Should You Quit a Job You Just Started?

When you start a new job, oftentimes you enter the honeymoon phase where everything and everyone seems perfect. Similar to dating, everyone (including you) puts their best foot forward in the beginning to make new hires feel welcomed and excited. The added benefit is that you’re not extremely busy during your first few weeks to a month in a new job because you’re still learning the ropes. Now in some instances, this honeymoon phase takes years to wear off, or it may stick around the entire time that you work there!

But what do you do when the honeymoon phase ends abruptly and you’re left thinking, ‘I think I want to quit this job…but I just started a couple of months ago!’. If this happens, it’s important to consider a number things.

1. There are going to be challenging times no matter where you work, or how long you’ve worked there. Don’t let an early challenge deter you from overcoming it and regaining your happiness with the company that you’ve recently joined.

2. Consider the depth of what’s making you want to quit just as fast as you were hired. Are you finding that communication with your manager is a challenge? Well, that can be worked on. Are you experiencing discrimination and no one seems to be willing to listen or help? Well, that is a much larger issue that is most certainly a valid reason to quit.

3. This one may seem harsh, but it’s the tough love that some folks need…could it be you, not them? Now before you leave this blog post with anger and rage, hear me out. What I mean by this is, do you tend to give up quickly when things get hard? Have you expressed your displeasure in the situation(s) and tried to resolve it or are you sitting quietly waiting for the issue to resolve itself? When looking back at your work experience, do you have a track record of quitting jobs after a couple of months – if so, why is that? In any situation, it’s important to take a moment to reflect on what part we might play in the issue at hand.

4. Get clear on your deal breakers. In other words, ‘I’m going to try X and if Y doesn’t happen by Z, then I will begin looking for another job’. Consider the reasons you worked so hard to get that job in the first place, and whether or not you feel that it’s worth fighting for. Then consider how much of your wellbeing are you willing to sacrifice in order to make it work.

Don’t think about tenure at an employer as a benchmark (i.e. ‘you should stay in a job for at least 1 year’). Your mental health and overall happiness is far more important than any standardized timeframe that someone might suggest you stay in a job for. If you’ve made an honest attempt to improve your environment but find that your happiness is being sacrificed to the point of no return, then it’s important to do what’s best for you.

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