Should you stay or should you go? 5 reasons to look for a new job

How do you feel when Monday morning rolls around and another working week begins? Enthusiastic to get started? Prepared for the week’s challenges? Energised by what lays ahead?

Or do you feel miserable and dread what your employer has lined up for you?

You might just be having a bad day or week – we all experience those – or it could be that it’s time to look for a new job. Here are five reasons why it might be a good idea to go on a job hunt.

Your job bores you

Does your job no longer challenge you? Perhaps you feel that you’ve learnt all you can learn in your current role. Alternatively, is the job just a bad fit for your skillset and doesn’t allow you to fully utilise your talents and experience?

The key to whether to stay or go is in discovering why you are bored and whether you can change that factor within your current role. For instance, can you take part in cross-department projects, or can your manager delegate more tasks to you?

Company culture clash

Does the company culture stand in opposition to your values, lifestyle, or personality? For example,

• Are you expected to take part in company social events or socialise with clients outside work hours when your family responsibilities make that difficult?
• Does the industry your employer is part of contradict your personal values, for instance, you support clean/green energy, but you work for a fuel company who is actively investing in fossil fuels.
• The company culture promotes competitiveness, working long hours, and cut-throat behaviour in return for commission-based pay. You want to do the job well but teamwork, consideration, and security matter to you.

No career advancement

There are various reasons why you may have reached the end of your career path with an employer:

• There are no vacancies for you to progress to in the foreseeable future.
• Your employer values you in your current role and wants to keep you there.
• You aren’t seen as the right fit for more senior roles.

If you want to take a step up your career ladder and that isn’t possible with your current employer, your only alternative may to be find a company that offers you the career progression you desire.

Your priorities and/or lifestyle have changed

When you first began with your current employer, both the job and company were probably a good fit for you. Should your lifestyle or priorities change, however, your current job may not look as attractive as it initially did.

The most obvious lifestyle change is becoming a parent. You now have childcare to factor in, collecting and dropping off your child to nursery or school, appointments, and your child’s social life.

Alternatively, perhaps a health-scare has brought you to the realisation that you want to tick off that bucket-list while you can, spend more time with loved ones, or move to a less stressful job.

If your current employment doesn’t fit with your new outlook on life, it may well be time to move on.

Worried that you might have too much experience to move to a less stressful position? Read Overqualified for the job? 5 ways to make it work.

You want a better salary package

If your main reason for considering a job change is that you want an improved salary and/or range of employee benefits, then your first action should be to find out whether this is possible in your current position by approaching your line manager. Alternatively, could you achieve that improvement by progressing to another job with your employer?

Alongside your salary, you might also like to consider what type of benefits package you would like to have, for instance:

• pension
• health care/insurance
• share options
• company car/travel season ticket loan
• childcare vouchers

Questions to ask before you decide

If looking for a new job is a consideration, and especially if any of the five above reasons apply, the best place to start is with the following questions:

 
If the answer is a new job, our Ultimate Jobseeker Guide can take you through the process step by step.