Handling leaving a job & moving on in your career

A rainy day finally happened.

Without a job lined up, on Feb 2nd I turned in my resignation. I’ve never quit a job without having another one lined up. I quit because I was being over worked and after joining the company my quality of life had not changed for the better. Yes, my commute was about 15 minutes walking but when the owner of the company that hired me stated, “We gave you 3 full time jobs” I knew I had to leave. About ten days later with his CEO present, during my 90 day evaluation, he adjusted his statement with “we gave you 3 tasks”. My response was, “Ok…but if each task required 35 – 40 hours per week, what’s the difference?” I wasn’t angry or mad, and I said it with a smile on my face. I had also been very vocal about the level of work asked of me. The Tuesday after that meeting the CEO said I had to be “flawless”. On the Friday following, I turned in my resignation. I won’t go into the culture that people of color are expected to work harder than their white counterparts, that’s not what this blog is about, but it’s a very relevant to this story.

One of my coworkers said, “I don’t think you’re going to be able to handle the work coming your way.” Another coworker said, “I knew you were F@#$?% 2 weeks after you came on board.” Both of them were white, that’s not saying that if they were black I wouldn’t believe them but basically I was set up to fail and staying on board any longer than 6 months was going to cause more problems.

That’s the background for this blog.

I was able to quit without worrying about a job for a while because I have a savings account, “rainy day money” saved up to look for another position. I also used the time to get many of the things done that I had been putting of in other arenas of my life. Also, because of my reputation and resume, I had no insecurities about getting another job. One of my managers said, “I feel like we chewed you up and spit you out”, I laughed and said, “Pretty much”  He asked, “Are you worried about having a 5 month job on your resume?”  I responded, “In 25 years, I’ve never left or quit a job in less than 2 years, so that speaks volumes…I’m good.” He offered to write a recommendation letter. I said, “Thanks” and agreed,”that might help.” Throughout the entire process, I’ve been professional and 2 managers offered recommendation letters.

The time off gave me some clarity and allowed me to reset some priorities with my other business endeavors. With a lot of home tasks done, my business tasks at a good stopping point, I can focus on the job I accepted and start Monday recharged. If that doesn’t work out, my old position from last year has an open offer so there’s a parachute there.

PS…it’s crazy waking up not knowing or caring what day it is, I’m looking forward to retirement.

Key takeaways:

1. Finances provide freedom to make a decision that’s best for you
2. Your reputation follows you…the good and the bad
3. Leave and start professionally
4. Keep a positive attitude

MPM: Middlepassagementor@gmail.com