Bad Day Or Bad Job: Is It Worth Quitting Before The New Year

Draw a line, make a wish list, promise yourself to lose a couple of kilograms - all these are traditional must do at the end of the year. But what to do if there is a desire to radically change life right here and now, and you have decided to start from work ─ explains Natalya Koroleva, senior consultant of the Lux & Medi direction of the Hays recruiting company.

On the one hand, changing jobs at the end of the year seems like a very logical decision: this is a good reason to draw a line in your career development and calculate your “final scores”. In addition, the principle "start a new life on Monday" works here. But there is one important point that should not be overlooked. By the end of the year, we are getting tired, including from the current place of work. This is completely normal. Believe me, most of your colleagues go through similar experiences. If so, I would not advise you to immediately think about changing jobs - with the normal course of events, your apathetic moods will pass by the beginning of February. But if this desire has been maturing for more than a month, you can start looking for options and consider proposals.

Postpone until February

If you seriously intend to change the company, it is better to think about looking for a new job in advance - in August-September. Selection stages are not a quick process, especially if we are talking about leadership positions. A series of tests and interviews with different levels of management and headquarters (in the case of an international company) can take several months. No one will tell you the exact dates, but you should not rely on the fact that everything will be decided in a couple of weeks. Moreover, in January.

If we talk about market activity by the end of the year, it is strongly dependent on the economic situation and the results of companies. Of course, the number of offers by the very period of the holidays is declining, since top management often takes vacations, and Western colleagues leave for the holidays even earlier than we do. Therefore, if the goal is to look at the market, it is better to set yourself up that a new active period will begin in February. But nothing prevents you from monitoring the situation and keeping your finger on the pulse. If suddenly the “dream company” starts searching in December, you will be the first to know about it.

Don't miss out on the annual bonus

Moving to a new place in late December - early January is not so simple, you can stumble upon pitfalls that you might not have thought about when you were in a hurry to enter next year with new career opportunities. Many large companies pay a fairly large annual merit bonus at the end of the year that you might be missing out on. If, despite this, you are not eager to stay at work and are in a hurry to move, this can be a wake-up call for a new potential employer: perhaps everything is not very good at your current place or you have not met the necessary indicators to receive a bonus. If, while accepting the offer, you realized “What about my bonus?”, Do not despair and talk to a potential employer. Host companies tend toThey are sympathetic to the desire to receive a well-deserved bonus and start a new job in January.

Or do you decide?

If there is no practice of annual bonuses in your company, it is still better to agree to go to work at the end of the year - in the December hurricane it will be easier to get involved in the business, get to know the team, make plans for the next year, understand the logic of decision-making in the company, and the New Year a corporate party can be an excellent step towards getting closer to future colleagues and immersing yourself in corporate culture.

Usually, companies conduct a review at this time - summarize, discuss opportunities, plan a budget. The host company understands that the candidate can use the offer as an opportunity to discuss with the current employer their capabilities in the current company. Remember that a potential employer also weighs the risks and may be careful about making an offer during this period.

Several important steps

Step 1. Honestly answer the question, what is the reason for your desire to change jobs

If you do not understand the reasons, you may find yourself in a situation where you received an offer and suddenly thought: "Maybe this is just a series of bad days?" My experience shows that the impulse that prompts you to look for a new job does not just happen, it is always the result of insufficient motivation, dissatisfaction, a career ceiling in the current company, etc. And if now it seemed to you that you were just tired, after a conditional six months this desire will most likely arise again.

Step 2. Decide on what you need

This applies to the sphere, and career development, and salary expectations, ─ everything. The more clearly you define all of your goals, the more likely you are to finally hit your dream job in the new year.

Step 3. Develop a search strategy

The search itself is a methodical process. HH.ru is one of the most common resources. If you have little experience, your position is intermediate or entry level, then be sure to update your resume. This will help to collect more information about different markets and offers, you will be found faster and interaction will be more effective.

If you are in a managerial position, it is worth contacting a familiar consultant from a recruiting company, so that your request will be correctly understood, and hundreds of phone calls will not follow with offers that you are unlikely to be interested in. In our age of digitalization, often search and communication with candidates occurs via Facebook, this is a very fast way of communication. Therefore, I recommend that you indicate the current position on your profile page. This will increase the chances that you will be found and offered something worthwhile. Until recently, LinkedIn was also popular, now there are restrictions on its use. But better create a page there.

Step 4. Evaluate whether you have time to complete and transfer all the cases before the transition

With your current employer, it's best to end your relationship on a positive note - you never know what might happen tomorrow. If you realize that you will let your colleagues down by leaving, talk to the host company. Most likely, they will meet halfway, and this step will characterize you as a responsible employee, and will only once again convince the new employer of the correctness of his decision.

Photo: stills from films