Almost exactly a year ago I turned in my letter of resignation at work. To say that this turned out to be a really bad move would be a major understatement, but I’ve learned a lot from the experience. Here is the story…
The Provider Instinct
We gave birth to our little boy last year in April. We planned it all out so that my wife could be a stay-at-home mom until our little boy started school. We started putting all of my wife’s pay into our “baby fund” to cover all the upfront costs of having a baby, from medical bills to nursery furniture to necessary supplies. The baby fund worked great and served its purpose wonderfully. We were able to cover all our initial baby-related expenses with ease and had enough left to cover some of the recurring expenses over the next six months as well. Despite this, I knew that things were going to be tight with the addition of a baby to the family in combination with my wife staying at home. Basically, I got to feeling that my current job and pay weren’t going to cut it, and that any foreseeable promotions were a few years away (once other people started to retire from their positions). I can’t say exactly why I thought this. Maybe it was just the “provider” instinct kicking in or something. But I started looking at other job opportunities shortly after our little one was born.
The Job Search
I had a friend that worked at the local office of a nation-wide CPA firm, and he had mentioned they had some open positions. Now, I’ve mentioned before that I work in accounting in the banking industry. It just so happened that the job openings at this CPA firm were for doing audit work for banks, so it seemed like a great fit. I knew there were advantages and disadvantages to this line of work.
Advantages: Higher base salary, Higher annual pay increases, Clearly defined career path
Disadvantages: Significant travel, Significantly more hours
I admit that I had some serious tunnel vision going on, and my eyes were pretty much focused on dollar signs. I chose to ignore the disadvantages and focused on the advantages. I gave them my resume and references, interviewed with the recruiter, then interviewed with a manager and a partner, and was offered a position. I accepted.
My Previous Job
Now, I want to take a step back and explain that I liked the job that I had. I enjoyed the projects, reports and responsibilities that I had. I liked my managers and the people I worked with. I actually started this job at the beginning of my senior year of college. They were looking for a recent graduate that could work full time, but my accounting professor got me an interview with them. Apparently I did well, because they agreed to hire me on a part-time basis until I graduated. I worked there for six years and learned a ton. And the more I learned, the more advanced the projects and responsibilities became (which is a good thing). In short, this was a good place to work. The hours were good. We had our busy times, but it was nothing too bad.
Really the only negative was that for me to move up any further from my current position, someone at a position above me would need to retire. Judging from the ages of those people, this was probably going to happen sometime within the next 5 to 7 years. I just wasn’t willing to wait that long.
Turning In My Resignation
I think the most difficult part of this process was having to tell my managers that I was leaving. I had a really good relationship with my managers, and this was a conversation I really didn’t want to have. Of course they asked why I was leaving, and I answered the best I could. I talked about how the new position was a great opportunity, that it could really open doors down the road, that the pay was better, etc. Both my managers started in public accounting, so they could understand all these things.
I gave my resignation in June, but wasn’t going to start the new job until September. So, I gave them almost three months notice to be able to hire a replacement and allow time for me to train them. It’s important to note that I didn’t want to burn any bridges. I didn’t slack off during those three months; far from it. I wrote out detailed procedures and instructions for my various job duties, I made sure all my projects were caught up, I made sure things were ready for someone else to step in and have a smooth transition. In addition, I knew someone from my MBA classes that I thought would be a great fit for the position. I told my managers and contacted my friend, who was looking for a position. He interviewed and got the job, and I trained him before leaving.
When my last day arrived, let’s just say it was bittersweet. I knew that I was giving up a lot by leaving my position. But I thought that the long-term benefits (basically the money) of my new job would make up for it. That didn’t quite turn out to be the case…
Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story.
Have you ever left a job? Did you leave on good terms or was there a blowup? How did your managers and co-workers react? Share your stories in the comments below…
8 comments
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Modest Money
June 19, 2012 at 12:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sorry to hear that you are regretting that career move. You definitely want to be able to provide for your family, but not at the expense of being away from them far more often. Perhaps you could keep looking for other jobs and find something with better hours but comparable pay. And I agree that it can be very tough to have the talk with your boss about deciding to leave the job. At least you had something else lined up and you handled the departure with a lot of class.
Justin
June 20, 2012 at 9:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It was definitely a hard thing to do, but at the time I thought it was the right decision. We all have some sort of tradeoff between time and money, and everyone has a different ideal balance. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I was at a nice balance where I already was.
Michelle
June 19, 2012 at 5:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Interested to hear about the rest of the story! And this is the main reason why I’m afraid to quit. My first job was absolutely horrible but I stuck it out for 5 years. My job right now is wonderful but occasionally I wonder about what else is out there.
Justin
June 20, 2012 at 9:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You said it perfectly that you sometimes wonder what else is out there. They say you don’t really know what you have until it’s gone. We hear things like that so often that we almost become numb to it. It’s such a cliche, but it really is true.
Katie
June 20, 2012 at 7:40 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sometimes it hard not to have tunnel vision. When I took a second job I didn’t think about the flexibility I had in my fist job. With both jobs combined I only work about 40 hours but I miss the freedom of just having one job and more time. Now I feel obligated to also remain in the second position because he paid for classes for me to get licensed. Kind of a double edge sword.
Justin
June 20, 2012 at 9:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Very true. I didn’t even mention in my post that my employer helped pay for my MBA, and I did feel bad for leaving. Just one of those things where I was so focused on one thing that I didn’t think about a lot of other things.
MyMoneyDesign
June 20, 2012 at 12:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’ll have to read the rest tomorrow. I think I know what’s going to happen….
This is EXACTLY the reason I have worked for the same company for nine years. Maybe I could make more some place else, but would the conditions really be any better? Would I be anymore happier? I’ve never been convinced.
Justin
June 20, 2012 at 9:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It really is a tough decision. Like Katie mentioned in her comment, sometimes you wonder what else is out there. I’ve always been one to push on to the next thing. I figured I’d more or less reached the ceiling where I was, and I was ready to dive into something else. Only it came back to bite me. You bring up some great things to think about in situations like this. Would it really be better, and would I be happier? It’s certainly a risk. Unfortunately, life isn’t an Excel spreadsheet where if you screw something up, you can just hit the ‘Undo’ button.