Sometimes we can get too comfortable with the job we are in, and changing seems like a huge hassle. However, knowing when it is time to leave your current job and move on is important, so here are some ways you can tell when it might be time to go.
Work-Life Balance is Too Hard
It is always important to keep in mind that while having a career is important, we work to live and do not live to work. Part of this is focusing on your work-life balance and making sure that you still have enough time to enjoy all of the things that you love. If you are constantly staying beyond your hours or catching up on things over the weekend, you don’t have a very good work-life balance.
Making time for yourself, even just to relax or blow off some steam, is essential to having a happy and healthy life. When you start feeling like all you are doing is working even during your time off, it could be a sign that you need to move on.
You Aren’t Being Paid Enough
There are a lot of ways that you can find out what other companies are paying their employees for the same job that you do. Make sure you take into account the experience level you have versus other jobs. For example, if you only have two to three years of experience, you don’t want to compare your salary to that of a senior position. However, if you do the proper investigation and find that you are not being paid as much as you should, it could be a sign to move on.
You Can’t Move Up
Similarly not being paid much if there is limited room for growth within your company, could be a sign to move on. Even if you like your company, if you could advance to a higher position and make more money at a different company this is something that you should consider. Sometimes companies do not have the space or funding to move you into a position that is higher, and if you have goals that involve more than just advancing to a slightly higher position than the one you’re in now, you may need to look elsewhere.
In other cases, it isn’t necessarily that the company can’t move you up, but rather that they aren’t going to. If you have been working somewhere for over three years and haven’t moved up or been given a raise, this is probably a sign that the company is never going to move you up.
You Have a Long Commute
Depending on the field you are in as well as the area you live in, a longer commute might be worth it. However, spending two hours or more in your car each day on top of the eight hours you spend at work can take a serious toll on you. Some commutes involve multiple modes of transportation, like driving to a train station, then taking the train, then walking to your office.
This can take up a serious amount of time and force you to leave very early in the morning and get home very late. Putting up with a long commute to get a good job or because there are limited options can be worth it early in your career, but you should always be reevaluating how worth it that still is. However, you aren’t going to get workers’ compensation if you injure yourself during this long commute, so extending your work day so significantly might not be worth it.
If you can find a job with a much shorter commute that offers you the same or at least similar benefits, you should consider moving on from your current job.
Roni Davis is a writer, blogger, and legal assistant operating out of the greater Philadelphia area
