Jennifer Newman: The right way to quit your job

Quitting a job can be daunting but if done right, people can move on to jobs that are a better fit without burning bridges says workplace psychologist Jennifer Newman.

Newman sat down with The Early Edition host Rick Cluff to offer some tips for those considering quitting their job.

How do you know it might be time to quit your job?

There's a few questions you have to ask yourself. Are you miserable most of the time? Are you feeling undervalued and mistreated? Are you stressed and it's starting to show physically — migraines, backaches, headaches, chronically having trouble sleeping? Are you fantasizing about leaving?

Those are the signs that you might want to quit or seriously consider it.

What's the best approach if a worker is wanting to quit?

There is some truth to saying that you shouldn't quit your current position without something else in place. But again this is hard if workers are absolutely miserable and it's causing you sickness. Because if you're sick, if you're getting depressed, if you're missing day and that kind of thing, you're not going to be in the best shape to actually look for work because you're not going to have the energy. You don't want to get to that point.

It is really important to look for work when you have energy.

There might not be jobs out there, so is keeping the one you have better than nothing?

This fear sometimes happens when workers find their range of experience or their skillset is narrow. The pickings can be very slim in that situation without some kind of additional training. So you want to diversify your skillset.

How can workers handle the fear of the unknown?

What I would suggest is focus first on what you want to achieve. The fear pops up when people focus only on what they really hate about their job and what they dislike. And then they imagine getting away and it stops there. This creates a vacuum. Fear loves to fill vacuums. You need to envision some kind of future. Try to envision a positive one. That will help contain the fear enough so that you can try to move to another position.

How do you quit and not burn bridges?

It's a small world — you need to keep good relationships with people. Give lots of notice. Make sure the person has lots of time to refill the position. If you've been miserable and mistreated, really try to not badmouth your previous employers, as tempting as that might be. Leave before you are burnt out.

People do speak with one another and you're hopefully going to want to get some kind of good reference from that person.

Any other tips?

You want to build a recuperation time. Let's say you get the job — you'd want to build in maybe a week before you start up or more if you can. The last thing you want to do is turn up at a new job feeling completely desperate.

Also, don't look for work on company time, and don't polish up your resume on the company computer. Try not to take calls from prospective employers in front of your boss or staff. Try to find time when you're on your breaks or something like that.

Last, write a very polite resignation letter. I often ask people, write a letter that says thank you and gives your notice in a polite way. That will help keep all the water smooth.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

With files from CBC's The Early Edition

To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled: The right way to quit your job: a workplace psychologist explains how