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Topic: Quitting after less than a year?
| Author | Message |
| movinonup | Posted – 4/21/2008 3:39:38 PM | show profile How bad does it look to future employers if you leave a job before hitting the year mark? I have previous, relevant work experience that shows I have no problem sticking it out, but my current job just isn't what I want to be doing. If I do leave, I'll have been employed in the job for 10 months. |
| GrOoVaL!c!OuS | Posted – 4/21/2008 3:54:05 PM | show profile Unless the job is just unbareable, stick it out for two more months. But you can start putting feelers out now. Whatever you do, don't leave this job at all until you have a new one lined up. The job market is ROUGH. |
| AWC | Posted – 4/21/2008 4:05:23 PM | show profile Leaving after 10 months is no big deal to most employers -- people are definitely more mobile these days, and employees choose to move on for all sorts of reasons. Just be honest about it, and you should be fine. However, as noted above, the job market is really terrible right now, and things are likely to get worse before they get better. So it might be in your best interest to hold on to your job until you have something solid lined up. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 4/21/2008 5:00:02 PM | show profile It depends on your entire work history and how long you've been working. If you've been in the working world for 10 years and your history is filled with positions that lasted less than 2 years, it might look bad. But if you've been in the working world for 20 years and your positions have shown more staying power, then don't worry about it. I just left a job after only 6 months, but I was at my last job before that for over 9 years, and at the last job before that for 3.5 years. As long as you're not a job-hopper, don't fret. Besides, if you've been in the workforce for a while, you have the wisdom at this point to know a bad fit when you're in one. It's like dating: The older you get, the less time it takes to realize it's just not going to work. |
| movinonup | Posted – 4/21/2008 6:04:45 PM | show profile Thanks all! I think my job history shows this is a-typical for me, and so I should be OK. I hear you about the job market though. |
| rch23 | Posted – 4/22/2008 12:07:47 PM | show profile I have done it a couple of times. Usually because I was offered an opportunity somewhere else that was either better pay or a promotion. It never hurt me... |
| noname1234 | Posted – 4/22/2008 12:33:45 PM | show profile I don't think there's anything magical about sticking it out for a exactly a year vs. 10 months. Especially in today's work environment, if a much better opportunity comes along, I'd go for it. |
| foodlit | Posted – 4/22/2008 1:41:50 PM | show profile The worst advice ever is to 'stick it out for a year' Seriously. If you are not happy in a job, you are far better off moving on, than staying a few more months so that it adds up to a year. That is nonsense, and can actually do more harm than good. As long as your prior work history is stable, you will be more respected by potential employers but taking the honest approach, "It wasn't the best fit, so I thought the fairest approach for the company and my career was to find a better fit." The longer you stay in a position, the more you will be identified with the duties in that role. So, given that it's not a fit, get out before the only other jobs you will be considered for will be very similar. That is a nightmare situation....and I did that to my own sister years ago, long before I went into hr. Both my mother and I gave her the convention wisdom to 'stick it out for a year' before you leave....when she told us a month in that she hated her job, was bored and it wasn't the direction she wanted to go. She stayed a year...and then started looking, and the only interviews she got calls for were doing exactly the type of work she hated...just like the job she was in. She finally took one of them at a bigger company in Boston and eventually was able to move into the kind of role she wanted. But it took her much longer than it needed to...if she had left the job right away, she would have been much better off. However...I would stay until you land something new. You are always a more desirable candidate when you are working vs. unemployed. Good luck! Pam |
