

I wouldn't say a newly qualified quitting without a plan was a good idea.

Though I agree to speak to your doctor if you are feeling unwell re options.

Obviously because they have options and so are less likely to put up with BS.

Having said that, some situations are genuinely unbearable. Bullying, backstabbing, genuine malice are all soul destroying.
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What the OP describes, sadly is normal in many workplaces. It might be better to just quiet quit... What are they going to do if she slows down? Fire her? When they've already got so many staff off with stress?

It's not clear from your posts whether you are overworked or stressed or just fed up. You have only been in this job for a year, is that right? If you are having physical symptoms you should get them checked out.

Generally I would strongly recommend having a new job to go to before quitting.

You would be mad, I'm NHS HR too so I get it. But you know they'll dock your pay for that final month. You need to take some leave, go to OH and maybe get yourself signed off while you take stock and form a plan/apply for other roles.

Could you do a step down to a lower banded job? Cut your hours or do a job share? Then there would be no need for a gap?

This going to sound terrible but how can HR be that stressful? All the clients are internal and surely you can make them wait a bit.

do you best within 9-5 and fuck the rest, really what is the worst that can happen?

am front office in Finance so not known for empathy

I’m sorry OP, I can tell you are totally fed up!

can you make a short term plan to change jobs rather than leaving imminently ? Is there something you can do within your current job to make it more bearable?

The nhs jobs market is really really tough at the moment, most systems are in triple lock. Don't assume it will be easy to get another job.

There is a budget next week so many places will be holding off on recruitment in case the budget next week affects them. Then with Christmas it’ll be slow. It should pick up in the new year due to people wanting a change with the new year and also departments getting their budget for next year and starting the recruitment process for new hires so they are ready for the start of the financial year.

You only want to work 2/3 months notice, so unless you have four weeks of annual leave accrued you’ll need to pay that back. So you actually only have 3 months of savings to live off. I just don’t think that’s enough at the moment. Not with a budget next week which you have no idea how it is going to play out.

Surely not if a candidate has been in a previous role for years and years. Some nuance is required.

It's going to be a red flag to prospective employers if you quit your job now. And when you find another, it can take months before you actually start working for them.

Is it the actual job, or is it trying to balance working with 3 DC's?

It has the potential to go quite wrong quite quickly. Could you tell your manager you cannot currently manage the workload / drop your hours/ both? / Take some annual leave ASAP ..? Surely they’d prefer to know and be given the opportunity to mitigate the risk of you going off sick if you burn out. Some annual leave in every quarter is worth doing.

YABU

I took redundancy, after everyone telling me I was amazing, I was worth more, I'd walk into another job.

14 months later I landed a role. Fair enough at first I wasn't looking, but even when I was; I didn't walk into a role. I must have applied for 300 jobs, half of them didn't even acknowledge my application.

Look to what your issues are, look to see if they can be resolved. Don't just throw the hat in.