6 Important Questions To Ask Before Quitting Your Nightmare Job

That's the third laptop this week... | iStockphoto.com (RomoloTavani)

We spend more than a third of our lives at work. What do you do if that portion of your life feels like a living hell?

Here are some nightmare scenarios you may be encountering:

Toxic Work Environment. The company sold you a bill of goods on the interview. Morale is bad, your coworkers are worse, and expectations are shifting and unrealistic. A 40-hour workweek is a pipe dream compared to the 70+ hours you’re currently logging.

Your skills no longer meet the company’s needs. Sometimes a major internal shift occurs that makes you vulnerable. For example, maybe you’re an IT manager who’s been working on 20-year-old technology that’s being sunsetted at the end of the year, and there’s no plans or budget to train you up on the new platform. This kind of thing can also happen with soft skills, too – maybe the CEO is rolling out a new service model and it’s clear you’re having difficulty adapting.

Your boss has it in for you. Perhaps you and your manager have different philosophies. Maybe he wants to replace you with somebody he worked with at his last company. Or, maybe, he’s just evil. Either way, you have a bulls-eye on your back, and when things go south you will be blamed.

You’ve burned out. Sometimes it feels like you have nothing left to offer – no passion, no interest, no energy, and no motivation.

Or, maybe, your situation is a combination of all the above. In any event, you have a knot in your stomach just thinking about work, and you’re popping Rolaids like candy in order to battle back chronic acid reflux.

A thought crosses your mind: “This job is horrible, I should just quit. I can find another job.”

Acting on this is another matter. We depend on our job in order to eat and to put a roof over our head. Here are six important questions to ask yourself before deciding to quit your nightmare job.

1. Is the situation temporary? Let’s say your manager is the primary source of your aggravation ­– is he filling in as the boss while the company has a vacancy, or is he settled into the role for the long term? If he’s an equity partner, then he’s clearly not going to move on anytime soon.
    

2. Can you fix the situation? It’s not always possible for the boss to know everything that’s going on in the organization. If a process is broken, sometimes your manager has the power to remedy it, and by telling her she can address it. If the issue is skills related, perhaps you can take a class on your own time. And if you’re having a major personality clash with a coworker that’s causing your pain, sometimes a direct conversation can resolve it. But, sometimes not.
    

3. Can you afford a break in employment? True, you’ll have time available to interview for jobs, but finding a new job takes time, and you won’t be collecting a paycheck while you’re on the hunt. Incidentally, if you quit you won’t qualify for unemployment pay.
    

4. Will my employer pay me to leave? Many senior executives negotiate a severance package prior to accepting a job – if you’re lucky enough to fall into this category, you’ll have an idea of what your financial safety net will look like. But even if you’re not a member of the executive suite, there may still be the potential of a severance package. Some companies are image conscious, and may be willing to discuss some sort of severance in order to maintain their image and provide you with a soft landing – but don’t count on this, as it’s usually the exception, rather than the rule. Severance packages tend to be offered when it’s the company’s decision to part ways, not yours.
    

5. Will my reputation take a hit? As a general rule, candidates who are currently employed tend to be more desirable, whereas candidates who are unemployed tend to generate questions and doubts by potential employers. Trust me, they’ll dig at this during the interview to see if they can uncover your flaws that contributed to your unemployment – fairly or unfairly. Also, you will damage your position during salary negotiations; instead of negotiating a package from a position of strength where the company needs to put together an attractive compensation package to entice you to leave your current opportunity, you’re in the less desirable position of negotiating with minimal leverage.
    

6. Are my skills in demand? Take a serious look at your job market. If your skills are in high demand, employers may be more ready and willing to take a chance on you. If the market for your line of work is flooded with unemployed professionals, prepare for a slow, painful ride.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

The 6 Traits Hiring Managers Really Want

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While every hiring manager tends to look for something a little different in a candidate for their open job, here are the six traits I've consistently seen managers look for as they conduct interviews.

TRAIT #1: Job Skills and Qualifications
REASON: Seems like a no-brainer, right? But when an employee doesn't work out because they don't possess the basic requirements of the job, it can be painful (and costly) for the organization to either coach the individual up or replace them. Since hiring can be risky, hiring managers often fall back to passing on an individual if they aren't sure they have the technical and people skills.
HOW TO SHINE: Read the job description before the interview; it will give you a very clear idea of the hard and soft skills the employer needs for the role. Eliminate the hiring manager's doubt by preparing and providing concrete examples of how you have used these skills in the past.

TRAIT #2: Likeability
REASON: No secret here. People like to work with people they like, who fit into the culture of the organization. Since a hiring manager will be spending more than a third of their life with anyone they hire and team chemistry matters, they may prioritize personality as highly as they do technical skills.
HOW TO SHINE: Use the manners your mother and father gave you. Smile. Be polite. Dress nicely for the interview. Send thank you notes. Come armed with great job references from former managers and coworkers who can gush at length about what a pleasure it was to work with you. And do your research about the culture of the company, so that you can talk about how well you'll fit in.

TRAIT #3: Team Orientation
REASON: Does the candidate know how to work well with others? In this age of cross-functional collaboration, teamwork isn't just a nice-to-have, it's essential.
HOW TO SHINE: Demonstrate that you've been able to move seamlessly into different working relationships based upon the needs of the situation. Talk about the times you've led,  the times you've been led, and how you've partnered successfully with your peers to get the job done.

TRAIT #4: Energy
REASON: The workplace tends to be a fast paced environment with heavy expectations, and a low-energy interview may work against a candidate. A calm and measured demeanor may be great for some roles (librarians and brain surgeons come to mind), but positions with rapid-fire deadlines require a bit more pizazz.
HOW TO SHINE: Convey a sense of excitement and animation during the interview. Sit forward in your chair. Provide examples of how you dealt with tight deadlines, adapted to fast-moving work environments, and successfully brought programs to conclusion.

TRAIT #5: Adaptability
REASON: Companies change priorities – often – and they need employees who can change right along with them. If hired, how will the candidate deal with frequent reorganizations, new assignments, and shifting deadlines?
HOW TO SHINE: Talk about the times you've had to adjust to shifting responsibilities and expectations, and how you managed to succeed in spite of these.

TRAIT #6: Growth Potential
REASON: In other words, is the candidate promotable, or will they spend the rest of their life in the role for which they get hired? Managers are often judged for their ability to identify and groom the next superstar.
HOW TO SHINE: Provide examples of people you've managed, mentored, and coached. Make sure your resume shows career progression, with added responsibility over a period of time. Were you an individual contributor (i.e., non-manager)? Talk about projects you've managed.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

No Degree? 11 Winning Strategies To Help You Compete In The Job Search

You've got this. / iStockphoto.com (YiorgosGR)

You're browsing the job boards and you come across a position that's a great fit in every way. The company advertising the job has a great reputation, the role's responsibilities are right in your wheelhouse, and it's just a couple minutes drive from your house.

Then you see the following line in the job description:

"Requires a Bachelor's degree for consideration."

Despite the fact that you've had a successful career to date, have progressed forward in your line of work with multiple promotions, you never finished college.

It happens. Life takes unexpected turns, and sometimes earning a degree becomes less of a priority than earning a living, caring for a sick parent, or raising a child. Next thing you know, the years have slipped by, and school hasn't been a priority any more.

In addition, it's also not unusual for an individual to enter a company at the bottom of the ladder – for example, starting in a retail position working the sales floor and earning a promotion into a management role. However, even their own employer may be hiring their new managers straight out of college (upon completion of their degree) for the company's management training program – in other words, if it weren't for their track record inside the company, they wouldn't even be considered if they were applying for the job they now hold.

Many companies value a college degree for their newly hired employees. There are several reasons for this:

• Essential foundation of knowledge. Especially in technical fields. Think about a mechanical engineer, for example, and the intensive study they would have undertaken. An auto manufacturer would prefer not to have to teach their newly hired engineer how to - well, be an engineer, and the required fundamental science and math skills. Or consider retail management jobs; employers may want business graduates who have taken accounting, finance, marketing, and operations classes so they can better understand how to manage their store's P&L.
   

• Demonstrated discipline. A degree shows you had the diligence to complete four (or more) years of rigorous study. True, I know some people who partied their way through college, but employers don't really ask about that in the interview so long as the candidate has a respectable grade point average and a completed degree.
   

• "Raising the bar." Some employers use a college degree as a minimum screening criteria even for jobs in which the degree doesn't matter, in order to get what is perceived to be a more "promotable" individual. By this reasoning, if somebody wants to become the Vice President of Sales, there won't be any education roadblocks, and they will set a positive example for the other employees as a "highly qualified" individual. It also makes it easier to say "no" to people who don't have a degree, reducing the number of resumes to review. A corollary is the perception that having a degree is a predictor of success, because all the company's current top managers have degrees.
   

• It's easier to compare candidates. Publications such as U.S. News and World Report publish annual rankings of the best colleges. I've seen hiring managers make sweeping determinations about the relative quality of job applicants based the schools attended. By this reasoning, a graduate of Duke (#8) must be a better candidate than a graduate of UCLA (#24), right? It's much easier to quantify a hiring decision, whereas it's a more difficult comparison point for an individual who didn't graduate college - without that valuable school ranking as a metric, the degree-less candidate doesn't rank. 
   

• It's always been done that way. Don't underestimate the power of corporate inertia. Many managers fall back on this reason, or, "it's our policy," in order to avoid the heartburn associated with making an exception or - even worse - being accountable for accommodating an exception that flopped.

While the hiring process may not always be fair, take heart. Your goal is to position yourself as a great candidate whom an employer should take a chance on, so irresistible that a potential employer is willing to take chance on you regardless of the fact that you never finished college.

Here are eleven strategies for positioning yourself for a job when you don't have a degree.

1. Really, really, REALLY show off your skills. All through the process, employers are going to be questioning your ability to do the job. Your strongest selling point will be your applied skills. Be prepared to explain in excruciating detail - both in your resume and in interviews - your foundation of work, and how you've gone about your work. It needs to be glaringly obvious to an employer that you've done this job before, and stepping into this role will be both quick and easy, with minimal learning curve.
    

2. Get your resume in tip-top shape. You need to make the best possible impression right from go. There's no wiggle room here, since you're already at a disadvantage. It needs to look good - really good. Make sure it's loaded with accomplishments and experiences which reflect the fact you're a proven professional and a low-risk hire.
   
   By the way, if you did attend college but dropped out, make sure to include your studies in the resume - something like "Studies toward a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration." This serves two purposes; first, it shows that you were accepted to a degree-granting program, which is an accomplishment in itself and, second, employers' Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS's - the databases they use to store resumes and post jobs) rank resumes according to how closely they match the job description, and the ATS might look for specific words pertaining to the degree. And put your education after your work experience, so it's not the first thing an employer sees.
    

3. Read the posted job description carefully; you still need to be qualified for the job. Your technical skills and/or past experience need to be rock solid in order to be a candidate for a job - otherwise you're wasting everybody's time, including your own. Do you meet ALL the criteria, other than the degree ? If so, you've passed the first test. And look specifically at the stated degree requirements. If it says something to the effect of "Four year degree preferred, equivalent experience required," this means the employer is willing to look past the lack of a diploma but all things being equal, the process may break in favor of the candidate who graduated college.
    

4. Apply to the job online. Yes, even if the job says the degree is absolute, apply. Make sure your resume is top-shelf. Look for the employers' keywords, terminology, and requirements, and make sure you're tweaking your resume to include these. And include a title on the resume matching the job's title. Better keyword match = higher ranking. And while it's not a sure thing that your resume will make the cut, one thing is absolutely certain: If you don't apply, you have a 0% chance of getting the job. Just apply.
    

5. Work your network. You may need an advocate to sing your praises. Leverage referrals to network the hell out of yourself, and to build positive buzz. Let's say you know somebody who works at the company you're targeting, in the group most likely to hire you. A well-placed word from that individual to the hiring manager may convince him or her to schedule an interview, regardless of the degree requirement.
    

6. Practice interviewing. Again, you're at a comparative disadvantage. So be ready to "wow" the interview team. Be dynamic, be engaging, be prepared. Have success stories so far up your sleeve you're going to need another shirt. Wow the hell out of the interview team.
    

7. Have your story ready as to why you didn't finish college - and own it. Whatever the reason, employers will want to see that you are accountable for yourself. Interviewers may ask what happened. Even if they don't, it's often best for you to get in front of it, tell your story, and frame the situation. This can often be a fantastic opportunity to really sell yourself - how bad was your life situation, and what were you able to achieve in spite of this adversity?
    

8. Be strategic about where you apply. Some companies, such as Google, don't care if their software programmers have diplomas. For many companies, it's about finding the best talent, and the degree simply isn't a factor.
    

9. Know when to walk away. You will never be able to convince everybody that you can do the job. Some employers simply won't budge, and that is their right. But close out the situation cordially, be gracious, and live to see another day; your resume may once again surface in front of another hiring manager who's willing to go to bat on your behalf.
    

10. Consider re-enrolling in college. Yes, going back to college as a working adult is a pain - it involves juggling a lot of priorities. But doing so can rally some empathy in your favor, and it gives you a current academic credential to include on your resume. Some employers are suitably satisfied if they see that you're dedicated to filling this gap in your work history. I've seen this happen.
     

11. Never lie about having a degree. Not once, not ever. You will get found out, I guarantee it. And it will haunt you. When I was a recruiter, I ran into several situations where candidates who interviewed for a job indicated that they had completed their diploma - but really hadn't. Once we ran the background check and we found information contradicting the job seeker's claims, it killed their chances. The really sad part of this story is that often the degree wasn't really a firm requirement for the position. But candidates who lied about their education left us with serious doubts about their honesty, and we had no choice but to eliminate them from consideration.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.