For most people, knowing when to pull the trigger on leaving their current company to pursue other opportunities is difficult. The difficulty stems from a few things such as not wanting to leave relationships behind and losing friends or burning bridges, fear that the next opportunity may not be as great as you thought, etc. So with all these different things to consider, how do you know when it’s the best time to leave your job?
If you’re thinking about quitting your job, the best time to do it is right after a promotion.
If you quit your job following a promotion it accomplishes a few things for you:
- Minimizes the likelihood you’ll miss an opportunity at the firm you’re leaving. In most firms, people the year after promotion is the year to take a bit of a breather. Getting a top rating is tougher because you’re spending at least six months just learning how to do the job, let alone excel at it. Not all that different from changing firms.
- Kick starts your salary. For example, if you were making $100K at your old job, and got a 10% promotion and then a 20% raise on top of that as the salary for your new job, it gives you a year-over-year increase of $32K (vs $10K promotion) that doesn’t include any sort of sign-on bonus you might receive. Boosting your base then makes any subsequent increases you get a little nicer cushion for your pockets.
- Allows you to come into your target firm at the title you want. While changing jobs often and should come with a pay raise, rarely will you find people getting promoted to the next level as part of a job change. Companies want you to prove yourself before crowning you the next big thing and rightfully so. You know that you can handle it but they don’t…unless you’ve already been pre-ordained by your current employer.
When do YOU think is the right time to make a job change? Let me know in the comments below!
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