Really unhappy at current job - when to leave? 3

[gman89]

I won't get into the details, but needless to say that I'm quite unhappy at my current job and have been for several months. During that time I've been applying for a handful of other jobs but I've just about lost patience with my current position to the extent that I've been considering leaving before having a new one lined up. The only reason I'm still there is because there seems to be this stigma that leaving a job without a replacement is suicide.

A few points to consider:

1. I'm young and still live at home, so I have very few expenses.
2. I'm quite disciplined with my money so have more than enough saved up.
3. I've been doing online courses to teach me new skills. I would do more of them if I had the time(mostly to satisfy myself, may or may not be useful in the future).

Has anyone here ever left before finding a new job, not knowing how long they could be without work for?

It would be great to here some personal experiences.

 

[gman89]

I don't receive any benefits while remaining employed. Me staying at home is essentially the same as being unemployed. And yes, I am using my spare time to look for new jobs.

With regards to the stigma of having an unemployment gap in my resume, I have enrolled in some computer programming courses to keep me busy so it doesn't look like I'm just twiddling my thumbs and doing nothing.

 

[IRstuff]

"Dear God, man, what kind of people do you work with?!"

If I tell you, I'd have to kill you afterwards ;-)

TTFN
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[berkshire]

Gman89,
From a practical point of view, You should go down to the unemployment office, and check about signing on as being under employed, if you are on an hourly rate, and are making less than 30 hours per week.
You would need to check the local unemployment laws, but some states have a provision, where they will give you supplemental money if your earnings fall under a certain threshold, (you have to report what you made each week).

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...e-compensation-or-work-sharing-159450685.html

You have nothing to lose by this, there will either be money there or not. This may enable you to get a supplemental income while times are short.
One thing to be aware of is that you employer will receive a claim from the local department of labor against his unemployment insurance.
And from what I have read between the lines, may not take kindly to it.
Remember there is no stigma attached to being laid off for lack of work, it has happened to the best people.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[oldestguy]

Gman: There probably are some unemployed persons of your capability that would gladly trade with you. I'd stop by the boss and give him a thank you for not laying you off. Who knows, it might even result in a few more hours each week. As to salary workers, you may not know their "deal" with the employer. More likely than not they also are taking a hit. In times like that no one can sit back and ride along free. Even the boss may be out at the bank getting a loan to tide things over. I have known several employers that did that to keep valuable employees on. I suspect you are not aware of the many problems employers have to go though to stay afloat in slack times. Time to grow up and face the music, even if it is not your type. Quit now and regret it forever.

 

[gman89]

oldestguy,

I would just like to reiterate that the lack of hours was not originally part of my reasons for wanting to leave. In light of other reasons I was just pitching the idea that this may be better timing.

I'm not disagreeing with your point, but I'm wondering where your threshold for leaving without a new job lies, if anywhere.

 

[IRstuff]

The threshold for anything is very personal, since it encompasses one's risk aversion. I've come quite close to quitting a couple of times:
> A public "discussion" with the general manager about the ethics of not informing the customer about temperature testing failures
> Apparent attempt to renege on a retention bonus by VP of engineer

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[oldestguy]

Gman:

I left my first job when a grand opportunity opened that I could not turn down. That employer understood, didn't hold it against me, but begged me to stay.

Later on I left that job since it was not there anymore. Boss was a professor in private practice on-the-side and the University told him to quit that side business. I kept in touch with the prof until he died, continued good friends..

The third change was for personal safety. A subordinate threatened physical harm if he did not get a better annual review. The employer was given two choices: either he or I must go. Employer was chicken (government DOT with some screwy rules)so subordinate was kept on. I was a department head position with plenty of advancement waiting. In same town was as consultant needing my type. It was a better job anyhow, better income and later I used that experience to form my own organization. It is nice to see that some of the DOT standards I set for pavement design back 40 years ago are still the DOT practice today.

Now how close to these situations are you? The first employer could have "raised hell". However he knew it would have made no difference.

Take note of my earlier remarks about two that made the wrong decisions, very wrong.

 

[moltenmetal]

gman89: there's no way I'd drive in 2 hours for partial days, even if I were living at home with my parents. Your drive plus 5 hours per day is getting in the way of your job search, no doubt. Get your 30 hours consolidated into 3 days- even if that's only 24 hours- so you have two full days a week to look for another job. If that gets you laid off as an ungrateful wretch, then the decision is made for you. You're not getting benefits, which in this jurisdiction you would be if you were working 60% of a full time job- unless you were and still are on contract rather than fully employed- so what do you have to lose by asking, other than a job that you don't really ultimately want anyway?

Treat finding another job on those two days per week AS YOUR FULL TIME JOB. If you do this for a while and find nothing, you'll obviously have to cling to what you have, improve your job searching skills, broaden your search area, or find a new line of business.

Leave once you have the other job in hand.

I got cut down to 4 days per week on a job-sharing program once. I was putting in 70 hour weeks, 30 of those totally uncompensated in any way, trying to save my employer's bacon. I dropped to 32 hours straight time on 4 days, while my pay dropped only 10% (half of my forced day off was paid by the job-sharing program). Most importantly, I had that whole extra day per week to dedicate full time to finding another job. That helped a lot with the job search- and taught me an important lesson: NEVER work for zero compensation, unless it's for a real charity- not a business. Give your work away and your employer will value it less. Regrettably this is a lesson that in my experience, comparatively few engineers have learned. Many employee engineers, and engineering managers, confuse salaried employment with indentured servitude.

The next job I found, which I landed before I had to resign, not only gave me a 20% pay bump, but also paid me overtime. The job after that gave me something better than overtime- real, meaningful profit sharing, and an opportunity to buy into the business. I put in lots of extra time when it's needed, but am well compensated for that work.

Best of luck-