New Year, New Job? Unpacking The “I Quit!” Fantasy

When I ask my career coaching clients their ideal timeline for leaving their job, regardless of the time of year I ask, “by the new year” is a common answer. The turn of the calendar makes many of us itchy for a fresh start - even if only about a quarter of us actually make New Year’s resolutions.

The question is: is making a job change early in the new year realistic? Or is the quitting urge simply a fantasy?

Here are four questions I ask clients to see how close to a realistic “I quit!” moment they actually are, and the steps they take to move from fantasy to actuality.

Do You Know Exactly What “Better” Consists Of?

This is often the question that derails the “job in the new year” fantasy.

“Anything is better than my current job,” isn’t an actionable answer. That approach typically leads to a “stop gap” job change that is “better” - at least for a short while - but that doesn’t address the underlying root causes of disappointment at work.

Until we can articulate precisely what’s missing in our current work and have some sense of what we’re striving toward on a bigger level (e.g., career goals, purpose, desired impact), we’ll be moving from one unfulfilling role to the next.

It’s a treadmill move.

Instead, start by going through targeted reflection about work, the steps of which I’ve written about in the past, and then lean into the four Ns of career change that I’ve covered in this previous article.

Getting clear on precisely what you’re looking for and why does take some time - typically about three months for one of my clients - but doing so pays deep dividends in satisfaction, staying power, and sense of direction.

Have You Been Watching Industry and Macroeconomic Trends?

There’s a time for everything and when it comes to job change, the context helps dictate when that time may be.

Certainly some people can and do make changes in every industry at any time - even when an industry is struggling or contracting and/or when the larger economy is uncertain or even imploding. Given this, it’s easy to see a friend or acquaintance announce a job change on LinkedIn and think, “I should do that, too!”

That might be true.

That said, we want to set realistic expectations for ourselves so that we don’t desperately grab the first offer that comes our way. In my experience, during a time of sector and/or economic contraction, many job openings exist for a reason.

For one, it may not be a fulfilling, sustainable role. Burnout and/or layoff tend to follow soon after accepting a role like that one.

Or the skills requirement is highly niche, and unless you are lucky to have that exact set of skills, you’ll never be in the running anyway.

For instance, in late 2022 most tech and finance orgs are either frozen in hiring, only hiring very particular skill sets, or backfilling roles that are necessary but, for valid reasons, no one wants to stay in.

All in all, before you mark your new year with a new job, be sure you’re aware of what’s actually happening around you. If it’s a time of uncertainty and change, finding high-quality roles may take longer and will certainly require more legwork, such as networking thoughtfully.

Is Your Network Nice and Warm?

I know, “network,” “network,” “network.” This advice feels like a broken record.

But it’s repeated for a reason: if we want a high-quality role in which we can grow, feel well supported, and have lasting impact, it’s unlikely to come from an online job posting.

The best jobs are filled way before they’re posted (and posted purely for EOE reasons) by people who have been thoughtfully having “coffee chats” for months - or even years. In fact, the posted role might have been tailor-made for someone who has been in the networked queue. I’ve had many (many) clients have roles created around them. This does actually happen.

Meaningful, energizing work doesn’t just hang out waiting for us to find it. Meaningful, energizing work is created. And the way it’s created is through relationships.

The thing is, genuine relationships take time to build, of course. We have to plant seeds well in advance of when we’re looking to say “I quit” - and doing so in a non-transactional way, as I discuss in detail in this article.

So if you haven’t been chatting it up and building reciprocal relationships for months in advance of the new year, then the calendar change might be a good time to start valuing relationships in deed and thought, but might not actually be the best time for moving on.

Are You Ready to be Back on a Learning Curve?

The final question I pose to clients is how ready they really are to be back on a learning curve.

Even if we know an industry inside and out and believe we could “do the role in our sleep,” every single job change puts us on a learning curve of new colleagues, new internal systems, and a new organizational culture.

Research indicates that it takes most people about three months to feel comfortable within a new job - but some of the respondents took a full year or more to feel settled and authentic, if they ever did.

Many of my clients express disappointment that their job switch - even when well-planned and highly intentional - doesn’t result in instant joy. That’s because adjustment doesn’t feel great. Ever. It’s an uncomfortable process by definition.

Therefore, if our lives are in a period of change, or if we’re feeling too exhausted to muster the “new job” energy, it might not be the moment to shake things up with a job change - even though it’s a new year and a “blank slate.”

Summing Up

If your answers are yes to the above, a new year change may absolutely be in the cards. Hiring often frees up as January proceeds, and everyone - from recruiters, to hiring managers, to network contacts - tend to have a brighter, renewed approach after the holidays. With the right preparation months in advance of the calendar flip, the new year can be the perfect time to make a change.

That said, if the answers to some - or even just one - of the questions above are no, it may be time to pause. I’m not trying to pour cold water on the desire to move on - change can be amazing for ourselves and everyone around us who benefits from our changed mood - but when we quit simply because the calendar says it’s time, in my experience the action tends to backfire, creating more stress and uncertainty rather than less.

To make a truly productive job-related New Year’s resolution, commit to the four actions above to avoid the regret that can come with quitting. The approach is a far less “exciting” approach to the turn of the calendar, but doing so is likely to yield real, lasting outcomes well worth sharing with friends and family in the long run - when it’s actually time to say “I quit!”