4 Things to Consider Before Leaving Your Long-Standing Job

Stability is a good quality when it comes to your career and it’s always good to know you have a job waiting for you on a Monday morning. However, the grass sometimes seems greener at the other company and when you’ve grown stale in your job, you might consider the allure of going elsewhere.

Before leaving your long-standing job consider the following factors:

Colleagues. There are workplaces where the people you work with are one of the best perks of the job. If you work with a close and supportive team you might think twice before starting over in a new workplace.

Opportunity. Do you have opportunities for advancement in your current job or have you reached a plateau? You might want to have a conversation with your supervisor about your career plans and goals before making the decision to leave. Things can change rapidly in business and sometimes opportunities open up that you did not expect or seek.

Restructuring. It can be extremely stressful to go to work if your company has had a series of layoffs or has been restructuring departments. However, moving to a new company doesn’t necessarily reduce the risks of a layoff and you might even feel more at risk if you’re the new person on the job. Consider whether you’re ready to give up the seniority you’ve earned from the time you’ve put in at your current job.

Benefits. There are many other factors to consider when thinking about moving on from your job. Is it likely you’ll end up with a longer commute? Will a move to a new company impact your retirement savings or the amount your new company contributes to your retirement? What is the work environment like? Can you take time off when you need it? Be sure to carefully access everything you’ll give up or change by leaving a long-standing job.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Habits That Will Make You a Better Leader

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 5 Habits That Will Make You a Better Leader: "A great leader knows that his or her most important task is developing others—teaching people how to think and ask the right questions."

• 13 Inexpensive But Effective Benefits That Keep Employees Happy: "Investing in personal development initiatives for employees at all levels is critical in maintaining a strong workplace culture."

• To Take Charge of Your Career, Start By Building Your Tribe: "Instead of demanding conformity in exchange for safety, such communities keep our working lives exciting and us stable, ultimately helping us master our working lives"

• Leaders Who Make Their Own Luck Do These 5 Things: "Giving employees time to pursue their own projects increases the chance they'll discover something and, because it's their baby, pursue it with the passion that produces lucky results."
• 7 Ways to Reduce Stress When You Are Overwhelmed: "Take the less than five minutes required to do a mind dump. Get everything bothering you out on paper. Write down what's stressing you out, all that you have to do and the other thoughts or ideas occupying your mind."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Leaving a Stable Job to Create Your Dream Career

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Leaving a Stable Job to Create Your Dream Career: "Paying attention to what engages and excites you, what lights you up, and what stimulates your intellect points you toward the tasks and situations that enable you to be your best self. That’s where you will thrive."
• 4 Things Older Job Seekers are Doing Wrong: "Rather than accept a position where you will resent the pay or walk away from an offer that is not up to snuff, consider ways to negotiate. See if you can bump up your benefits."
• How to Bring More Meaning to Your Life and Career: "As you make small changes, you begin to gain competence in living according to your values."
• 7 Steps to Master the Art of Persuasion: "The art of getting others to see things as you see them -- usually called persuasion -- is a key one for entrepreneurs, and it needs to be honed from the first day that you formulate your new idea."
• 5 Tips for a Successful Online Job Search: "People often don't realize how great the odds are stacked against job seekers for virtually every online advertisement."