Resigning without having another job lined up

Charlotte_Ca

It would be interesting to get the opinions of other people who have resigned from jobs without having another one lined up.

For example, what was the reason you left and do you think you could have done something differently to have stayed in the job?

I'll start... in my last job I had plans to stay until retirement but after they changed my role they did not provide good training and they had expectations on top of that to be productive. You would be passed from one person to the other to get the information needed and some of them didn't seem confident in knowing what they were teaching. I was not feeling confident doing a good job and couldn't bear the micromanagement either. Everyone was just complaining at that time. So, I just left. 

I think to have stayed in this role I should have had great amounts of tolerance for being mistreated and maybe be stronger on putting boundaries and speaking up. But at that time I was so stressed that I couldn't bear all that and left for the sake of my health.

DullGreyGuy

Reasons for resigning without another job lined up really needs to have a much bigger picture.... if you are a single parent with no savings its clearly a much braver/more extreme thing to do than if you financially dont need the job and really do it for entertainment value.

Personally did it once... nothing wrong with the job itself and it was a real sideward step but as someone who'd come up through the business my salary was way below average. With a 3 month notice period I was confident I could secure another role in that time and having a shorter notice period would open up some roles where they claim only to be willing to wait for up to 4 weeks. 

74jax

I resigned without a job to go to purely for personal reasons. I loved my job and the company and was gutted but I had too (to stay sane).
Mam died in April 2020 and my position had moved to wfh.  I took a week bereavement but my director was constantly on the phone demanding stuff. We were liaising with the government and shareholders and City constently needed updates on how we planned to move forward etc. And I was needed really badly (so I was told...).
I handed my notice in one evening after my boss had screamed 'your mam has been dead a week, you need to return to work'....  This was after he told someone at work my mam had already died, when she hadn't... Because it was 'imminent anyway'... 
I had a 3 month notice period which was sheer hell, but I shut that laptop in the summer of 2020 and never looked back.
I took a year off and volunteered in a local hospital and with a cancer hospice, no money coming in, but I had money in the bank. 
I have just started part time work this summer, in retail - and love the flexibly of shifts and the fact I'm not sitting at a desk for 10hrs a day, I leave my shift and don't get emails, calls etc and I don't work on holidays..... I doubt I will ever go back to the 'career focused' person I was, but I have no guarantees.
I left with no job and no thoughts of what I could do; I felt helpless, belittled, worn down, worthless and I waste of space.
Its the best thing I ever did. 

BSGee20

I worked in the NHS and left due to my health. I have a life long health condition and they were aware of it when I started. However, there were only one or two managers who supported me. There would be periods that I would be unwell and I would go off sick from work, and sometimes I felt pressured to come back earlier than I should have. I left last year and I am so happy that I did. When I hear how stressed and burnt out a lot of the staff feel, I know I made the right decision. 

tacpot12

I resigned form a job because I was wasn't valued at work. My manager was being unpleasant and they weren't paying me very well to do what I was doing for them. I knew I could earn a lot more working elsewhere. I was also a bit rundown, and felt I needed a break, and definitely needed to leave that employer. They were also bullying a friend of mine who more or less single handledly started a new business division for them.  

I took a break from working for three months, living on savings, and then started job hunting. It took me another three months to start work again, despite getting a job offer within 1 month of starting to look for work. My new employer was really slow at onboarding new starters, but once I had started I had a 10% payrise and a much better pension. 

Charlotte_Ca

74jax said:

I resigned without a job to go to purely for personal reasons. I loved my job and the company and was gutted but I had too (to stay sane).
Mam died in April 2020 and my position had moved to wfh.  I took a week bereavement but my director was constantly on the phone demanding stuff. We were liaising with the government and shareholders and City constently needed updates on how we planned to move forward etc. And I was needed really badly (so I was told...).
I handed my notice in one evening after my boss had screamed 'your mam has been dead a week, you need to return to work'....  This was after he told someone at work my mam had already died, when she hadn't... Because it was 'imminent anyway'... 
I had a 3 month notice period which was sheer hell, but I shut that laptop in the summer of 2020 and never looked back.
I took a year off and volunteered in a local hospital and with a cancer hospice, no money coming in, but I had money in the bank. 
I have just started part time work this summer, in retail - and love the flexibly of shifts and the fact I'm not sitting at a desk for 10hrs a day, I leave my shift and don't get emails, calls etc and I don't work on holidays..... I doubt I will ever go back to the 'career focused' person I was, but I have no guarantees.
I left with no job and no thoughts of what I could do; I felt helpless, belittled, worn down, worthless and I waste of space.
Its the best thing I ever did. 

Your boss reminds me my last manager from the company I left. Due to all the stress I was going through I had asked her if I can WFH after I was on sick leave for like 2.5 weeks and she just told me that this is not possible (at the same time though we had people who were WFH). She said this job is 3 days in the office and 2 days at home. Then she said you are either fit to do the job or you are not fit to do the job.

I felt broken because I wanted to stay at the company, but I needed some time to recover. Eventually I went back to the office for a week, but stress got worse and just left. Didn't even work my notice. She even sort of said that I need to work my notice and said well if I cannot come to the office then how do you expect me to work?

I honestly don't understand how people can be so cruel. Without feelings. How can people believe that we are machines and can constantly work without breaking? A death of a family person can be a difficult thing to recover from.

Charlotte_Ca

tacpot12 said:

I resigned form a job because I was wasn't valued at work. My manager was being unpleasant and they weren't paying me very well to do what I was doing for them. I knew I could earn a lot more working elsewhere. I was also a bit rundown, and felt I needed a break, and definitely needed to leave that employer. They were also bullying a friend of mine who more or less single handledly started a new business division for them.  

I took a break from working for three months, living on savings, and then started job hunting. It took me another three months to start work again, despite getting a job offer within 1 month of starting to look for work. My new employer was really slow at onboarding new starters, but once I had started I had a 10% payrise and a much better pension. 

How long were you working for that employer?

When you had the next interviews what reason did you give them for leaving the last role?

DanDare999

I understand your reasons for leaving but how long can you survive before needing a job?

At what point will you need to take temporary work or a job you're not 100% committed to?

MovingForwards

I'd got tired of unstable / constantly changing management, no support or training and the entire team being constantly threatened with PIPs, even a few of us who were new. I've health issues which were getting worse in that environment. I had tried my best to stick it out as the salary was above average, instead I resigned with immediate effect, no job to go to but money in the bank. 

My intention was to have a few months of not working, stabilise my health and then look for something. Within a few hours I was bored at home and updated my CV, one less thing to do when I was ready to work again.

Five minutes later I sent it off to the agency who originally placed me in the previous role and a couple of hours later they were calling me to say about an ongoing temp job. The company interviewed me, offered the job on the spot and started the next week. I ended up getting a permanent role in another department after my temp one ended, but left after 2 years due to having a high turnover of immediate managers, dreadful salary for all the work I was doing and other reasons.

Both permanent jobs I've used the immediate manager turnover, being new in the post and needing that support or go to person while settling in. It always gets nods of approval from the interviewers.

JonVarnas

I've done it many a time and the main reasons are that I either get fed up of the role or fed up of the co-workers/supervisors. It's very easy for me to do though because I'm single with no dependants and the roles that I usually do are entry-level/unskilled which are easy to come by.

Spendless

74jax said:

I resigned without a job to go to purely for personal reasons. I loved my job and the company and was gutted but I had too (to stay sane).
Mam died in April 2020 and my position had moved to wfh.  I took a week bereavement but my director was constantly on the phone demanding stuff. We were liaising with the government and shareholders and City constently needed updates on how we planned to move forward etc. And I was needed really badly (so I was told...).
I handed my notice in one evening after my boss had screamed 'your mam has been dead a week, you need to return to work'....  This was after he told someone at work my mam had already died, when she hadn't... Because it was 'imminent anyway'... 
I had a 3 month notice period which was sheer hell, but I shut that laptop in the summer of 2020 and never looked back.
I took a year off and volunteered in a local hospital and with a cancer hospice, no money coming in, but I had money in the bank. 
I have just started part time work this summer, in retail - and love the flexibly of shifts and the fact I'm not sitting at a desk for 10hrs a day, I leave my shift and don't get emails, calls etc and I don't work on holidays..... I doubt I will ever go back to the 'career focused' person I was, but I have no guarantees.
I left with no job and no thoughts of what I could do; I felt helpless, belittled, worn down, worthless and I waste of space.
Its the best thing I ever did. 

That makes me think of the saying 'People don't leave jobs, they leave managers' Glad you've found something else you're enjoying.

I've had a series of jobs end because of redundancy/company losing contract etc especially at the end of December, which has previously paid havoc with my CV because I look like having too frequent gaps. My most recent was when I decided not to job hunt after the place I'd been at for 2.5 years closed due to the MH of a household member I needed to be around for. Now that situation has improved and moved on, I've found subsequent employers very understanding of this and also of tany job losses and restrictions in job hunting due to  the lockdowns. 

I'll also add if you work in a f-time job Mon-Fri office hours it can be difficult to get time off to attend  interviews without making your present company aware or suspicious. They're not always scheduled at the time your boss says you're meant to make a dental appt at. That way it can be easier to job hunt if you're not working. 

OP -  What's your circs though. If you live with a OH who earns enough and is willing to support you, have enough savings to live on or live with parents/relatives and have minimal outgoings and they're ok with you taking some time out, that's different to if you're on your own, supporting kids, your income is needed etc.