Why quitting your job is a lot like breaking up

Breaking up is hard to do. So is quitting your job.

It may not be something that you planned or has given much thought of, but sometimes it just happens. You find yourself a little confused, uneasy and half-hearted; you fear regret, the feeling of abandonment and even retaliation, yet you realize that now is the time for you to part ways and break up"¦with your job.

Okay, so "breaking up with your job" is sounding a little too emotional than necessary. But you at least have to admit that quitting your job, no matter what the reason may be, can give you all sorts of emotions- a hint of bitterness, sadness and guilt and all those feels that are all too familiar to those who have already been through a heartbreak or two.

Quitting your job is a lot like breaking up - and there's no better way to back that up than with some of these classic breakup lines that you yourself have already heard or said before.

"It's not you, it's me."

It's actually your job.

Your job is repulsive and you can't stand it anymore. You are overworked and underpaid and you dread every single day that you are at the office. Your work has become your life "“ something that you wouldn't really mind if only your company or boss isn't so demanding and uptight. You've put up with every single crappy work day that you've spent at the office and now, you're just full of it.

Of course you also wish to grow, to explore new things and to move on. But more than anything, you just want to leave your job behind. In order to lessen any ill-feelings between you and your job, you choose to take the blame- thus, the pseudo-compassionate break-up line.

"We're not meant to be."

While it takes a lot of guts to admit that you and your job don't have the perfect professional marriage, it takes a lot more courage to finally do something about it. Like in most "we're not meant to be" cases, there's nothing seriously wrong with your relationship. It's just that instead of growing together, you've drifted apart- so far apart that it's now almost impossible to pull yourselves together and be the perfect couple you once were.

Of course it's difficult to leave something that you have nurtured, cared for and poured much time and effort into. In the end, you lose your job and your job losses you. But then, by breaking up, you gain freedom, happiness and to some extent, a sense of fulfillment. Now, you are set on another journey to find that dream relationship, albeit a professional one, that is really meant to be.

"I need some space."

Only a few phrases can send a relationship into full crisis mode like this one.

In most cases, "I need some space" is most likely to mean "I don't want to see you anymore." But you can't blame yourself because your job has, for the longest time, been holding you back from a lot of things. You've always seen yourself as a strong and independent person and yet your job managed to reduce you into nothing more than a caged animal that've lost all autonomy and control. Naturally, you'd like to escape because that's the only way you can regain independence and self-determination.

So much about you is already defined by your job that you want to be your own person once again - not just some almost insignificant and indistinct part of a whole. You want privacy and some alone time "“ so much of which has been taken away since you became part of your organization. But you know that you're job will never be able to give you all these things that you desire. And so you are left with no other choice than to break up with your job.

"I met someone else."

The sad truth about professional relationships is that they are bound to end once you find someone else. In this case, you either end up dumping your job for another one, or your job finds someone else to replace you with.

Like some relationships, work can really be miserable. And even when it's not, at some point, you will find yourself wanting better than what you have right now. When the time comes that you have to quit your job because of another one, you'll be stuck in a moral dilemma. Are you going to be honest or will you keep the fact that you've found someone else as a secret?

Somehow, you think that your job should've seen this coming. Lately, you've been behaving differently. You've been less attentive and less available- the signs couldn't have been more obvious- but when you've finally made up your mind about breaking up with your job, you still find it extremely difficult to be honest.

You know all too well that the job you are leaving behind deserves the truth. But you'll find yourself asking, "Is it worth it?"

"Let's stay friends."

You refuse to break up with your job and leave it behind like a jumbled mess.

Burning bridges just isn't your thing. And no matter how sweet or how sour your relationship with your company and your boss has turned, you still choose to keep your doors open. Whether you wish to welcome new opportunities somewhere along the line or you're just making a strategic move to keep your reputation on a good standing, there will always be a good reason to keep things in order as you quit your job.

After all, you'll never be certain about what the future brings. If, by any chance, you both wish to rekindle your (professional) relationship again, then you know very well that you'll never have a problem doing that.

As you end a chapter of your professional career and begin another one, make sure you leave your relationship intact and in order - not bitter, broken and battered like some other people would.

Sure, breaking up with your job may cause a little emotional turmoil between both parties. However, this is not the time for you to forgo good manners. It is always important for you to leave your job with the same amount of dignity, openness and respect that you would when breaking up with someone you love(d).

About JobStreet.com

JobStreet.com is a leading online job board presently covering the employment markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. JobStreet.com currently services over 230,000 corporate hirers and over 15 million jobseekers in its database.

About SEEK Asia

JobStreet.com and jobsDB are part of SEEK Asia, which is the leading online employment market place in Asia. SEEK Asia covers 7 countries namely Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SEEK Asia is the extension of the Australian Securities Exchange listed company called SEEK. The company's purpose is to help improve people's lives through a better career. SEEK Asia's database consist of over 500,000 corporate hirers and over 24 million candidates.

For more information about this article, or to schedule an interview with JobStreet.com Philippines, please call Mark Nichol Turija, Content Marketing Specialist, at 286-6222.