How to Quit Your Job When You Hate Your Boss

They say that people don’t quit jobs, they quit awful bosses…

At some instances this is true and since you are here, I can only guess that this is probably the case for you as well.

The good news is that your situation is easily reversible.

Since you only hate your boss and not your career, the easiest and fastest way to improve your situation is to look for a similar job in another company, under a new boss, with whom you might end up getting along better…

Of course, it’s impossible to know beforehand if your relationship with another boss is going to unfold in a smoother manner that your relationship with your current boss but you just have to take your chances to improve your situation right?

Anyway, I know that leaving a job is not an easy decision to make, no matter the reason driving you to quit but that’s why I am here.

To offer you some tips, insights, advice, and out-of-the-box suggestions that will help you make the transition from the boss you currently hate to a boss you might end up loving.

 

How to Quit Your Job When You Hate Your Boss

1 • Start Saving Money

The first and foremost advice that you’ll be hearing a lot within this blog when it comes to quitting your job is that you need to start setting some money aside.

Yes, you might never need it but it’s better to have in case you need than to need and not have.

Having a financial safety net on the side, and I speak from my personal experience here, is definitely going to make the whole process of quitting your job much easier and less scary.

How?

First of all, it reduces the fear of not having money to eat or pay the bills. This, in turn, will help you make decisions which are going to be in favor of your happiness and well-being rather than decisions which come from a place of “needing money right now”.

Secondly, if you manage to gather enough money (6-12 months worth of expenses), you could quit your job without having found another one, let yourself rest for a while, figure out what you really want to do and then start planning your course of action.

For instance, a month ago I quit my job without having anything else lined up. I never planned to leave a job like that… It just happened… I reached a breaking point whereas I just couldn’t set foot at work again not even for another week.

If I hadn’t been gathering money for the last 2 years, I definitely wouldn’t have the guts to take such leap and leave myself incomeless.

Lastly, even if you land another job before leaving your current one, you can’t possibly know how things are going to work out…

For instance, I left my previous job, because I got hired in another one. However, after a week at my new job, they told me that I wasn’t a good fit and that they had to let me go.

Thankfully, I got other offers as well and I jumped on a third job instantly but even if I hadn’t I would still have money to sustain myself for a while.

The thing is that once you quit your job you will be going through a process during which you might find yourself without an income unexpectedly and if that happens you’ll be extremely glad that you have some money on the side to take care of your needs and expenses.

So, no matter why you want to leave your job and how you are planning to do it, start setting some money per month aside because you never know when it might come in handy.

 

2 • Upgrade Your Resume

The second step to quitting your job when you hate your boss is to start upgrading your resume.

I know, cliche, right? Like you haven’t heard of that for like a million times.

However, this is the case because your resume is the first, foremost, and sole criterion based on which your feasible employer decides if they are going to call you for an interview or not.

Having a neat resume is absolutely going to dramatically increase your chances of getting called for interviews.

This was definitely the case for me.

During the last 3 years, I have applied to hundreds of jobs and have attended dozens of interviews but for the few first months that I first started sending over my resume, I got no calls for interviews whatsoever.

It was after a while I realized that this happened because my resume sucked… And it sucked hard!

So, I went online, read some articles, found out ways and tricks to improve it and along with being a little creative I put together a resume which is now getting me calls for interviews from at least 50% of the jobs I apply.

Here are some tips to help you improve your resume right off the top of my head

• Make it unique, but do not overdo it… For instance, within my resume, I included my favorite quote. Most of the people who have interviewed me usually make a positive comment about it. Plus it’s also a great way to spark a conversation with them about a subject I am knowledgeable about
• Include all your previous work experience… This will show the feasible employer that you are actually diligent and not just a slack off
• Sell your former job duties better… For example, if you were working as a cashier at Mc Donalds don’t just write down “Cashier at Mc Donalds from 2010 to 2014”. Instead, try to include all your duties below the job description such as customer service, invoicing, handling complaints and returns, etc
• Use Headings
• Leave white space between the headings to make your resume easier to read
• Use a lot of bullet points under your headings
• Since you’ll be looking for a job similar to your current one, make sure to display your current job description and duties at the very top of your resume

 

3 • Start Applying to Jobs

Now that you have your resume ready, it’s time to start applying to other job positions.

Start doing your research, find 10 job openings that interest you, apply to all of them, and wait for a couple of weeks to see if you’ll get called for interviews.

If you get called from less than a couple of those 10 jobs you applied, then before applying to more, you’ll have to go back and improve your resume further in order to increase the percentage of interviews you’ll get called for.

Once you are done improving your resume for the second time, start from the top, apply to 10 more jobs, etc, etc.

I suggest that you keep going through this process until you manage to be getting called for interviews from at least 50% of the jobs you apply to.

Why?

First of all, you’ll get confirmation that people actually want to employ you. This will increase your confidence in your ability to land a job which will, in turn, make you more likable and less needy and scared during your interviews.

Secondly, you’ll manage to gather feedback on what kind of resume people actually like in order to build a solid one which potential employers are going to love.

Lastly, if for any reason you need to start sending over your resume again, you’ll probably be able to land a decent job relatively quickly.

 

4 • Attend a Number of Interviews

Ok so, you now have a good resume at your hands, you have been called for interviews from a lot of the jobs applied and some of them are even willing to hire you.

However, before taking a new job, make sure to attend as many interviews as you possibly can especially if you haven’t gone through that process for many years.

Why?

You might not believe it, but being good at attending interviews is a skill that can be cultivated. The more interviews you attend, the better and more confident you become at going through interviews.

This means 3 things

• More jobs will want to hire you… The feeling of having an abundance of jobs to choose from gives you the power to choose the best job instead of taking a mediocre job out of the necessity of quitting your old one
• You might end up landing a much better job than you had ever imagined
• You’ll have the confidence to negotiate higher wages

On the other hand, if during your first couple of interviews you come across an opportunity which it would just be stupid to pass it might be smart to seize it at once and get the hell out of your current job ASAP.

Before leaving my previous job for another one 4 months ago, I liked that I had a number of proposals and I ended up the one I considered as the best for me.

 

5 • Leave Without Any Drama

Okay, everything is going according to plan, you managed to land a new job, and so now it’s time to let your soon-to-be former boss know that you won’t be seeing him ever again.

However, the process of handing in your notice could be tricky especially if the relationship between you and your boss has always been unstable. Just a small spark might be enough to tick you off and tell your boss all about how you really feel about him with excruciating detail. And thinking that you’ll probably never see him again further alleviates your inhibitions.

However, instead of letting your boss know about everything that you believe is wrong with him or his company the best thing for you would be to preserve your dignity and conduct yourself professionally throughout the resignation process.

Save the big speech that you have been preparing for the past 5 years and just be the bigger man/woman here.

Maintain your composure like a statue!

 

Thank your boss for the opportunity he gave you to work in his company… Shake his hand, tell him that you’ll miss working around here, even if it’s all a big fat lie.

Never forget that your new employer might ask the employer you hated for references and having left under bad circumstances could negatively affect the relationship with your new employer as well.

6 • Don’t Overthink it

It took me almost 2 years working a job I hated until I finally made the decision that I had to move on.

During those 2 years, I had attended innumerable interviews and got dozens of job offers. But I took none.

Thoughts such as “what if I don’t like this new job?” or “what if this new job is worse than my previous one?” kept holding me shackled.

But truth is, it’s impossible to answer any of those questions beforehand.

You can’t know if

• your new job is going to be ideal
• your new boss is going to be better than your old one
• your new colleagues are going to like you or if you are going to like them
• you’ll have to keep working overtime
• they will even pay you for this overtime
• etc

For instance, as I stated earlier, it took me 2 years until I made the decision to jump from a job I hated to another one.

For the first couple of months working that new job, things were unfolding pretty smoothly and it seemed like I had landed just in the right place.

However, after 2 months there, something happened…

A guy who had been working that job for 20+ years left, I was forced to take over all of his duties and I had to keep working for 10-12 hours a day to complete all the required tasks.

As you can understand all the burden fell on me and work just became unbearable.

From that point on, I lasted working there only for 2 more months…

I ended up quitting that job as well, without having anything lined up.

What I am trying to say here is that instead of wasting 2 more years at a job you hate, just like I did, because you are after landing your “perfect” job, just be aware that what seems perfect at the beginning might turn into a huge pile of elephant shit in mere seconds.

No matter how much you overthink it, no matter how hard you try to land that perfect job of yours, you can NEVER be 100% sure that things are going to work out the way you have imagined them to.

 

7 • Consider Alternative Ways Out

Just so you know, finding another job is not the only way to quit your current one.

In fact, there are tons of other ways to eventually replace the income your current job provides you in order to quit it.

Some of those ways are

• Freelancing
• Working on commission
• Retail arbitrage
• Run a blog
• Dropshipping
• and much more

For more information on that subject, go ahead and take a look at my 15 Ways To Replace Your Income In Order To Quit Your Job In 2019.

 

8 • Become Your Own Boss

Let’s face it…

One of the main reasons that bosses really exist is for their employees to hate them!

The only way to really avoid going from bosses you hate to other bosses you hate is to figure out a way to become self-employed or as I like to call it, your own boss!

I know, it’s easier said than done but it’s not impossible!

Thankfully, I got you covered!

If quitting all bosses forever sounds like a great idea to you, then you must definitely go ahead and take a look at my very enlightening article How To Quit Your Job And Be Your Own Boss [Like a Boss].

 

So, for how long have you been working under a job you hate? Why exactly do you hate him/her? Why haven’t you quit just yet?

You can vent all about it in the comments below!

 

If you have any questions or need any further help or guidance from me, I encourage you to email me at harry@dearboss-iquit.com or drop me a PM on my Wealthy Affiliate Profile.

Whatever the case, I will get back to you as soon as possible.

My best regards to you,

Harry,
dearboss-iquit.com