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5 Critical Exit Signs – Time for a Job Change

5 Critical Exit Signs – Time for a Job Change

Often, exit signs are quite obvious, yet we are so caught up that we fail to pay heed to these signs as definite signals for a transition, as signals that it is time to quit the current job and move on. At times we may acknowledge the signs and yet choose to be in denial because of the fear of quitting and subsequent financial and professional insecurity. In this post, we talk about five most telling signs for quitting your current job

Exit Sign 1: Even if it’s a Friday, you drag yourself to work 

It is not just the Monday blues, the blues last through the week and even a Friday morning does not drive them away! You find yourself thinking of new excuses almost every day to call it a sick day and eventually give up and drag yourself to work.

Exit Sign 2: The work-life balance is off-balance 

Remember how we spoke about work life balance in our previous posts? Well, if you find yourself nodding your head to this sign, you might have truly understood how important work – life balance is, at the cost of its disruption. If you find your professional frustration making its way into your personal life and affecting your personal relationships, it sure isn’t a healthy sign.

Exit Sign 3: You have stopped growing as a professional 

You do not find your job intellectually stimulating anymore, and feel like you have hit a dead-end. Stagnation in a job is one of the most obvious signs for you to quit. If there is no growth financially or in terms of responsibilities it makes sense to move on. If you feel your skills are not being made use of to the fullest and the profile does not accommodate what you have to offer as a professional, do give change a serious thought.

Exit Sign 4: You are no longer comfortable around your colleagues

You no longer are able to function efficiently as a part of the team and find yourself at arm’s-length with your colleagues and are unable to connect with them anymore. Not to talk about appetite for even formal conversation. You find it difficult to adapt to the work culture and environment. Office parties are more of an obligation and pain than pleasure or an opportunity to interact.

Exit Sign 5: Your passion lies elsewhere

You’ve suddenly started feeling existential and questioning your purpose in life. You feel crabby most of the time and feel like you have been wasting time all this while, while your friends have done so much better than you. You find yourself wishing, you had followed your passion, your heart. What was it? To become a writer? An artist? An architect? Well you know, like they say, it is better late than never!

These are a few critical exit signals. It is true that the prospect of change and diving into the unknown can be terrifying for most of us, however, we are only afraid of what lies ahead because of our lack of foresight as humans. Always remember that if you are qualified professional, or an entry-level professional eager to learn, or want to do your own thing, the job market is waiting for you, and sky is the limit.

Besides, your first job should not be your last job and money should never be the prime motivation – it always loses its sheen sooner than we think. Our Indian audience must be familiar with a popular beverage commercial – a dashing Bollywood actor pronouncing with great confidence while sipping the soft drink after having sky dived for the first time – “darr ke aage jeet hai!”  or  “victory lies on the other side of fear!”! Err, excuse the cliché, but in our defense, it’s not every day that we get so filmy! 

Need some help with drafting your resignation, or on how to quit gracefully? Read what we would like you to know about it, or get in touch with us!https://www.sincera.in/contact-us/

Drafting the Perfect Resignation Letter – Tips to get it Right!

Drafting the Perfect Resignation Letter – Tips to get it Right!

You’ve made the decision to move, have secured the job you wanted, and now have to do the most important bit – communicating it to your boss. How you draft your resignation letter is very important, it determines the terms of parting with the company you have been with so far, and also sets the tone for how tough or easy the notice period is going to be for you. Also remember, if your association with your current company has been a pleasant one, it is essential to communicate your decision to resign in a sensitive manner and not in an abrupt way. Even if your stay hasn’t been a pleasant one, you still must resign gracefully. It is a small world, and you do not want your next employer to hear about the nasty way in which you quit. If your reasons for quitting are due to valid discontent about the way you (or matters relating to you) have been dealt with at your work place, communicate it tastefully and in a dignified manner. Here are 3 basic tips to keep in mind while drafting a resignation letter.

  1. Drafting the Perfect Resignation Letter: The Tone

    The tone of your letter must be polite and courteous. Repeating what we said earlier, never mind the reason behind your resignation. It truly is a small world and who knows some day you might well need the goodwill of your current employer. It is always more palatable to part on good terms. If you wish to pronounce your displeasure with the management, you can do so firmly, yet politely. Put aside your impulse to give your boss ‘a piece of your mind’, even if (s)he may well be deserving of it! Trust Karma to do the needful – and that would be our advice!

  1. Drafting the Perfect Resignation Letter: The Content

    Introduce the letter by stating the purpose for your resignation (briefly, not more than two or three sentences. There will be a time and place to discuss the reasons in detail with your employer). In the same paragraph you should mention the position you are resigning from and the date of your relieving. Calculate the date of relieving you give carefully, keeping in mind the notice period you would need to serve. For example, if you are resigning on 1st July,  you should state your last working day as 15th July (in case of a two weeks notice period). Next comes the part where you thank your employer. Even if you need to do it through gritted teeth, you must do it. Thank your employer for the opportunities you have had as an employee at the organization. Also it is not necessary that your experience may have been a bitter one, in which case, a genuine, heartfelt thanks will be welcome and appreciated. And if it has been a bad experience overall, even then the job surely has taught you something. Say thank you in spirit. Lastly, conclude by asking for a confirmation of acceptance of your resignation and about details of the hand over and stating that you would, from your end try to meet the expectations set by the organization before you leave. Be careful not to commit to anything which may not be possible to achieve in that short span of time.

  1. Drafting the Perfect Resignation Letter: Precision

    The language should be crisp and to the point. Do not beat around the bush or narrate a sob story in the letter. Be professional, clear, yet, polite.

These are the basic things to consider while drafting a resignation letter. There are many kinds of resignation letters. You may want to quit the job immediately with no time to serve the notice period, or you may not have the time to serve the notice period as per the company’s policy. We found this very resourceful site which has samples of various kinds of resignation letters. Have a look here- http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resignationletters/a/resignationlet.htm. This article could also help you if you have been struggling with your resignation letter- https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-write-a-resignation-letter.

We hope our post has given you some inspiration that you can use for drafting resignation letters!

Resigning With Grace – How to Resign like a True Professional

Resigning With Grace – How to Resign like a True Professional

As professionals, it is only natural that we may want to quit the job we currently have, in order to move on and progress – for whatever reason we may have. There could be many reasons for us wanting to quit and we could be quite distracted/disturbed when the moment of truth approaches. Anger, nostalgia, pride, nervousness, a sense of loss, excitement are only some of the emotions you could be experiencing in your notice period, leading up to your last day. However, no matter how you feel, a graceful exit is a non- negotiable. Here are five things that need to be done, for resigning with grace, and leaving behind respect for you as a true professional:

  1. Resigning with Grace: Prepare them. And yourself.

    If it is in your control, prepare your manager/team in advance about your exit. It is bad enough for them that you’ve chosen to move on. The news should not be jolting. Have a conversation in person with your manager first. Be clear and courteous, and serve your notice period if that is what your manager needs. The time in hand will allow your work to come to a closure, a suitable replacement can be brought in and it is respectful!

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Stay honest and polite in your exit interview

    Exit interviews are not venting sessions. But if you value your time at the organization and care for them, it is important that you give honest feedback about your experiences. Don’t trash talk. Tell them what you feel. You can be honest, but not rude. We believe many conversations must take place to make the world of work a better place. And if something needs to be addressed, exit interviews are the places to share.

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Reach out to all the teams

    If you have been a person who has worked with multiple teams in the organization, and have some skills which others depend on, inform them about your exit. It is only fair that you make an open offer to them regarding working on transitioning anything that they need from you. That way they won’t be left in a vacuum.

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Celebrate your journey

    For whatever reason you quit, once you decide to cross the bridge, know it is a new beginning. Your work stint would have brought you in contact with different kinds of people, allowed you to pick up skills, taken you towards your calling and helped you grow as a person. Celebrate that. The farewell might be a difficult time, an emotional time as well. But bringing in some joy, appreciation and fun will make your experience extremely worthwhile. And help reinforce the all-important friendships with the now ex-colleagues. Remember that it is these relationships that are the true assets that you take along with you.

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Allow and acknowledge the possibility of a future association

    You never know when you may feel the need to associate in some way with an organization you leave, in the future. Be it in terms of work, or partnering with a colleague, reference from your manager, anything. It can happen. Don’t burn bridges. Leave a door open. Send appreciative emails/messages, be thankful. Tell your team/managers that at some point you would love to associate again. For an organization, it is always good when ex-employees come back to contribute again. As they say, it is a very small world!

 

Given the multitude of circumstances we may leave under, it may be difficult to leave on a good note. However, to end the post with the same note we started it with, resigning with grace is a non-negotiable!   Have similar thoughts? We would love to know! Do share your experience with us.

Changing Jobs? 5 Tips for a Smooth Job Transition

Changing Jobs? 5 Tips for a Smooth Job Transition

If you’ve made up your mind to change jobs, the transitional period between quitting and looking for a new job, or joining a new job you may already have landed, can be quite unsettling. But remember, “this too shall pass”. In this post, we suggest 5 tips to help you with a smooth job transition.

Think it through

Is your decision to quit a well thought out one or an impulsive one? If impulsive, then think it through once again. Career decisions need to be gradual and well researched, not sudden and abrupt. Of course, we agree that you do need to take risks at some point in your career if you really believe it is for the best. However, diving headlong into something you have absolutely no idea about, leaving behind a secure job and pay, can be a tad too risky.

Do a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT Analysis is a Strengths Weakness Opportunity and Threats Analysis. Use this opportunity to assess yourself along SWOT lines. Think about your new job and relate your Strengths and Weaknesses to it. Think about the Opportunities and avenues that the new venture will open up for you. At the same time, assess the potential Threats to your career if you decide on changing jobs. Write these down for clarity and talk to a senior colleague or friend who’s been working for some time and has an idea about the high and low tides of the job market. It is seldom wise to make such decisions in isolation. Talking always helps.

Make peace with your decision to quit

If you haven’t been impulsive and have thought this job transition through, you need to put behind any feelings of guilt you might be experiencing. Be loyal to yourself first, and then the company. You may have had a long and fruitful association with the organization, however, if you have realized there is no more scope for you to grow as a professional and that you desire more from your career, resigning is the best thing to do.

End Well

If you’ve been reading our previous posts, you must have noticed the stress we have been laying on this particular point. We are going to repeat it for you anyway. No matter what the reason for your resignation is, you must end your relationship with your current organization gracefully. It is more important for you to end well than start well, if you’ve landed a job with another company, you’ve quite obviously already made an impression! Ending on good terms, despite differences, sets you apart as a thorough professional.

Handover

The notice period will be your last few working days at the organization before your job transition. Winding up can be an exhausting process. Give the organization what you owe it and, make sure you receive what the organization owes you. Discuss this with the HR to avoid any last minute confusion regarding your cumulative pay at the end of your notice period, and/or any bonuses, benefits, insurance, share values you should receive.

Bonus Tip : Keep Calm and  Chant  “this too shall pass” – the odds of faith in the face of doubt! 🙂

Be #HappyInTheNow 🙂

Your Job Search Websites Checklist – Top Job Portals – Part I

The title of the post says it all, so let’s dive right into learning about some of the best job portals you should definitely check out when actively looking for a job.

Monster 

Monster is how it all began. This site is the one of the oldest  job portals in the world and has very successfully managed to sustain itself still as one of the most efficient search engines. The site not only lists full time jobs, it also lists part time and hourly jobs in every career field that there is. Monster (monster.com/monster.co.in) goes beyond simply listing jobs, it also publishes tons of relevant career related articles and advice.

The privacy feature on Monster works as a boon if you do not want a company to come across your resume, and especially if that company is currently where you are working at! Speaking of sustainability (and scalability) of a business model for over 2 decades in the most fiercely competitive market – the internet, Monster has probably been able to thrive and grow by constantly innovating. It is the father of the BeKnown application for Facebook, which allows you to take your job search to the biggest social network in the world.

Naukri.com

is another job-hunting behemoth of India that has been around since 1997. Naukri has a well organized website, advertising jobs by sector, location, designation, skills and company. It also provides career services by the name of Naukri FastForward, which include resume writing help, resume reviews as well as getting connected with recruiters in your domain. Having survived tough competition for decades, the quality of these services can be trusted.

LinkedIn

It shall come as a surprise to none that LinkedIn is the world’s largest network of professionals, approximately 225 million! LinkedIn has surely become the go-to site for job hunters and for employers alike. The user interface is fairly simple, your profile on LinkedIn is your resume which lists all your work experience and skills and connects you with other professionals. The site also directly lists jobs by employers.

A unique feature of LinkedIn is its inbuilt referral system, if one of your LinkedIn connections is LinkedIn with a professional at a company you are applying or wish to apply to, you can ask them to connect you. A lot of companies require you to just apply through your LinkedIn profile, which is increasingly becoming a trend. It is surely worthwhile to spend some time every once in a while updating your profile and connecting through LinkedIn just for the sake of networking, even if you may not be actively looking for a job at the moment.

Sheroes.com

Sheroes is a Careers community for women in India. Sheroes has a group of mentors to coach women and help them find the perfect job. Much more than a job-listing search engine, Sheroes organizes events in major cities across India frequently and has succeeded in forming a community of over 5000 ‘Sheroes’ – women who have benefited from this website. Along with job listings including flex-work opportunities relevant to women, this website also provides the opportunity to connect with a lot of people who have been through the job-hunting process.

Craigslist

Craigslist is what you might call your old school classifieds gone tech savvy. Starting from jobs, to housing, goods and services and even romance and advice, it has it all! The good thing about Craigslist is employers directly post their requirements and it is not moderated, also, it specializes in finding jobs in your vicinity. On the flipside however, the listings are way too broad and you may have to spend some time trying to narrow down on your searches, also, it does not have a feature where you could post your resume or sign up for emails.

Facebook

Though one wouldn’t say Facebook is competition for all the other platforms listed here, one wouldn’t be wrong in saying that it is more than just social networking, it is more than just check-ins, pictures and posts. Employers and job seekers alike are increasingly taking to Facebook to look for jobs and also for reviewing their prospective employees or employers. The free Facebook page facility has been a blessing for especially the startup scene, in trying to draw attention to the work they are doing and also post their requirements for employees/entrepreneurs. The highly successful Delhi and Bangalore Startups pages are only two examples of the same. Also, while you are on Facebook looking for a job, do spend some time cleaning up and organizing your profile, it really means more than you can fathom!

Read on in our next post for all the other top job portals /channels/platforms that you need to check out when searching for a job.

Happy Hunting!

5 Things to do after Resigning

5 Things to do after Resigning

Resigning from a job can be a blessing in disguise. The time in between leaving a job and joining another one can truly be the forced sabbatical you always needed but had not been able to take. Well, now since you have some time on your hand, you may as well make good use of it rather than brooding about what is coming up next. With our crazy schedules, most of us have forgotten to enjoy living, it is the clockwork, deadlines and projects we are most concerned about. If you are in between two jobs, with some time to indulge yourself, here are the five things you must try doing!

  1. Travel –

    Make plans for that much awaited trip and set out. Better still, don’t wait to ‘make plans’, because that’s what you have been doing until now because of which you still haven’t been able to leave! Be impulsive and just go, we assume here that you have some savings! Well, even if you don’t you can always travel on a shoe-string budget instead of luxury traveling. Traveling allows you the much-needed time for soul-searching and at the same time rejuvenate you.

    If you have been feeling scattered lately due to all the transition and the fear of not knowing what lies ahead, maybe traveling is the much-needed change you need? At times we feel like a mess, like pieces of a jigsaw that just don’t seem to be fitting together. If you are a traveler lost in the world of work with no time for yourself but have had this break imposed upon you, it is the perfect opportunity for you to find the missing pieces of jigsaw and glue them back together, through traveling.

  1. Reconnect with a forgotten hobby –

    Does it sound weird to you just hearing the word ‘hobby’? Does it sound like a word which got lost somewhere between activity periods in school and the process of becoming a ‘professional’? If you find yourself silently responding in the affirmative, maybe it is going to do you a lot of good to try to reconnect with something you used to love doing. Gardening? Baking? Trekking? Fishing? Rock Climbing? Collage making? Painting? It could be anything! Think about what it was and try going back to it. It will surprise how light you will begin to feel.

    It will surprise even more, when you will notice the clarity in thought the particular activity you choose, will bring you. At times when we are extremely muddled up, we need to let go and do other things we enjoy doing. A lot of mess is usually created through us imagining unnecessarily complicated situations, which are not actually real. In diverting our attention to more creative processes that we enjoy doing, help us think more clearly and approach the problems in a more rational and analytical manner rather than in a state of panic.

  1. Meet people you love but haven’t had time for –

    The aunt who kept inviting you over for dinner but you kept cancelling because of the board meeting the next day? The old school friend who you promised a couple of drinks but never got around to meeting because you didn’t really have any weekends? The beautiful date you have been thinking of for the longest time now? Well, now is the time you always wished you had to spend with your loved ones but never quite managed to. Draw up a list of people you like, used to like to spend time with, and people who would be happy to see you. Reaching out and connecting with them will make you positive and happy.

  1. Read –

    If you’ve been a voracious reader anyway, this is the perfect time to indulge yourself some more! If not, there couldn’t be a better time to start. Reading helps recharge your intellectual resources and keeps those brainy ideas flowing. Reading fires your imagination. Just like a balanced diet is essential for a healthy body, balanced reading is crucial for a healthy mind. Make sure your reading time consists of a mixed menu of current affairs, fiction and non-fiction.

  1. Organize-

    Making the most of this time is extremely important and you could use it to get yourself a head start. Start by organizing the documents you will need for the job you are planning to apply for, or for the job you have already bagged. Create a checklist of all the things you will be needing. Clear out your desk, rearrange the furniture in your study, and dust the shelves! Bring in the positive vibes that say you are ready for a brand new start!

 

Live your life to the fullest. And don’t forget to be #HappyInTheNow !