So where are you on the scale of ‘should I stay or should I go in your current job?’  It’s good to check in periodically to measure the health of your career.  Your level of satisfaction and fulfillment in the work you do are also key indicators in your quality of life.  While short term compromise is possible and even preferable for the right reasons, long term delays in finding the right fit can do you and your talent a disservice.

Why It Might Be Time to For You to Move On

• You’ve had a ‘critical incident’ at work.  Perhaps you got passed over for promotion again.  You are not on that key account.  The work you’ve always done is getting passed over to the new hire.  You’re not in the loop on the big project.  There’s a growing sense that enough is enough. It’s time to go.
• You finally realize that your company is not a top compensator and your salary is stuck where it is as long as you stay.  You might have a sense that performance reviews are kept low as a salary cap measure.  Perhaps your bonus was disappointing again.  If there is no salary acknowledgment of advanced skills and or a new designation you might move ahead somewhere else.
• You’ve been offered the option of a severance package with a stay or go scenario.  If so, check out your options carefully, they vary from company to company.  You could looking at anything from an extended working notice period, a lateral or lesser position, a salary continuance or lump sum payment.
• You’ve been ‘dehired’.  The severance package arrives in a meeting with HR and your boss.  Sometimes it’s a complete surprise or perhaps you had a hunch, either way you are in job search mode now.
• You’ve received a call from a recruiter asking if you know of anyone interested in a job posting they’ve sent you.  You realize that it’s a great opportunity, so you start interviewing to see if there’s a fit.  It’s not so much that you initiate a search, but that a search is initiated for you.
• You surf Linked In, keep an eye on indeed.ca and one week, there are a few job postings that combine to say “the time is right” – let’s get started and get serious about this.  Works even better if you hear from an old colleague there’s a great job open at their firm.
• Your spouse or partner, your friends or family – their careers are moving on, there’s some subtle peer pressure to keep up and lots of ready advice on how to work the job search.  Best if combined you’re your own motivation.

If you come to the ultimate realization that no matter how much you’d like things to be different at work, it’s likely to be more of the same it may be time to face reality.  Then, If you do want to make change happen in your career, it’s up to you to take control of your future.

What would it take to increase your career health in 2013?

There are lots of reasons people stay in the jobs they have – even if the work is more mundane than they might like.  At times these career sticking points can be a good thing.  They promote stability, prevent job-hopping and directionless resumes.  On the other hand, a heads-down approach in the workplace can prevent you from seeing things as they really are or considering the kind of bold moves that can add depth and flexibility to your career path.

What People Say About Why They Stay

• It’s my comfort zone!  I know the people, my routine, and what’s expected of me. I can walk through the day fairly certain I can handle what comes up. It’s easier to stay.
• I’ve been here so long I don’t know what else I could possibly do. I’m such a specialist I’m not even sure how I’d fit in a new organization.
• I have no idea how to look for a new job. Where would I start? I certainly can’t take a chance that my current employer would find out.  It could hurt my chances of staying here.
• As much as I might want to go, I’m handling overtime, family, parents, outside commitments and when I do get home, I’m exhausted.  I have no energy to organize a search and getting off work for an interview, really!!
• I’m not sure the grass is really is greener somewhere else. I’d need to make it worthwhile – a better commute, a salary increase, and a new title would be great. I’d like more customer contact and a new industry too would really be invigorating.  How would I find all that?

And the number one reason people stay in their current job is ….loyalty to the people they work with – that’s it – their sense of personal and professional connection to their co-workers, and even their boss.  If they feel they are an appreciated, valued and respected member of their ‘work family’ they will weather some storms to stay.

More on why people finally decide to move on….in the next blog posting!