My Job Wasn’t Terrible. But It Was Time to Leave.

After a lot of soul-searching, I recently decided to leave my full-time job for a new one. 

The truth is that my current job was no longer making me happy.  But that didn’t make the decision to leave easy.  There were a lot of things I genuinely loved about it, especially my team.  Still, something was telling me it was time to move on. 

I think sometimes we stay in situations because there are enough good things about them to convince ourselves that we shouldn’t want something different.

But I finally stopped asking myself whether my job was bad enough to leave and started asking a different question:

Was it still right for me?

I’m sure there are a lot of people in the same position, so I wanted to share the process I used to make my decision.  Maybe something here will help you make yours.

When I started seriously thinking about whether it was time to look for a new opportunity, I broke the decision down into the different aspects of a job that affect my job satisfaction and personal happiness.  Here’s how my thought process went.

Relationships

This was probably the biggest obstacle to deciding to look for another opportunity. 

I have a great team.  We work really well together, and I consider them friends.  I worried about the impact my leaving would have on them.  I certainly did not want to hurt people I cared about just so I could pursue my own happiness. 

But I eventually realized that as a leader, it’s important for me to be at the top of my game and enjoying what I do.  If I’m not in a good space, even if it’s not obvious, the people around me can feel something is off, and that can affect them too. 

I also reminded myself that I have many good friends who I met in past roles.  Leaving a company doesn’t mean leaving relationships behind.  It’s absolutely possible to maintain those friendships even when we aren’t working together every day. 

Goals

When I came to this role, the department I would manage was a mess.

My supervisor and I agreed on what needed to be done and a reasonable timeframe to get there.  The goals were very clear, and they were challenging. 

Processes needed to be fixed. Work that was behind needed to be caught up. The monthly close needed to be shortened from 45 days to 10 days. Staff needed to be mentored and developed. Some positions needed to be changed, and new people had to be hired and trained. 

It was a lot.

But we could see progress happening day by day, and there was so much satisfaction in that.  Once I had the team in place and trained, the difference was noticeable. We received a lot of positive recognition for turning the department around. 

Then something unexpected happened.

Once those goals and challenges were met, there weren’t any new ones to take their place.  The day-to-day work became maintaining what we’d built. 

I was busy and bored at the same time. 

Boredom for me is never a good thing.  I realized I need to be challenged to stay engaged. 

Goals are such an important part of this that I plan to write a separate post about them.

Career Growth

While interviewing for my current role, I made it clear that one of my goals was to learn and prepare for the next level in my career, which for me would be Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  

I reported directly to the CFO for more than a year, learning the business and getting exposure to what he did in his role.  When he left the company, however, I wasn’t considered for the position.

Through conversations about it, I learned that the company viewed investment banking experience as a requirement for its CFO position rather than an accounting background. 

And that’s okay.  A company has every right to decide what qualifications it wants for a particular role. 

But I also had to be honest with myself.

If my goal was to become a CFO and there wasn’t a path to that position at this company, then maybe this simply wasn’t the right company for the next stage of my career. 

I could stay and accept that, or put my effort into an organization where my experience and long-term goals were a better fit.

Pay

I was well paid, so compensation wasn’t a major reason I wanted to leave.

I was fortunate that the new role I ultimately accepted came with a higher compensation package, which is great. 

For many people, though, pay will be a huge factor in the decision to move on.  If you aren’t being paid fairly for the work you do, compensation absolutely belongs on the list of things to consider when deciding whether a job is still right for you.

Flexibility and Balance

This was another reason leaving wasn’t an easy decision.

The Company provided a lot of flexibility.  We had unlimited PTO.  I probably didn’t take more time off than I would have with a traditional PTO plan, but simply knowing I had the flexibility to take a day off when I needed one was valuable to me. 

I also worked a hybrid schedule of two days at home and three days in the office.  I live in the suburbs, my commute could be more than an hour each way.  The remote days gave me a break from the traffic and gave me back time that I otherwise would have spent in the car.  

I knew I could be happy with a set amount of PTO as long as it was sufficient.  But I also knew that I needed either a hybrid schedule or a job much closer to home. 

My role also had fairly reasonable hours.  I rarely worked only 40 hours, but I wasn’t routinely working 60 either.

Those things mattered to me.

And this process wasn’t just about identifying what I didn’t want anymore. It was also about recognizing the things that were working and that I wanted to protect in whatever came next.

Culture and Trust

Culture is a huge factor in job satisfaction.

When I started this role, the company culture was great.  The business was facing challenges, but there was a strong team pulling together to fix things.  Communication felt open and realistic, but still positive.  We ordered lunch and ate together as a team every Friday.  There was a vision. 

Over time, that changed. 

As members of leadership left, communication became more limited. Executives were rarely in the office, and when they were, there seemed to be more closed-door meetings and less interaction with the rest of the team.  The Friday lunches disappeared.

Whether intentional or not, it created uncertainty and a feeling of distrust. 

I was told that my team was valued and that the company didn’t want to lose us, yet the actions didn’t seem to match the words.  When the annual reviews came around, mine wasn’t completed.  There were no conversations about my career goals or development.  Promises were sometimes made but not followed through. 

For me, trust matters.

When communication disappears and you begin questioning what’s happening around you, work starts to feel very different. I realized that culture and trust weren’t just nice things to have. They were important parts of whether I could be happy at work.

Job Security

I knew when I accepted the position that the company was dealing with financial challenges. 

I wasn’t particularly worried about losing my job, but the ongoing financial pressures added another layer of stress.  It was always in the back of my mind that something could change.

Looking at the big picture, this was something I needed to consider.

The Decision 

Ultimately, the lack of career growth opportunities, declining culture and loss of trust were the biggest factors pushing me to consider other opportunities. 

I reached a point where I had to admit that these issues were affecting me enough that simply trying to ignore them and stick it out wasn’t going to make me happy. 

However, I didn’t let the things that weren’t working erase the positives about my current role. 

That turned out to be an important part of the process.

Thinking critically about my current job didn’t just help me decide if leaving was the right decision.  It helped me understand what I needed from my next job to be happy and fulfilled.

I wanted challenge and room to grow.

I wanted flexibility and balance.

I wanted to work with people I respected.

I wanted open communication and trust. 

At this point, the path forward became much clearer.

Leaving Things Better

I was fortunate to find a role that was a better fit within a few months.

I was patient. 

I spoke to people I trusted and asked for advice.  I interviewed with several companies.  I didn’t want to leave simply for the sake of leaving.  I waited for the opportunity that would give me what I needed to be happy with my work. 

Eventually, I found it.

Then came the part I’d been dreading: resigning.

I made an appointment with my boss and told him the truth in a professional way.  It was difficult, but I felt he needed to understand why someone they hadn’t expected to leave had decided to go. 

I was able to walk away knowing that I had left my department in much better condition than I found it.  There was a great team in place, fully capable of carrying on without me. 

Before I left, I was honest about the things I believed needed to change to retain that team.

I saw that as my last act of service to the company and the people I cared about who were staying behind.

When “Good Enough” Isn’t Enough

My old job wasn’t terrible. There were people I loved working with, things about the role I really liked, and plenty of reasons I could have convinced myself to stay.

But I eventually realized I was asking myself the wrong question.

It wasn’t Is this job bad enough to leave?

It was Is this still right for me?

Those are two very different questions.

Sometimes making life better isn’t about fixing something that’s broken. Sometimes it’s simply being willing to admit that what worked for you before doesn’t work for you anymore—and giving yourself permission to choose what comes next.