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Leaving your old job If you are leaving your old job because you choose to do so you could well be jumping for joy. When you are made redundant the choice of whether you need to build a new life or not has already been made for you, and the speed at which you need to operate to create that new life could be pretty swift. This can often lead to making ill considered career choices because panic and fear have set in as fast as unpaid bills mount up. Let's say, however, that you are in employment but you just don't like what you're doing, you want to make changes and get a new job. This is where a well executed career exit plan can come in pretty handy. A note of caution! Sometimes people want to leave their old job because they've grown out of it so they're looking for promotion rather than a completely new life as such. Sometimes things things you don't like have happened in a job you loved and because of a new boss, new conditions or some other such commonplace irritant you may feel that you want to do something 'completely different'. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater and giving up a job you once loved to do something completely different, because something or somebody else spoilt it for you, may not be the best answer. You could just need to move somewhere else but do a similar job or improve your skills at dealing with whatever conflicts or changes have arisen at work. This is probably more commonplace than people think, where someone is planning to do the career equivalent of 'runnning off to join the circus' because they hadn't the skills or the confidence to change things constructively in their existing roles. Is the grass really greener? People often tell us that they want to leave their 'cut-throat', ''meaningless' lives in the Mammon worshipping corporate world and 'down-size' or 'do something worthwhile'. Before you burn your bridges behind you or behave in some other career threatening manner, you might want to take some time out to find out what that would really mean. The grass may or may not really be that much greener so by all means spend a holiday working in a Sri Lankan orphanage, volunteer to help in a local school if you fancy teaching, try a stint on a farm if you fancy going green and live 'The Good Life'. See if your fantasy matches your needs and desires first. If it doesn't, well, you didn't lose anything. If it does - go ahead and buy all the matches you want! Employment References Unless it is absolutely unavoidable, always leave your old employer on good terms. You may well need a reference from them for your new job or perhaps one in the future. Your old boss may move on too, so it is important that you know that there is a representative record of your performance somewhere in the company. It's always a good idea to hang on to any appraisal documentation, award certificates and so on that can be used to demonstrate your capabilities, especially if your old employer is no longer in business. Assuming you have done your homework by consulting other pages of this site, your exit plan must be created and implemented properly. Once you have new goals you may find you have a new vigour for all aspects of your life and not just your work. If you have a career exit plan which you have costed up and where you have laid out all the steps required to implement it, along with a realistic timeline, you can get started. Maybe you could start saving up or securing grants or finance, perhaps get your company to foot the bill for a bit of extra training you need, complete the admin of setting up your company, designing your business cards at the weekends and after working hours. So, by the time you leave and shed off your old skin you can glide elegantly and seamlessly into your new life like a fully formed butterfly instead of a slightly immature grub! And remember, always leave your current employer on a good note - you may need them for a reference someday. Click on the highlighted links to visit starting your own business, course finder, working freelance, job hunting sites, career events, choosing a new direction, working overseas, CV help and getting promoted. Happy hunting! |
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