Three Questions to Ask Before You Leave Your Job, with Alicia Ramsdell

How do you know if you should leave your current job for a new one? And how can you ensure that you won’t be just as unfulfilled in the next position? Find Your Dream Job guest Alicia Ramsdell says you begin with clarity on what your ideal position would entail. Alicia also recommends asking yourself if you’re handling the responsibilities you were hired for. And finally, ask yourself if you’re able to fulfill your career goals in your current position. If the answer is no, it might be time to leave. 

About Our Guest:

Alicia Ramsdell is the founder and CEO of  Mindful Career Path. Her company’s services help inspire your career, empower your potential, and create your legacy.

Resources in This Episode:

• If you need help developing a career strategy and forming an action plan, Alicia can help you. Find out more by visiting her website at mindfulcareerpath.com.
• From our Sponsor: Find Your Dream Job is brought to you by TopResume.  TopResume has helped more than 400,000 professionals land more interviews and get hired faster. Get a free review of your resume today from one of TopResume’s expert writers. 

Transcript

Find Your Dream Job, Episode 383:

Three Questions to Ask Before You Leave Your Job, with Alicia Ramsdell

Airdate: January 25, 2023

Mac Prichard:

This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life. 

I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.

Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.

Find Your Dream Job is brought to you by TopResume. TopResume has helped more than 400,000 professionals land more interviews and get hired faster. 

Get a free review of your resume today. 

Go to macslist.org/topresume.

You’re ready to give your notice and move on to your next opportunity.

But have you thought strategically about why you’re leaving and what can happen next to you and your career? 

Alicia Ramsdell is here to talk about three questions to ask before you leave your job.

She’s the founder and CEO of Mindful Career Path. Her company’s services help inspire your career, empower your potential, and create your legacy.

She joins us from north of Boston, Massachusetts.

Well, let’s jump right into it, Alicia. Now, the three questions you’re sharing today get people to think strategically about whether or not to quit a job. Why is it important to do this? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

So, when you leave an organization prior to considering all options, you can leave benefits on the proverbial table. 

When you get to a point in your career where you feel that you have exhausted all options in a particular role within that organization, bringing structure to this decision-making process is key, and the importance of all of this lies in recognizing your experiences from your current role. And then, you have to reflect on where have you been successful there? Where have you thrived? Where do you want to learn more? And when you build that awareness into your strategy or to your next career move, you’re gonna add value to your career. 

So, whether you stay in your current organization or leave for a new organization, when you know yourself, you’re gonna be able to offer so much more to your organization, the next one, and also your career. You can, you know, for instance, become a more versatile leader, a more collaborative teammate. You can become more productive, support a mission more effectively, and ultimately bring fulfillment into your own career.  

Mac Prichard:

So that structured thinking is going to help you with your career. What if you decide to leave, Alicia? How will it help you with your job search? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

Let’s say two scenarios. If you do not bring strategy to this decision, and you ultimately decide to jump ship to a new organization, you could potentially be in the same unfulfilled career position, just in a new organization. So, same thing, different place, and plus, what you’re doing is leaving behind institutional knowledge, the comfort of knowing the process and procedures at your place, and also a network of resources. Right? Both people and technology. 

And on the flip side, if you don’t bring strategy to the decision and ultimately decide to stay in an organization, you won’t necessarily have a clear path to your desired career vision. You could stifle your career. You could stay in that assumed position and assumed salary, and then possibly even with assumptions made by leaders on what’s best for your career that might not necessarily align with your reality. And again, leaving that fulfillment and unfulfilled potential in your career. 

Mac Prichard:

Do most people do this kind of strategic thinking before deciding to quit a job? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

Not necessarily, unfortunately, and the reason is, typically, when people are ready to move on from an organization, they’re at their, in a sense, breaking point. They’ve had enough. They want something new, and when the next opportunities start to come about, they just dive right in, and if the offer looks good, they accept them, and they don’t really think a hundred percent through the process because they’re so anxious to move on to something bigger and better. But like the old saying is, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. 

Mac Prichard:

You mentioned feeling burnt out, maybe anxious, as reasons why people don’t do this work. What are some other reasons that stop people from doing this kind of strategic reflection before leaving a position? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

If I think through that, I think, yes, the anxious piece. But I also think if an opportunity comes up ahead of time with a much bigger salary, you might be excited to take that position on. Let’s say you have a family that you need to provide for, and you think, well, this is a twenty-five percent jump in salary compared to where I was. This would almost be a no-brainer for me and maybe even detrimental to my family’s financials if I don’t move there. So, there’s some feeling of obligation to serve others outside of your own career fulfillment needs. 

Mac Prichard:

And if you are feeling burnt out, isn’t it better just to leave now and do the strategic work later, when you have more time and less stress? Maybe just figure it out while you’re doing a job hunt. 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

That sounds like how you would feel in that moment, but the reality of it is, as I mentioned before, if you leave and you go to another organization quickly without bringing in a strategy, you could just be experiencing the exact same things in another place, and that’s not gonna be helpful. So, if you do the heavy lifting upfront, over the long term, this will provide for a better option for your career, rather than you being in the same situation, let’s call it, a year later within your new organization. 

And even just recently, this week, I was listening to a LinkedIn Live, and there was a survey result from the Job Seekers Nation Report that said thirty percent of workers who have left a company were leaving that organization within ninety days. And I think some of it has to do with the accountability of doing the research ahead of time to say, is this culture what I need? Is the leadership what I’m looking for? Are the day-to-day responsibilities something that are gonna help me feel fulfilled in my career? 

Mac Prichard:

Okay. Well, let’s talk about how to do that strategic work, and you have three questions, Alicia, that you encourage people to ask before quitting your job and let’s talk about how to do that. 

Your first question is, what were you hired to do? Why is it important to know this, Alicia? Especially if you’ve been in a position for some time. 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

So, when you consider the responsibilities that you were hired for, you can identify, are you actually doing those responsibilities? And then, reflecting on, do you enjoy what you’re doing? Do you believe you are adding value to this organization? And then, also, are you acknowledging any future project opportunities that have more of those responsibilities? 

And I say this because when you know this information, think of it as recording your own KPI, your own Key Performance Indicators. But rather than indicating, you know, how well you are doing at those certain responsibilities, think of it as indicating whether or not you are fulfilling your career goals at this organization or not. And if not, is there room for growth internally? Or maybe even a change externally. 

So, as an example, when you consider if you’re enjoying what you’re doing or if you’re adding value to the organization’s mission, this, to me, is a Key Performance Indicator that you are in the right place. 

Mac Prichard:

How common is it for someone to be hired to do one job and then, as time goes by, find themselves to be doing something completely different? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

So, it’s common that they can be doing something, maybe not completely different, but other responsibilities were added in. 

For example, if you were hired for certain responsibilities but haven’t had the opportunity to do them, a couple of questions come to mind. Are you spending too much time on select responsibilities but not all the responsibilities you were hired for? And when you think about it that way, what areas could you possibly delegate as your role grows? So that you can focus on these missed opportunities, and if you think about it, if you accept a role with one set of responsibilities, but you’re not doing a certain number of these tasks, your productivity is probably not that high. 

And then, even beyond that point, if there are responsibilities you haven’t been able to complete, this can help identify- or, for you, can you identify projects that have come up where you could anticipate this in the future for this particular functionality? 

Mac Prichard:

Terrific. Well, Alicia, I want to stop here and take a break. When we come back, I want to talk a little more about how changing responsibilities affects your productivity at work and, eventually, your career and your next job search, and I also want to echo those other two questions. 

So, stay with us. When Alicia Ramsdell and I come back after this break, she’ll continue to share her advice on the three questions to ask before you leave your job. 

Whether you leave your job or not, you always want to keep your resume up to date. 

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Get specific ideas you can use to fix your resume right away. 

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Now, let’s get back to the show.

We’re back in the Mac’s List studio. I’m talking with Alicia Ramsdell.

She’s the founder and CEO of Mindful Career Path. Her company’s services help inspire your career, empower your potential, and create your legacy.

She joins us from north of Boston, Massachusetts. 

Well, Alicia, before the break, we were talking about your three questions to ask before you leave your job, and I just want to follow up about changing responsibilities and how that can affect your productivity. 

You were hired for one set of responsibilities, and perhaps you’re doing some of them, but you’re not doing the others, and you made the point that this can affect your productivity. Why does that happen, Alicia? And what difference can it make, both in your career and your next job search? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

Well, when you think about it, when you’re hired to do a certain job, and you go through the interview process, you have a set of expectations before coming into the company of what you will be doing. And so, let’s say you’re only doing thirty percent of the responsibilities that you had an expectation to do; there would possibly be frustration that the other seventy percent has not presented itself yet. Maybe you’re overwhelmed in that thirty percent of the work that you are doing. Maybe there’s not enough resources to help you delegate some of the tasks that you might not enjoy doing as much. 

And so, this, as we mentioned before, can lead to burnout, and I like to call those energy givers and energy drainers. What are you doing that’s draining your energy, and what are you doing that’s giving you energy? 

So, if we could get you up to, instead of just thirty percent of what you’re doing, if we could get you up to, let’s call it, sixty percent of the expectations of what you should be doing, that would provide more energy for you and help you determine, what is my future career going to look like. What do I want to spend more time doing? And then, you can clearly articulate that to your leadership in your one-on-one interviews or one-on-one meetings, as well as your performance evaluations. 

Mac Prichard:

The second of your three questions you recommend asking before leaving a job is to look at, in addition to what you were hired to do, what else are you doing? What do you want to learn when you ask yourself this question, Alicia? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

So, knowing this matters because when you consider whether to stay in your organization or leave for a new opportunity, considering additional responsibilities that you took on top of what you were hired for in your current position frames a couple of questions. Were these additional responsibilities that you sought out? Right? You had these energy-giving moments that you wanted more of these styles of responsibilities. 

Another question is, were the responsibilities given to you by leadership because they trusted in your work, they saw your value add? And are these responsibilities you want more of? If yes, are there opportunities for you to add these responsibilities and potentially delegate others your old responsibilities? Right? Room for career growth. 

And I can continue on, too, because I think these questions help you answer whether you choose to stay or go. 

Mac Prichard:

And as you look at these additional responsibilities, this can be a good thing, can’t it, Alicia? 

People grow in their jobs. How can you be sure that this is what you want to do and that this is going to be, in fact, a good thing for your career and for when you begin looking for your next opportunity? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

So, when I think about were these additional responsibilities you sought out? If yes, right? Because remember, we’re trying to choose do we stay in an organization or leave.?If yes, these are additional responsibilities you sought out, that means that there was flexibility or there is flexibility in this organization for you to make your career your own. 

And then, going back to that other question, were the responsibilities given to you by leadership because they trusted in your work? And if yes, you have the backing of leadership in your current organization, which offers credibility and future opportunities. 

And then, when you think about this, are these responsibilities that you want more of? Again, if yes, you can communicate this to your current organization for these desired responsibilities. If they’re available, great, and if not, you can consider having conversations with other organizations at that point.  

Mac Prichard:

Now, the third of your three questions to ask before you leave your job is to ask yourself, what do you want to do ideally? How can your responses to the first two questions help you answer this one? And what else should you consider when you think about your answer? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

Sure. So, if you think back to the responsibilities that you were hired for, the additional responsibilities that you took on, this gives you a baseline for experiences to research and say, again, what did I enjoy? Where did I add value? And what do I want to learn more of? 

And as a job seeker, having clarity on your ideal role responsibilities matters because this allows you to, again, clearly articulate your core career message. And that can be to a future hiring manager in an informational interview, a regular job interview, or even with your current manager in a performance evaluation. 

And if you are clear in that message, this can help you with your next move by giving, again, your current leadership or your network the keys on how they can best serve you and your job search. 

Mac Prichard:

So, you’ve gone through this process, you’ve asked yourself these three questions. What set of answers signal it’s time to go? And what answers indicate that it’s time to stay? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

So, ultimately, whether you stay in your job or look elsewhere, it depends on your non-negotiables. So, what are your priorities in your career? And sometimes, your career priorities are not yours alone. Right? There are external factors like family decisions and other responsibilities that play into your priorities. 

So, when I think about the answers to these three questions, if you have flexibility within your current organization to make your career your own, and there are opportunities ahead of you to complete these ideal responsibilities, that’s a great indication of staying. 

If the flexibility is not there. If there are no opportunities ahead of you. If leadership hasn’t shown that they believe in your value, that’s a sign that you could leave. And based on what we were talking about before, based on these non-negotiables and the order of your career priorities list, you can consider your reflection on what you were hired to do, what were the additional responsibilities you took on, and knowing what you ideally want going forward. 

And for me, I determine that as you now have the KPIs to figure out, are there internal possibilities for you to stay in your current company? And if there are, is the current company the right culture fit? Are the salary and benefits where they need to be? And if you don’t see an alignment with those non-negotiables and your internal opportunities, this would suggest it’s time to explore external opportunities. 

And you could really do that by connecting with your network, sharing your core message with your ideals. And this helps your network provide you and present to you external opportunities as they come up in their day-to-days. 

Mac Prichard:

You mentioned opportunity, culture, and benefits, and salary as examples of non-negotiables. Any other non-negotiables that you encourage your clients to consider when they’re going through this kind of decision-making, Alicia? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

Certainly. So, the work-life flexibility that you need is a big priority right now. Since Covid, remote, hybrid, in-office, that is a non-negotiable for a lot of the clients that I’m working with, you know, depending on what they choose to be beneficial to their family needs or individual needs. As you mentioned, salary, benefits, of course. 

And non-negotiables can be the priority list when you step into that office or even remote office. What are your responsibilities going to be? What do you want to spend your time on? And is this reality, or is this a facade, and you go in, and that’s not exactly what you’re doing? 

So, having those conversations up front with people that either are currently working in the organization, have worked in the past in that organization, to determine what is it going to be like when I first get into this or, again, remote office?

Mac Prichard:

And what about timing? You mentioned earlier, you cited a study that said many people are leaving their jobs after just a few months. When do you ask yourself these questions, Alicia? Is it at the start of an engagement? Or do you typically see people do this a year or two into a commitment to an organization? What’s been your experience? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

In my own experience, when I start to work with clients, I notice that people typically don’t go through this process until there’s an issue. Right? Whether there is lay-offs looming. Whether they’re unhappy with where they’re at, and then they start to reflect and say, okay, what do I want next? 

What I suggest to clients that are stepping into a new role on day one is to journal weekly, and however they want to do that, whether it’s voice memos, writing it down, you know, listening on their computers. It’s up to them. But journaling weekly to say, alright, where am I thriving? What do I want to learn more of? Where would I like to delegate? And then revisiting this monthly. 

And to the point where, when you go into your one-on-one weekly meetings, or however often they are, with your management, you can say, hey, here’s my agenda items. These are the priorities I’m working right now. As for my career, I’m really enjoying working on these responsibilities. I’d really love the opportunity to learn more about this. You know, I noticed that we have this other team member. Could I delegate some of these responsibilities to them? Maybe it’s an intern, maybe it’s a staff level that works for you. 

And then, you can start to prioritize your career with your management. So that they’re going along for the ride, and they understand, and you’re not just making assumptions that you’re leadership team is going to know exactly what it is you want at all times. 

Mac Prichard:

Terrific. Well, it’s been a great conversation, Alicia. Now, tell us, what’s next for you? 

Alicia Ramsdell: 

So, I’m really excited to share that I’ll be an upcoming TEDx speaker at TEDx York Beach, and that will be live in February and, of course, on the site recorded after that. And part of my talk revolves around what I do every day as a CEO of My Mindful Career Path, and I like to say that we are where mindfulness meets your career, and the talk will be around a four-quadrant strategy to career fulfillment. So, I’m excited to share that and our mission in inspiring and educating with mindfulness at the core. And, you know, the answer to your why in career clarity and educate to answer your how in career development strategy. 

Mac Prichard:

Well, congratulations on your upcoming TEDx talk, and we’ll be sure to include that in the show notes, and I know that listeners, Alicia, can learn more about you and your company’s services by visiting your website and that is mindfulcareerpath.com, and, of course, that will be in the website article as well. 

Now, Alicia, given all the great advice you’ve shared today, what’s the one thing you want a listener to remember about your three questions to ask before you leave your job?  

Alicia Ramsdell: 

Know your KPIs, your Key Performance Indicators. Think of the Key Performance Indicators, again, not how well you’re doing at those certain responsibilities, but think of it indicating whether or not you are fulfilling your career goals at this organization or is time to make the move. 

Mac Prichard:

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Next week, our guest will be Trevor Houston.

He’s the host of the Who Ya Know Show, a career advice podcast.

Trevor is also the founder and CEO of ClearPath Wealth Strategies. 

Does your boss ignore your ideas, neglect to invite you to meetings, or give little or no feedback? 

These might be signs that your employer has decided to let you go.  

Join us next Wednesday when Trevor Houston and I talk about quiet firing, what it is, and what you can do about it. 

Until next time, thanks for letting us help you find your dream job.

This show is produced by Mac’s List. 

Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media.

Our sound engineer is Matt Fiorillo.  Ryan Morrison at Podfly Productions edits the show. Dawn Mole creates our transcripts. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.

This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.