Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 2: Today's tip is that you shouldn't leave the workforce when
Speaker 2: you just hate your job. While leaving the workforce is
Speaker 2: one way to solve that problem, it is entirely possible
Speaker 2: that there is a better job out there if you
Speaker 2: choose to leave the workforce. That should be something you
Speaker 2: are running too. You don't want to be running away
Speaker 2: from something else. So I have heard from a few
Speaker 2: parents recently, generally mothers who had left the workforce for
Speaker 2: a while to stay home with their kids. They had
Speaker 2: been miserable in their jobs and had young children, and
Speaker 2: so staying home seemed like a reasonable and socially acceptable option.
Speaker 2: A few months into the gig, they realized they didn't
Speaker 2: really want to be stay at home parents long term.
Speaker 2: They turned out to have big professional ambitions. The problem
Speaker 2: was the old job, not paid work. In general, I
Speaker 2: have seen the same thing in the past with people
Speaker 2: going to graduate school. Someone in a career rut decides
Speaker 2: to go back to school, only to realize that school
Speaker 2: is a long and hard project. Now, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 2: I am all for going to graduate school or staying
Speaker 2: home with your kids. If that is what you want
Speaker 2: to do, maybe you can picture the exact career you
Speaker 2: want in the future and you know for sure that
Speaker 2: a certain degree is necessary to get there. Maybe you
Speaker 2: have been dreaming of being a full time parent for
Speaker 2: years and it is finally a financially viable option. If
Speaker 2: that describes you, amazing. But if you are contemplating grad
Speaker 2: school or staying home with your kids primarily as a
Speaker 2: way to have a legitimate sounding explanation for why you
Speaker 2: are leaving your current job, well maybe time to think
Speaker 2: this through. Grad School tends to be expensive, especially when
Speaker 2: you consider what you pay intuition and the loss of
Speaker 2: your previous salary. Grad school is often stressful as well
Speaker 2: as for staying home with your kids again, you are
Speaker 2: losing income, and, as any professional childcare provider or stay
Speaker 2: at home parent will tell you, taking care of kids
Speaker 2: all day is hard, unrelenting work. If you are choosing
Speaker 2: these paths, you want to truly be choosing these things
Speaker 2: for their own sake, not as something that just seems
Speaker 2: better than what you currently have. Because here's the thing.
Speaker 2: If you hate your current you have a lot of
Speaker 2: options besides leaving the workforce all together. For instance, and
Speaker 2: I know this seems obvious, you can get another job.
Speaker 2: Very few people have truly optimized on the job front,
Speaker 2: so don't assume that you will need to trade off
Speaker 2: something you value in order to get something else. It
Speaker 2: is entirely possible that you will find a better paying
Speaker 2: job with more flexibility or work life balance if you look.
Speaker 2: If you could find the time to apply to grad school,
Speaker 2: you can find the time to research and apply for jobs,
Speaker 2: have informational interviews, do career counseling, or whatever it takes
Speaker 2: to figure out your next steps. If you would be
Speaker 2: willing to quit entirely to stay home, maybe take some
Speaker 2: PTO or even unpaid time off first to figure out
Speaker 2: all the options that are out there. If you are
Speaker 2: desperate to leave your job immediately but haven't found the
Speaker 2: right new job yet, consider getting a temporary job or
Speaker 2: take short term contracts while you look for your next
Speaker 2: full time gig. Just be sure you think through health
Speaker 2: insurance and have a solid emergency fund. Even if you
Speaker 2: earn less in your transitional work than in the salaried
Speaker 2: job you leave, you are still pocketing a lot more
Speaker 2: than if you left the workforce all together. Before you
Speaker 2: decide to leave your job, you might also consider job crafting,
Speaker 2: particularly if this isn't a good time for you to
Speaker 2: find a new job, or if you've struggled to get
Speaker 2: a new job that's the right fit. Try refaming your
Speaker 2: current job. Can you focus on the aspects you enjoy
Speaker 2: most and spend less time on what you don't like?
Speaker 2: If you are working really long hours and experiencing a
Speaker 2: lot of stress, is there a way you can dial back?
Speaker 2: Pay attention to how colleagues with similar jobs who seem
Speaker 2: less pressured navigate your workplace and see whether you can
Speaker 2: learn from their examples. In many larger organizations, it might
Speaker 2: be possible to move to a different department or team,
Speaker 2: or to work with a different manager for a while.
Speaker 2: You keep your seniority and benefits, but you might be
Speaker 2: able to change your day to day experience a lot. Again.
Speaker 2: If you want to go to grad school or be
Speaker 2: a stay at home parent, those are wonderful choices, but
Speaker 2: both can be challenging. If you want to take on
Speaker 2: those challenges, be sure that you are actively embracing them.
Speaker 2: You are running toward them, You are not choosing them,
Speaker 2: Because that seems like a good story to tell for
Speaker 2: why you are quitting your current job. The world of
Speaker 2: work is larger than your current job, and if all
Speaker 2: things consider, you'd like to continue to work for pay,
Speaker 2: then no doubt you will be able to find something
Speaker 2: amazing in time. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 2: for listening, and here's to making the move.
Speaker 1: Of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number four then Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
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