Everybody thinks about quitting occasionally… …and sometimes, quitting your job might be the best decision you make. But there’s some real downsides to quitting unprofessionally, and you need to be careful to avoid them because they will haunt your future career. These are bad ideas:
- breaking an employment contract
- venting your anger online in public forums
- raging at your boss in a final dramatic recount of all your frustration
- stealing to make up for the way they treated you
- leaving suddenly without preparing the person taking over your job
- not having money to live on while you look for another position
I sure hope you see why these are bad ideas! It’s easy to talk yourself into thinking they are good ideas, though, because your emotions get in the way when work conditions become intolerable. Every single idea has future consequences, and thinking about those consequences is a good idea. Future employers will look at your past jobs and contact past employers about your behavior. They look at what you say online. Theft is a crime and you will get caught. How’d you like to take over someone’s job who left it like you did? And money is important for bills and groceries, am I right? Here are some good ideas:
- start saving so you have at least a month or more of financial cushion
- start looking for a job without tipping off your current boss if you know it will cause problems
- start doing your current job with an eye on making it easier for your replacement (organize, write job descriptions, etc)
- update your resume with your current responsibilities and accomplishments (you figured those out in the last idea)
- acquaint yourself with your employment contract
- maintain a professional attitude on the job and off
There truly are bad situations where quitting a job is necessary. But don’t make a bad situation worse by your behavior.