Quitting or resigning from your job is not a decision that you should make lightly. This decision should be made with careful thought, consideration and a lot of prayer.

Our job and where we work are an integral part of our lives. Therefore it is wise that a decision to quit is one that is treated with great importance.

Hereunder are 14 wise things to do before quitting your job:

Prayer

Making the decision to quit your job is one that you should make with much prayer and reflection.

Spend some time in conversation with the father asking for his leadership and guidance. This decision should not be taken for granted so if you feel the need to marry this time with a fast, then do so. 

There are  a number of career related prayer on this blog such as a powerful prayer for career guidance or a heartfelt prayer for a new job. Feel free to click these previous links and explore these prayers should you be contemplating calling it quits.

Get Buy In

Run the idea by those who are important in your life such as your family. Getting their buy in is crucial. Life changes affect those around you. Will they be able to support you as you quit your role? If you get a new role, you may be required to work longer hours. Can they assist you during this phase of your life?

Update Your Resume

While working at times, updating your resume is not top of mind. Therefore spend some time and update it.

Hopefully you are made notes on the major milestones that you accomplished in the role. In addition, do not forget to add valuable training courses that you may have attended.

If you are interested in a resume sample, there is one in our free career library. Click HERE to access for free.

Update Your LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a platform that many organisations now use to search for candidates. Therefore before quitting your job, ensure that your profile is up to date.

Get a professional photo taken and ask colleagues for recommendations to improve your profile.

Audit Your Social Media Pages

Review all your social media pages to ensure that there are no pictures or words that will potentially turn off an interviewer.

Rest assured that every employer audits your social media account before making the final hiring decision. So before you think about quitting your job, clean up your social media pages.

Create A Plan

At times working in certain environments could become unbearable. Hence you may decide to quit your job without a plan. However, depending on your responsibilities create a plan around when is the best time to quit. Reflect on your career vision.

This may give you clarity on whether or not quitting your job is the best decision. If quitting is best identify potential roles that you are interested in.

If you want to learn more about career planning, there is a  career planning workbook available in our free career resource library. Click HERE to access.

Create A Plan B

Sometimes for whatever reason, plan A does not work out the way we want to it. Therefore, create a plan B. You may quit your job and move to another and hate that new job even more.

Having a plan B will give you an alternative should your preferred plan not work the way you will like it to.

Identify Gaps

Once you have worked on creating a plan, identify any gaps that you believe that you need to fill. Is there a short course that you need to take to beef up on a particular skill?

There are several free and budget friendly online learning websites where you can sharpen or develop a skill in a particular area quickly. Therefore, if you need to develop a skill, then use the time to improve your chances during your job search.

Informational Interviewing

Before quitting your job, it is a good idea to explore various roles and companies that you have an interest in working at.

Informational interviewing is the process of identifying a job/ career that interest you and setting up a meeting with persons who perform these roles day to day with the aim of understanding whether or not the job or career really interests you. It is important to highlight that an informational interview is not a job interview.

Informational interviewing or also termed informal research is a phrase coined by Richard Nelson Bolles author of the best-selling job hunting book “What Color is your Parachute.” An informational interview could potentially be a stepping stone to a job offer.

Informational interviewing are very useful as you get an opportunity to gain insight into the organisation. Bolles stressed that informational interviews should be done with workers and not hiring managers.

I have written a comprehensive guide to informational interviewing on this blog. Feel free to click the previous link to explore this post.

Speak To Your Mentor

Consult with your mentor. Mentors can be great sounding board and could possibly share another viewpoint that you did not previously consider.

Do not be afraid to ask the tough questions. On the other hand, be also open to receiving some tough love or constructive criticism if the mentor has another perspective.

If you want to learn more about great questions to ask your mentor, there is a career mentor workbook available in our free career resource library. Click HERE to access.

Network

Be on the lookout for opportunities to meet other individuals within your industry. Check out meetup.com to find groups that are meeting near you.

There may be also events with organisations such as the Toastmasters and Chamber of Commerce. Ensure that you reach out to individuals who you know within your industry and meet up even if it’s for coffee.

Savings

Quitting your job and moving to another comes with a measure of risk. Moving to a new job does not mean that you may like it.

Therefore, plan ahead and save some money so that you have a buffer in your finances. If you have a family, then you should also take their needs into account as well.

Begin Your Job Search

Once you have completed all the steps above, begin your job search. Check social media as well as websites where vacancies may be posted.

Tap into your network as someone may know if there are vacancies within your industry. LinkedIn and social media is also a great resource to use for your job search.

Identify Job References

Review your network of former colleagues and managers. Identify who you believe will make excellent job references for you.

Reach out to the individuals and get their agreement in this regard. Draft letters and get them to edit. This will save them if a company wants to get a letter from your referee.

There are 6 free job letter samples available in the free career resource library. Click HERE to access for free.

Final Thoughts

Quitting your job is an important career decision. Trust this article provides you with a valuable list of things to consider before calling it quits.

If you found this article helpful, I will be grateful if you can share it and leave a comment. For access to our free resource library with career templates, guides and checklists, click HERE to fill in the form. Thank you for your support as I grow this blog.

14 Wise things to do before quitting your job

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