After 6 years and 5 different roles, I quit a job I loved for… nothing?
Working 35+ years to eventually retire with money to spend but poor health to enjoy it is NOT how I plan to live my life. Mini-retirements are growing in popularity as people realize life is short and they’re burning the candle at both ends for someone else’s dream.
I was one of those people and finally threw in the towel to take a 6-month vacation from Corporate America. I put my notice in on a Friday and had a one-way flight to Europe booked by Monday.
But it wasn’t as abrupt as it sounds. I was low-key prepping for years to take an extended period off and then got very serious about it when I felt I was ready to move on to the next big thing. Rather than go to another corporate job and have to build up PTO, I decided now was the time to leave the comfort of my paycheck and enjoy my life for a bit- and that corporate America will always be there.
Here’s how I prepared to “off board” my job:
These are all general recommendations, please consult your employee handbooks/ HR to assess the below information to your unique situation.
- Talk to a head hunter/ recruiting agency before you resign. Ask for tips on the job market in your field and any resources you may need to gather while you still have company computer access. Ask for advice on helpful numbers to pull, email testimonies, year-end reviews, etc. that will help with job searching later.
- Take care of all health needs while you have company insurance. Some appointments may require booking out 2+ months in advance. At the point you are considering departing, get these appointments scheduled. Worst case scenario, you probably needed to go anyway, so if you end up not leaving, you still took care of you health!
- Talk to a health insurance professional about your options and potential monthly costs. In the USA, this greatly impacts many Americans’ loyalty to their company, and people are retiring later and later as result. Call some insurance professionals to make a plan and see how much it really will be. Cobra can be high dollar, but it’s not the only option. (I happen to love the health insurance specialist I found, shoot me a message on my website if you want her info. She operates in numerous states).
- Use any rewards/ points. My company had a health portal for exercise where we could receive gift cards from getting points for hitting healthy goals throughout the year. Maybe your company has other reward systems or perks- utilize them before you give your notice.
- Save any contacts you may need in the future. Keep phone numbers and email addresses. If you have a company phone or portal attached to your personal phone, many times your contacts will no longer show who each person is and will just show a phone number. It’s a huge pain.
- Download personal documents. Log on to your personal portal and save all year end reviews, outstanding PTO hours, tax forms, wages… anything you may need to reference and will no longer have access to. This can be helpful to double check later and ensure you were properly paid out for outstanding wages.
- Change any external accounts from your work email to your personal. When one of my employees retired after 18 years, he realized how much he had used his work email for personal accounts- from his Marriott Bonvoy to his gym membership. It’s much easier to swap these over while you still have company email access.
- Set your last day to be at least one business day into the new month. Generally, if you work even 1 day into a month, your normal health insurance is good through the end of the month. That’s 4 weeks of coverage. (Please confirm this one to your situation).
- Know that putting in your notice could be your last day. Depending on your situation, you likely can tell if your employer’s response will be “leave now.”
Most importantly, just go for it. There’s never a perfect time. You’ll keep on the hamster wheel of excuses forever because stability is comfortable. But what if something else is out there? Even if it’s just LIVING? Diligently find out with the help of some professionals what quitting could mean for your financial future, how long you have, and your risk to reward ratio for taking a mini-retirement (or even full retirement). I’m rooting for you!
Indiana Jane 