More thoughts on when you know its time to leave your job

it has felt a little odd to be talking about the warning signs that you should leaver your job when so many great people would be happy to just have a job right now.

It's caused me to want to space out my conversation over this week, with content specifically for the unemployed interspersed with more for the "painfully employed."

Not to discount the need to remove yourself from a no-win situation, a job that ruins your Sunday nights because you dread the Monday morning that follows, one in which you are having nightmares, physical symptoms, feeling worse and worse about yourself, or one that feels you leaving that life is passing you by without you contributing or enjoying it enough.

We each steer by our compass and know when the time comes to set a new course. The trick is to start your course correction early and gently, before you are at the point where it is too painful and you are too emotional or beat down to extricate yourself in a positive way.

Especially in the current economy I'd encourage you to heed the early warning signs to make a change, but stay stealth while you build the foundation of an exit strategy. That includes updating your resume and online profiles, building out your connections and building a list of target companies.

And sadly, don't trust ANYONE at your employment with the fact that you want to leave. I have seen more clients than you would believe burned by doing so.

Soul-sucking employment frequently involves being underemployed: not able to use your talents, not being listened to or respected, not being able to do a quality job, disparity among co-workers, accountability unequal to authority.... the list goes on.

But, before you whine on Facebook about your long hours or the fact that someone else got the plum project or trip you were angling for, please be sensitive to your former co-workers who will read your post. Many would gladly work those long hours right now.

BTW, In my years in this field I have never seen so much TOP TALENT on the street. In one regard this recession hit like a game of musical chairs; if you are lucky to have stayed in a seat when the music stopped, remember that you could have just as easily been the "odd man out."

Back to some of the warning signs:

For one reader it is not having a voice in a very bureaucratic environment, when even with less experience her ideas were welcome and considered at her last job.

A client a few years ago shared that he had to get out because, "I'll wear a tie to work everyday and be a professional, and I'll punch a time clock so that every single minute is accounted for - but not on the same job. It should be one or the other."

TR wrote in: "Unfortunately I have discovered that it was time to leave several times in my career and didn't do anything until it got very very bad. I call it infernal optimism - I always believe that it will get better until the situation is making me ill. This job is at the "infernal optimism" point even though I should have learned after all these years. I have a mantra that the commute is easy, the pay is good, the health benefits are good and I like the people I directly work with but that mantra is not good enough. The satisfaction of being able to do a good job is not there and is unlikely to ever be."

A friend became very ill, and only realized after being away from her job for some time and going back that it was definitely a huge contributing factor.

More early warning signs of trouble brewing that you should listen to:

Your boss apologizes for hiring you, and says, "You're too good for this place."

When your supervisor asks you to status all of your current projects, some of them not due for months, but he needs that status RIGHT NOW.

Your boss asks if your resume is up to date, because, he tells you, "Between you and me, I'm starting to look around outside of the company."

The accounting and/or HR people are having extra, closed door meetings and looking worried. Or your paycheck bounces.

Your boss asks you, "Do you really think you're a good fit for this type of work?"

You realize you've successfully taught the receptionist how to do your whole job in addition to her own.

They announce there will be floor by floor group meetings tomorrow, all at the same time, when you've never all gotten together floor by floor before.

When the owner takes home wall hangings that have been up for years, because they are "personal, not company property."

You see a shortage of packing boxes on your floor, and then since you're paying attention, you notice that your co-workers have fewer and fewer personal effects in their personal space.

A sobering story: one client saw the handwriting on the wall and asked if he was going to be laid off or let go. He was told no, but in fact was let go the next day.

Thank you Warren and Tom for the reminder: the best day to start planning for your next job is the day you start the one before.