What You Need To Consider Before Resigning

The decision to resign has both an emotional and commercial element to it. Loyalty, emotional ties to colleagues, fear of change, and self-confidence all come into play. As do commercial questions of salary and growth opportunities.

Before you make the call to move on, here are some important considerations you need to make:

1. Where is your company heading? Get a good grip on where your current company is going and what the future opportunities are before you decide to exit. In some cases you will be able to create the right role for yourself without leaving at all.
2. What can you change? Understand what it is about your current role that you would like to change and explore opportunities to develop it within your current company. Make an assessment on what you feel is changeable and what you feel is not. Be politically savvy when canvassing this information.
3. Give it some extra time. If you feel you may be able to make the role workable, then action the changes and review how you feel again in 3 months’ time.
4. Spend some time discovering. Discovery involves talking to peers, business leads, external mentors and even your boss. It can seem unusual to pursue this kind of opinion, but asked in the right way can lead to some really productive results. This is not gossip or guesswork it is constructive discussions on the future of the company and how others see you.
   We once had a situation where a client of ours was so well respected in the company that no one had ever told him. When he went through this discovery process he understood that he was actually earmarked for a bigger and better role.
5. Communicate any issues. A good mentor or recruiter will always advise you to raise your concerns where you are first.
6. Don’t stay idle. If things don’t seem to be going your way, don’t sit in “wait and see” mode for long – it will not be productive for you or your company. Doing nothing and hoping that things will change is a hiding to nothing – it does however, give you licence to whine at the water cooler.
7. Be aware. The grass always seems greener. If you do make the decision to move on, the new shiny opportunity will have its own challenging elements – make sure that you are clear what they are.

Don’t leave unless you have explored all your options thoroughly. Although loyalty is a strong bias, consulting widely will help you make the right choice.