Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Things to consider before you resign…

Resigning from your current job for better prospects and a fat salary package? Consider these things before you do.

I am big Spiderman fan and even more so of the line Uncle Ben says to Peter, "With great power comes great responsibility." Now let us swap Power with Money. The sentence now reads, with great money comes great responsibility. More money brings you "more" of everything that your current job has to offer -- the workload, the pressure, the strain and so on. There is more to those extra lakhs than candidates can figure. Simply put, they fail to look beyond the obvious.

Consider the followings things before you resign:

  • Strengthening your job skills, both soft and technical, to handle the extra workload.
  • Doing a self-reality check, if you are equipped mentally and physically to handle the tremendous work pressure of the new job.
  • Doing a SWOT analysis of the new opportunity compared to your current job.
  • Researching about the new organization, as your success is directly proportional to that of the organization.
  • Discussing the new opportunity with senior technical writers.

Here are some solutions that might help.

Understand your job profile to the fullest. If possible, take notes, while your prospective manager or HR person is giving you the information about your new job profile, the group you would be working in or about the organization.

Consider a meeting with your immediate boss to understand the work, get to know everything you can, which would help you to know the job profile well enough. Remember, you want to justify the cost the company is spending on you, and this small exercise is all the worth.

Embrace the change: You like the work atmosphere, employee facilities, HR Policies of your current employer, however, you are not too keen to continue under the current regime or do not quite like the current profile of work. Do you resign?

Not really, consider "Assignment Change". Today most companies have "Assignment Change" wherein you can change your current group and choose to work with a group, which is doing the kind of work you like. The best part is you do not have to leave the company just because you are not too keen to continue under the current regime or the work profile. You can always come back, when required to your previous group. However, please go through the HR Policies of your respective companies, as most assignment change policy requires the employee to spend at the least a year in the company, before he submits a request for assignment change.

What do you really look for in the new company?

Besides looking for the obvious big fat salary package, foreign trips, perks and so on. Look for the HR Polices of the new companies, the job profile, the work environment and so on.

The HR Dept. of most of the companies today are coming up with innovate benefits and offerings for employees which go beyond foreign trips, benefits, annual bonuses. As you spend your maximum time within the company, it is worth considering the HR Policy of the new company. It can be safely said that today only companies with innovate HR Policies would survive this cutthroat attrition rate.

Suresh has a very interesting HR Policy to share of his company, "My Company has over 130 offices in all parts of the globe. If I stay on with the company for 2 years, I would be eligible to apply anywhere around the globe, as long as there is a requirement and I pass the interview. What is more? The company bears the relocation cost and the salary is paid in the respective country's currency."

One out of the many factors candidates consider is "paid leaves". Paid leaves can be directly related to free salary. The more the paid leaves, the better it is. Shamiksha says "My new company has 22 days of paid leaves and 45 days of total leaves altogether which is unbelievable but true."