More on Why You Shouldn't Quit Your Job Until You Have a New One

There were several good comments left on my post titled Career Reminder: Very Few Jobs are Worse than Unemployment including a few real-life examples of what can happen when you do quit without a job. Here's the first:

True. Very true. I quit my first job out of college "Johnny Paycheck" style. It felt great for about a day or two, and then I kicked myself the next 178 days for walking away without any good options. The real kicker: the new job was at a 20%+ reduction in salary! You've been warned: stick it out, no matter what.

Yep, that's exactly my point. If you leave without another job, it's likely that 1) it will take longer that you thought it would to find a new job and 2) your pay will be lower than it was before (as time goes on, you're willing to accept less and less pay.)

Here's a comment that proves these points again (though he didn't quit -- the position ended):

This is quite simply, excellent advice. Your best chance of getting a large increase is to give the perception that you are happy in your current job.

I was working for a startup making $145 k a year and the job folded. I looked and another company offered me $95K per year. Turned that down. Another company offered $100K. Turned that down. 10 months went by and I started feeling frustrated. I finally accepted a job at $115K a year which hurt but no choices left. It took nearly 3 years to get back up to where I was before the previous job folded.

Let's turn now to someone who took my advice and worked through a tough situation:

That reminds me, I owe you a belated thank-you. Your September 6th post convinced me around that time not to quit my HORRIBLE job without something definite in the works. It was really hard to grit my teeth and bear it, but I did, and I'm glad. So, thank you!

Good for him/her!

Of course, not everyone who leaves a job without another one ends up in worse shape. Consider this comment:

Having done exactly what you tell people not to do, and been very successful, I still agree with the general notion that you should not quit your job without another one. I found a job FASTER than I wanted to, but for most people that won't happen.

I do make a lot of money, and was fearful of not finding something that paid as much, but I was certain I wouldn't take a huge pay cut (I actually make a good bit more now).

I was very secure financially though. I could go years without a job and probably still be OK. So I knew I wouldn't fall into the trap of having to take something less than I wanted.

My thoughts on this:

1. Yes, there are always exceptions to any rule, but in my experience quitting without another job is a recipe for a rough financial time.

2. "I still agree with the general notion that you should not quit your job without another one." He did otherwise, but agrees with the advice. Good.

3. "I found a job FASTER than I wanted to, but for most people that won't happen." Exactly -- for most people that won't happen.

4. "I could go years without a job and probably still be OK." Yes, if you can go years without an income, you have a lot more options available to you. Most people don't have this sort of cushion.

Comments

[MonkeyMonk]

I also agree with the advice but was a exception to the rule as well. In my situation, because of a merger and planned downsizing, I had a juicy voluntary severance package dangled in front of me. Considering that I was already hating my new job and the new management it was too good a deal to pass up.

The plus sides to this approach was that I had a safety net of 6 months of income plus a working spouse. I was able to devote nearly full time to my job search and think I was a much more thorough search than if I had been at a job. It also made it a lot easier to plan and go on job interviews. The last big plus was that I was able to pick up a couple short-term but very lucrative consultation gigs in the interim that essentially allowed me to over double my salary.

Luckily I found a great new job right near the end of the six months but I was starting to feel a slight tinge of desperation. Who knows what I would have setttled for if I hadn't found something.

[Matt]

It may, in the abstract, be "much easier to find a job when you have a job", but in the real world it just isn't always so.

I'm happily self-employed at the moment, but even if after leaving my last W2 position I'd needed to get another one, it would have been nearly impossible to do so without quitting first. When your current job completely prevents you from doing the things that would-be employers expect candidates to do (such as show up for interviews, fresh, alert, prepared, and during business hours), finding a new job is effectively impossible. The best way to find a new job is through your professional and personal networks...if your current job forces you to cut yourself off from them, it may be better to get out before you dig yourself too deeply into anonymity.

"Your career" is not the same as "your job today". If your job today is actively interfering with your future career, it's time to go, even if you have to do without earned income for a while in the process. That's what savings is for.

[Matt]

There are times when quitting first gives you the time to actually go find another job (its hard to work around a 8-6 schedule sometimes). Also there is the moral factor - if you have to put up with too much crap at the existing job it might be really hard to stay motivated over the course of finding a job while still at the old one. Though in general I think the advice is very sound and it would be the ideal way to go.

[fathersez]

I must also thank you for this advise.

I have been tossing the option of quitting and following up on some of the business opportunites available. Actually have started off a couple.

But for the time being, I am sticking to the "not so likeable job", while working on the business part time. (Have also employed people to work full time).

My wife and I have agreed that we shall stick to this method until the businesses take off.