Disclaimer, if you’re in a toxic working culture or workplace, leave when the opportunities arise !!!!!!!! This article won’t be suitable for you
This is more suitable if you’re unsure of your career path and considering if quitting is the right approach. Pause and spend 5 minutes reading this article, [are you experiencing push or pull factors? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/considering-job-move-have-you-worked-out-your-push-pull-steve-barnes/]
2020 was the year I find myself in this situation. I noticed my career path is off tangent and that make me feel emotionally frustrated and drained.
Paused, reflected, and come to a realization that the reasons are:
- Miss a promotion, roles and etc.
- I’m not growing professionally nor learning any new skills or applying new knowledge from the industry (This is an important factor to me)
Thus I concluded that, is more of a pull factor there is a strong urge to explore the outside world
Nope, I resisted the strong temptation to quit immediately or look for a job. Instead, I drew up a checklist to address those issues systematically with myself and my immediate boss before making any decision.
Some background before introducing The Checklist. Back in 2019, I was offered a people manager role within the data science scope with a >15% pay increment (which is the path I wanted to move toward). I was open with my ex-boss on the offer and rejected that opportunity as I wanted to have a stable career and try to move up the corporate ladder. In case you’re wondering, nope, the company didn’t counter offered but I requested some “peanuts” increment and got it, YAY !!!!
To make sure I’m doing the right thing, I came up with a “Rational checklist”
Here is what I do (what about what I’m looking out for, job roles, future)
Checklist 1 : Be Honest with yourself
These 4 factors are the most essential questions only we can answer
1. What do I want now and/or 5 years for now? Referring to the chart, to sustain a higher salary, either I steer toward a management role or onto a data scientist role.
Considering how covid has accelerated digital transformation with most companies, I figured that it is now or never to make the move.
More money
2. Do I want career growth/promotion within the company? I definitely won’t move into a people managerial role before I hit 40.
3. I know that even if I’m promoted, I won’t be satisfied with the job nature or the direction the company is heading.
4. Nah, I’m good with the status quo for the next few years and retire.
Me : Nope, that is not me, I still have FIRE burning from within :)
Checklist 2 : Hey Boss, We need to talk
Go through Points 1 - 3 from Checklist 1 and identify where are the skill gap or performance gap to reach the next level.
1 Set proper KPI or goal so you are evaluating fairly for both parties but this also provides an idea of where you ‘stand’ within the organization
Me : I kinda have this talk 2 years ago and delivered what is expected but is still not enough(maybe cause there was a reorg and I change boss again thus the new boss can’t see the impact :( ).
Gotta be fair to both parties so I did it again, addressed those open points fairly and explore CheckList 1 : Points 2 & 3
Checklist 3: Time to GO :)
This is when you went through Checklists 1 -2 and still can’t find a reason to stay, then it is time to :
1 Update your resume
2 Research the job market
3 Plot your own career path and
4 Practice your interviewing skill (something I’ll write a post on, based on my own perspective on what works)
Me : it was a tough decision, as I really like my colleagues but after consideration, colleagues can still be friends and we can still hang out after work :)
(PS: Next post will be on my job hunting journey)
