It is time to get another job

Sometimes, the realisation that you’ve stayed at a job for too long hits you hard, but at times it happens so subtly that you might ignore the signals. Here are some unmistakable signs that you need to look out for.

1.     Predictability

You can do your job in your sleep. If you can perform your role without breaking a sweat, it’s time you listened to your inner voice… the one that keeps telling you, ‘let’s get out of here’.

Start thinking about moving on to a more challenging job when most of the awards you’re winning are due to longevity – not achievements in your role – in the company.

2.     Your job isn’t engaging anymore

You watch the clock like a hawk. If you ever find yourself counting minutes, wondering why time is moving at a snail’s pace, or you think you have better things to do outside the office, you’ve been at your job for too long.

You dread Mondays. When Sunday night rolls around and the thought of going to work the following morning makes you sick.

You get to the office hours after the official reporting time. This happens when you start going through the motions at work. You’ve stopped dreading Mondays and now you just don’t look forward to getting to the office – any day of the week.

You spend more time surfing the internet more than you do working. Is it that your job doesn’t hold your interest or that you finish your work early? Either way, you have too much time, which you aren’t using constructively, if most of it is spent watching your favourite YouTube videos. Find a job that will engage your mind and keep you busy during office hours.

3.     You stay only for the perks

Promotion opportunities. Health insurance. Paid vacations. Commitment to your boss... If these were some of your reasons for staying and they aren’t even believable to you any more, find another job.

4.     Projects are routine

You’ve lost passion for your craft. If looking at the plaques, certificates and trophies that you’ve amassed over the years doesn’t make you happy or get your creative juices running, get yourself in gear and make a change. You don’t want to stay at an organisation that will suck the life out of you.

You feel like there is nothing left to learn. When you look at your upcoming projects, you don’t see anything that you haven’t done hundreds of times before. Furthermore, take it as a sign when you realise that there is nothing you could learn from your company’s leadership team.

5.     No chance of promotion or pay rise

You’ve received the same comments about your performance review enough times that you stopped looking at them. In addition, if your boss keeps brushing you off with responses such as, “You’re fine; You’re  doing a great job,”  when you ask about moving forward and growing your career, move on to a company that will help you soar.

If you’re locked in place – there is no pay rise or big promotion coming your way after years of being in the same position.

6.     Your bosses are getting younger

Your boss or supervisor is younger than you – by more than a decade. When you have held down the same position for so long that you don’t realise that your boss and colleagues who hold similar positions to yours are becoming younger by the day, move on and better yourself.

7.     You envy former colleagues

When you think former colleagues who have moved on to other companies are better off – even when you don’t know that they are for sure, as long as they are working anywhere else other than your company.

8. It is in the little things

You’ve stacked up so many vacation days that you’re about to lose them – if you haven’t already. Taking days off helps reduce stress and rejuvenate creative juices. However, if you’ve stacked up vacation days because you can’t afford to take time off, find more ambition and move up the corporate ladder.

You’ve stopped believing in your company and what it stands for. You obviously believed in the organisation’s ethos when you were applying for your job. However if, over time, you’ve stopped having faith in the company, or your boss’s philosophies, find another organisation.

Don’t settle. Don’t get comfortable. When you realise that that’s what you’re doing, go back to the drawing board.