I spoke to a friend who shared her story with me. This is what she sent me:

 

So true story: I quit my job before I had a better one. 

 

I know. That’s crazy. Everyone keeps saying how there are so many jobs open, I just figured I’d try something new. It wasn’t a really bad job. I just wanted something different. 

 

Here’s the thing that I’ve learned: I’m not the only one who quit their job without a back-up plan. In fact, a lot of my friends who have quit their jobs did it in the belief that finding a better one was going to be easy. 

 

The grass is always greener, right? So here I am looking for work and trying to find a better job than the one I had… before I go broke.

 

So, what do I do now?

 

If you quit your job and now, you’re looking for a new one, it might require that you lconsider what you’re really looking for. Here’s a plan for you to find the right job:

 

  1. Write down what you didn’t like about the job you left. “I didn’t like it,” is not a reason. You need to get specific about what you didn’t like about that job. In fact, think hard, because you literally caused yourself a ton of stress for nothing if you can’t find any good reasons for quitting.
  2. Now write down what you want from a job. What is that you’re looking for from a new job? This might be more pay, or more time off, or the ability to work from home. Maybe you want to be your own boss or you want to work independently. Think about what you’d like from your new job. Before you just shout out, “More money,” think. Do you really need more money or are you looking for your time to be valued enough for the money you get?
  3. What career do you want? Did the career you had afford you the ability to get the things you wrote down in step two? For example, if you’ve been a server, you might not be able to take weekends off and still make a living. If you’ve been working in an office, you might not be able to find a job in the same line of work that lets you work outdoors. Be realistic about what you can really find in the career you had. If you like the career, but the place you worked stunk, yeah! That’s much easier than having to consider a whole new career.
  4. What companies do you want to work for? Sometimes, like being an over-the-road trucker, you might not care as long as the money is there. In other cases, the company might be the whole thing. Think about which companies have captured your interest. Again, if you’ve been in the industry for a while, you’ll know who the dominant companies are. These are the companies you need to work on getting into.
  5. Do you have the skills to do what you want to? If you’ve decided you want to be a river guide or a veterinarian, you might need to get some more skills. If you have the skills needed, all you have to do is find the right position, and you’re good. If you’re not sure what skills are needed, look online for a job opening. Print it out and see how many of those skills you have. If you don’t have enough, you will have to go back to school or take some kind of training.

 

Now you have what you need – an idea of what you want from a job, what job you want, and what you need to do to get the job.

 

It’s time to align your offerings with what people are looking for in those positions.