Out of the frying pan into the…?

If you are reviewing your career then maybe you are thinking about leaving your current job.

This could be because you are dissatisfied with it, or because you feel that the time is right for you to progress in your career.

Take the time to reflect on whether you really do want to leave. Consider whether there is there some other aspect of your life that you are unhappy with which is causing you to feel fed up in general.

Ask yourself a few questions about why you are thinking about leaving:

• what do you dislike the most about your current job? Are you bored, stressed, disliking the environment, or perhaps not getting on very well with colleagues?

• consider how these feelings affect you specifically.

• what would you like to do less of in your job?

• what would you like to do more of?

• have you felt like this before? Do these problems form a repeat pattern in your career?

• If you do leave, what will you be looking for in your next job or way of life, and will you find it?

Consider the following:

• your current job may offer regular income, job security, and familiarity but will your new job offer the same?

• what would you lose if you left?

• what worries you most about leaving your current job?

• have you been here before? Have you thought about leaving before but changed your mind?

If you can, talk over your responses with a trusted mentor or friend. Are other people influencing your decision making – perhaps your partner at home is afraid of you losing your job security?

Thinking about what makes you tick and the real reasons why you want to leave your current position will make you less likely to make a mistake and more able to work out ways of improving your feelings about the job you do now.

The current climate in the NHS means that you need to consider even more seriously about changing jobs. If there was a threat of redundancy would the new workplace have a last in first out policy? Are a lot of your problems caused by the fact that your workplace is short-staffed and would the new workplace be any different?

Comments

[Philippine Nurses Site]

Kudos! Lovely site! I have a Nursing site aswell, http://philippinenurses.blogspot.com

[Nursing jobs in Chicago]

Great info. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Brian

[Becky]

If you are unhappy with the traditional nursing field, you might want to look into travel nursing. Cirrus Medical provides tons of information on travel nursing on their blog http://cirrusmedicalblog.com. Additionally, they post a variety of job opportunities in tons of U.S. cities on their Twitter account (username: TravelingNurses) and Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Cirrus-Medical-Staffing/69051166959).