How to know when to go. Not all employers are adept at letting people go. For the most part, firing someone is an employer’s least favorite thing to do. Plus, there is the aspect quiting vs. firing and Unemployment Benefits, but that’s a whole other blog. However, sometimes when an employer is getting ready to make a change, he or she will give “hints” that you should think about moving on. I’ll share seven signs with you that it may be time to start hunting for a new job.
1) Promotions from under or from outside. The position above you becomes open and you are not even considered as a candidate. They hire someone underneath you or outside the company. They may say something like they are looking for a different skill set. Take the hint.
2) Change in responsibilities. Tasks you have been doing are reassigned or shared. A common cover is to say they are cross-training. Take the hint.
3) Lost emails. Information/emails that you were usually copied on are drying up. You are becoming the last to know, if at all. Take the hint.
4) Changes in temperature. The office’s emotional environment has changed around you. Co-workers begin acting as though you have a contagious disease and avoid you, or they are cool towards you. Take the hint.
5) Electronic microscope is focused on you. Lately nothing you do is good enough, where previously everything was fine. You feel nit-picked…under the microscope. Take the hint.
6) Chain of command is relinked. You may find yourself reporting to someone new, or a new layer of supervision has been added between you and your present boss. Take the hint.
7) Location, location, location. If you have been down-sized from an office to a cubicle to a shared space, or you keep getting relocated… it may be a hint.
These are but a few of the signs that an exit strategy could be needed. You may think of others. I usually need a 2 by 4 to hit me before I take a hint, but hopefully by sharing these seven signs, I have saved you a few splinters. In my next blog we’ll talk about making an exit plan.
Cheryl Sandifer is a Regional Facilitator with Workforce Solutions. In that role she has been able to apply her knowledge and experience as both an educator and social worker to conduct job search skills seminars throughout the Houston-Galveston area. She has had opportunity to work with those ranging from entry-level to C-level to help them find a job, keep a job, or get a better job.
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