Never Leave A Job Because You’re Unhappy
Comments(3) I had a manager that gave me the advice to “never leave a job because of unhappiness”. It took me many years of thinking and internalizing this before I really understood what it meant.
Leaving because you’re unhappy implies that you haven’t identified the specific reasons that you’re unhappy. You owe it to yourself to understand why the current job isn’t meeting your expectations. Changing employers is often risky and stressful - for you and those who depend on you.
Once you’ve identified the specific reasons you’re unhappy, you owe it to yourself and your company to attempt to resolve the issues. You’ve invested in relationships (often spending more time with coworkers than family), knowledge (including proprietary knowledge), and skills which may not be wholly transferable to a new job. Sometimes friendships endure between jobs - but even if some do, not all will.
Finally, leaving because you’re unhappy implies that you aren’t leaving for a better opportunity (otherwise you would have said so). I suspect that most people who leave because they are unhappy end up getting a job that is similar to their current job and work environment. After the initial euphoria of a new job wears off, the reality that the new job is suspiciously similar to the old job begins to set in.
In short, “I’m leaving because I’m unhappy” is ambiguous language that implies that you don’t know why you’re unhappy, haven’t attempted to resolve the issues resulting in your unhappiness, and aren’t leaving for a better opportunity.
(Caveat: This is a generalization which are never universally true, but are probably generally true.) 