Much anxiety about finding a new job until I realized...

[Anonymous]

For months, I was wrestling with whether to look for a new job or not. In retrospect, it seems totally misguided, but one factor holding me back was how I'd tell this person or that person at my workplace, and how my leaving would impact the company.

Then one day (probably at 4 am) it struck me: they'd just hire someone else and after 3 weeks they'd nearly have forgotten who I was.

I think for a lot of people who have learned to have basic respect for other people, there's this sense that you shouldn't actively screw other people over; that there's this basic reciprocity of decency that you should have in your everyday interactions.

Unfortunately, this can really hold you back when you apply it in situations where you don't need to.

Oh, and this is with a company with 19,000 employees, so it's not like the foundations will crumble.

I thought this might help if someone was on the fence about leaving a position, not wanting to harm your current employer. Remember: they'll just find someone else to do the job...

[Anonymous]

Who cares. You’re only on this planet for 80 ish years. Live your life

[Anonymous]

When you work for a huge organization you are just a cog in the wheel. The days of a lifetime job are long over so you need to be your own advocate and manage your career. When you leave, don’t burn any bridges.

[Anonymous]

Even in a smaller place, they'd recover. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I once resigned from a big company and I was pretty stunned when senior management treated me like a leper. I had been there 12 years and had done really well so I knew they were surprised. But to be treated like a leper? I learned a lot from that experience and how they treated me simply reinforced what a good decision I had made.

[Anonymous]

I was wrestling with this. I applied for a lot of jobs before landing my current one. One of the positions I didn’t hear from that I really wanted reached out to interview me on my 2nd day. Figures! I work for a pretty small organization and they invest a lot in training so I felt torn about whether to interview and what I’d do if I was offered the job since I’d likely be quitting within the 1st month. But I decided that I needed to pursue my options and shouldn’t worry until I had an offer in hand. As it turns out, it’s been 6 weeks since I had the interview so no choice to make. But I do realize now that we all have to do what is best for ourselves. Companies do! I will probably start job hunting again this fall because while I love my boss and coworkers, my job is too stressful and inflexible for me given the low pay.

[Anonymous]

First job, when I was young and naive. The VP of Sales and the company parted ways. He left on a Friday and on the following Monday you would never know he had even worked there. New guy, new philosophy in place. I told someone and he said, that's the way the world works and you seem to have a problem with that. Have always looked at that as a lesson. I have left places and two weeks later, completely forgot about the place.

[Anonymous]

How old are you OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are you OP?

OP here. I am 36.