NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Is It Time to Leave Your Job? Tips for Smart Moves and Strategic Growth
Thu, 30 Jan 2025
Learn how to decide if it’s time to change jobs or careers and understand how to strategize before you make a big career move. How do you know if it’s time to leave your job? What steps should you take before making a big career move? Host Sean Pyles talks to author and SiriusXM host Dawn Graham about how to evaluate your current job satisfaction and recognize the signs that it might be time for a change. They begin with a discussion of identifying personal values, assessing career alignment, and tips for navigating conversations with managers. They also delve into strategies for approaching major career shifts, from exploring new fields to building the skills and network necessary to succeed. They discuss actionable strategies for testing a new career path, overcoming the challenges of starting over, and networking effectively to stand out. In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: career changes, how to change jobs, signs to leave a job, switching careers, professional growth, career move tips, leaving a job, job dissatisfaction, career pivot, networking strategies, job search tips, workplace burnout, how to talk to a manager about leaving, new career path, finding a new job, changing careers in 2025, job skills development, career alignment, values and career decisions, professional energy, job growth, building career confidence, quitting a job, making a career switch, career planning, job search strategies, LinkedIn networking, and how to stay motivated at work. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [email protected]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How do you know if it's time to leave your job?
But if that organization or environment doesn't offer you what you want, my recommendation is to start having conversations with people who seem to be doing what you want to do and go from there.
What would you say is the difference between looking for a new job and looking for a new career?
Both are hard. Looking for a new career can feel a little bit more intimidating because you have to step outside of your comfort zone where you probably feel pretty accomplished and experienced in your current function or industry.
When you start changing careers, you start to feel a little bit intimidated because a lot of the people around you seem to have more experience or more skills in that area. I would say that if you're looking to make a career switch, that's a great thing.
Don't shy away because it's a little bit more difficult, but really start introspecting, figure out what you want to do and why you want to do it. And then start to think about what's realistic because a career change will come with certain things that may or may not appeal to you. So you might need to change geographies. You might need to return to get a certification or a degree.
You might need to take a temporary salary cut. And some of those things might be doable. Others may not. It doesn't mean that a career switch isn't in your future. It just might mean now is not the time and you can start preparing for it a little bit earlier so that when you are ready to do those things, you are set to go.
Let's focus on this idea of a new job. So basically you're staying in the same line of work, maybe even at the same company, but you want a different job or different responsibilities. How do you start to think about what it is that you want to do?
The introspection really starts with where's your professional energy? And I like to call it professional energy because I think the word passion is a little bit too intimidating for many of us because it just implies a lot of big life things when sometimes, in fact, our professional energy is a little bit more targeted and focused. Where do you lose time during the day?
What types of activities really make you feel energized afterwards? For example, when I coach clients, sometimes it's that camaraderie and collaboration around a project where everybody's kind of doing their own piece. For others, they love working up against a deadline and they like that pressure of working with clients who have that 11th hour change and they have to scramble to get it done.
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