Many are calling it ‘The Great Resignation.’ Where people quite their jobs to spend more time with family, start their own business, or travel.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Many are calling it ‘The Great Resignation.’
People quitting their job, not for another one, but instead to do something else like spend more time with family, start a business, and travel.
But there’s a right way to head off on life’s next adventure to better your chances for success.
Meet Will Ezell. He now spends his days feeding elephants, seeing ancient temples, and enjoying beautiful scenery. His new life in Thailand is a far cry from the full-time video editing job he just left in San Diego.
“I wouldn’t say a resignation,” said Ezell. “Just a little time off to get out here and explore the world while I’m still young and have a little adventure of my own,”
Ezell is in Thailand with his fiancé. They had planned to visit Thailand for two weeks last year, but the pandemic canceled their trip.
Now, a year and a half later, they’ve saved up more money and realized they wanted a lot more out of this adventure.
“We said, ‘let’s just live there for a while.’ So instead of a two-week vacation, we’re on a two-year vacation right now and we’re just eating amazing local street food. We’re meeting the locals. We’re just living life to the fullest out here.”
But Ezell makes it clear that this new chapter in his life came with a lot of planning. Not only saving up, but also quitting his job the right way.
“I gave them a nice long notice and I was like, ‘look I got to do this. I got to learn a little about myself. A little bit about my heritage’ and they were super supportive.”
Andres Lares, a managing partner with Shapiro Negotiations Institute, agrees.
“You never really know where things are going to go and so you want to leave on great terms,” Lares said.
Lares says his firm is seeing a lot of what they call “boomerang employees,” ones who leave a job, but things didn’t really work out as they had hoped and now, they want to come back.
So, if you plan to quit your job to follow a passion, tip number one is never burn bridges.
It could cost you good references from coworkers who now must pick up the slack plus, if you’re a good employee, your company has an incentive to take you back.
“For the employer, it’s risk mitigation because certainly that means you know what you’re getting and it means you don’t have to train,” said Lares. “They can hit the ground running,”
Tip number two, before quitting, talk with your employer to see if you can work remotely or cut hours, giving you more flexibility to do other things.
“COVID has really kind of opened up people and organizations to think about, ‘ok…what is the role of work,’” said Lares.
Ezell is still able to do some freelance editing projects but tries to keep that to just a few hours in the morning so he can have the day to explore. He says Thailand is beautiful and he’s having an amazing time.
His advice to others considering a similar adventure is to, budget, plan and just get out there and do it. Don’t hesitate!
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