I quit my job and don't have another job lined up yet

[applecrispy]

After 5 years of stress, verbal harassment from a specific coworker (who was reported to HR) and tears, I finally gave my 2 weeks notice today. The job was affecting my mental and physical health. I am both beyond relieved I don't have to work there anymore and sick to my stomach because I don't have another job lined up. Never in a million years would I have imagined myself leaving any job without finding something else first. 

DH holds the medical insurance, his salary covers all our bills, we just won't be able to dump money into our ROTH IRAs or savings or do many of the fun things we enjoy that are $$$. I am so grateful he has been 100% supportive of me quitting, regardless if I had something else lined up. In fact, he suggested I take a couple of months off, enjoy the last couple months of the year/holiday season and start job hunting in January when more jobs may have a bigger budget for hiring. 

I want to enjoy not working but I need to be doing something productive in the interim to make myself more marketable. I'm now concerned about having a gap in employment and I have zero ideas about what I want to do for work going forward. 

Are there any reputable companies that match you with a specific job based on your personality or skill set? Any suggestions or websites for polishing my resume or linkedin profile? 

I've used Ask A Manager in the past so I'll probably go back to browsing that regarding interviewing, etc. But I have no idea WHAT I want to do in my next job nor what industry I want to go into. I don't even know where to start. I was a project consultant in my soon to be former job and before that I sold insurance for almost 15 years. I have no desire for a high stress job anymore, I will take a pay cut for my health. I just need some kind of income to help some of our money goals and the "fun stuff". 

Any ideas, suggestions, kind words, are welcome! Thank you!

[sadlebred]

How about volunteering for a time and thinking about it since you don't have to rush. You might also benefit from a few sessions with a professional career coach to help find what you might like.

[RockNVoll]

I'm so sorry things got so bad for you at work and also congratulate you on taking care of yourself and getting out of that situation.

Try to be kind to yourself and take some time to relax and recover. It's great your husband is being supportive and I think he has the right idea about not worrying about finding a new job right away. As for the resume gap, it happens and as a hiring manager I wouldn't blink an eye at someone who told me they walked away from a bad environment. You can also change your employment date format to just show years rather than month and year and that will help a bit.

I've never used a career coach before but could be worth looking into. Mostly try not to let one stress replace another and give yourself some grace. Good luck!

[chpmnk1015]

That stinks it go so bad there. But good for you and your mental health to leave. I quit a job in May of 21 for the first time ever w o something lined up and it was the best thing I ever did.. was unemployed for 6 months and have been at my new place almost a year and love it.
For me my network on linked in was so helpful as well as people I've kept in touch with over the years.
Good luck!!

[jobae1234]

It can take months to decompress from a toxic work environment. I think taking a few months off and starting the search in January sounds great, since you can afford it.

[sakoro]

I think a few months off after escaping a toxic work environment is wise. When I’ve left terrible jobs, it impacts my ability to interview well and notice red flags in potential new jobs. Networking to understand your industry better and perhaps a few sessions with a career coach might help you to think about what you want to do next versus just reacting to the last job.

I highly recommend setting up a structured routine for yourself— for example: wake up at 7am, workout or take a walk around the neighborhood 7:30-8:30, devote some time to job searching or setting up networking interviews 9-12, lunch, time for a hobby in afternoon. You can’t job hunt continuously 9-5 since much of the time involves waiting for responses from other people. However, you have to keep doing a little bit every day/ week.


In terms of a gap in employment, I’ve only ever had one person question it in an interview. I don’t think it is as dire as college career counselors led us to think. Majority of employers aren’t scrutinizing the dates on your resume that carefully or figure you needed a sabbatical to figure out next steps in your career.

[dr.girlfriend]

I'm so glad you're out of that situation. DH was in a terrible job situation and it pushed him into a depression, with some brief suicidal ideation, something he hadn't experienced since college. He is a million times happier now, and surprisingly making more money in his dream freelancing job than he did in his terrible "security" job. We were lucky enough that I could carry the bills and insurance too.

As to what you want to do in the meantime, I wonder if there's any kind of online job training or certification that might be helpful in both helping you identify what you want to do and looking good on a resume? Even just a generic leadership or diversity and equity training or something like that might be a draw.

[bee20]

I wouldn't worry about the gap in employment, at my former mega corp we were specifically prohibited from asking about gaps or using them as a decision maker, because the reasons for them were generally protected class issues. We would consider the person's years of experience and resume bullets as if there were no gap. The only time it sort of came up was someone who left the industry for 15 years and wanted to come back, we had a lot of discussion around the correct level for her since she had been in a different but not entirely unrelated job.

As for what to do next, if you have experience in sales and project management, those are both very marketable skill sets that apply to a lot of industries.  I'd take a look at top employers in your area (usually listed in business magazines and such) and look for openings that are related.  Usually those types of companies value their employees and are less likely to have HR issues going forward.  You might also look at some smaller companies who could use you in a broad role as account manager or similar.  I've also seen friends have good luck using temp to permanent listings through temp agencies, it's a mutual trial period for you and the employer, and the bar to entry can be lower than applying externally since the risk is lower for the hiring group.

We can help you brainstorm job titles to search for.   What did you like most about your previous jobs?  What didn't you like?  How much do you need to make and is part time ideal?

[ellipses84]

Are you on linked in? I get random messages from headhunters all the time (and a lot of these are used for even early - mid level positions in my field when it’s a worker’s job market like it is now). They can talk to you about things like that and tell you if they are recruiting for companies that match your skill set. Some great places to work don’t advertise much, aside from postings on their own websites, so it may help to target places you’ve heard are great to work for. Honestly, who you work with can be as important as what you do, so just being in a healthy environment free of harassment or where they handle it appropriately will make a world of difference.

I only put years on my resume so taking a few months gap wouldn’t be noticeable. The only question you may get is if you are currently employed and why not, but I think it’s easy to explain you wanted to focus on a full time job search or whatever.

[krystee]

One thing you could do with the gap (if you are interested) is pursue your PMP certification if you don’t already have it and if you decide to stay in the project management-related career. The second my husband got that cert, he started getting a ton of interest from recruiters.

Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date and that your setting is checked for open to new opportunities (I forget exactly what it says). When you’re actively ready to hunt, you could turn on the free trial for LinkedIn Premium.

[pumpkincat]

I did something similar last year and have absolutely zero regrets.

Ended up quitting a ridiculous job in August and waited to start looking until November - refused to start until after the new year. I was approached by a former boss and am now working for him, for less money, in an extremely less stressful environment. Zero regrets.

Congratulations!!

[mactastic]

Just adding to the chorus of Good for you, and though I also understand the anxiety (quit last January without anything lined up), it paled in comparison to the anxiety I felt day in and day out working for my terrible boss. I'm so glad you have a supportive partner (mine encouraged me to quit!), and think taking some time to decompress is an excellent form of self care. I also want to echo what other PPs have said that in this recent work environment, I found the slight gap in my resume to be no issue at all. As you can see from the many responses here, the pandemic and its fallout caused TONS of people to have these realizations and leave without necessarily having something lined up, so in general, a gap doesn't seem to raise eyebrows in nearly the same way it used to.

Best of luck, both in recovering from your past experience, and for your future path forward!!

[ECB]

I wouldn't worry about a gap in your employment. These days- I suspect it's a LOT more common. So - don't push yourself for that reason.

[madringal]

I worked in retail banking for 20 years. Went from teller to VP or Retail Operations, and quit a little over a year a go and took a huge step back to do mortgage lending - and it was the best thing I ever did.

If you enjoyed selling insurance (well, the working with people and sales part), then this may be a great fit for you. Like you, my DHs income covers all our bills so we can afford for me to be 100% commission. It is super flexible and just a fun and fast paced industry. I highly recommend finding a role tied to a bank so you have a referral source if you don't enjoy cold calling (which I do not).

I am happy to answer any questions you have. Good luck and enjoy the time off. I did the same, and it did wonders for my mental health!

[Gato]

I did this once. Even though no one was directly targeting me, it was a toxic environment where I was the second to quit, and then 15 more people out of our 22-person office quit within the next two years.  I was glad I got out and have never regretted following my instincts.

I ended up going back to school to finish my bachelor's degree, which was something I had long wanted to do.  Until I got my next job lined up, I worked as a temp on a very cool project for a nonprofit.  It paid shit but I learned so much about housing discrimination.  You might look into something like that, since you don't NEED the money - a job that is temporary in a field that has always fascinated you.

[hermione]

Can you get some certifications through Coursera to help fill in the gap?

[magdala]

Take some time to detox.

If you hate your job but like your industry, then read everything you can about your industry. Keep your skills fresh and current by continuing to learn. If you are interested in a different industry, then read about that industry and the jobs available there.

Some places have free online courses. Here is MIT's list:
openlearning.mit.edu/courses-programs/mit-opencourseware.

Approach the job search as your new job. Spend specific hours doing job searching and then spend specific hours not doing job searching.

[marathon55]

I just want to chime in and say how stupid it is that gaps in a persons working adult life are ever seen as a negative. The idea that someone needs to be a slave to a job from 18-22 to 55-65 or longer without taking time for themselves is ridiculous.

[wise_rita]

My thoughts on the stupid "employment gap", though 99.8% of my working life has been outside the USA so take this with a grain of salt: on my resume I only put years of jobs held, so a gap is quite undetectable. Even one job ending in 2022 and the next starting in 2023 looks like a pretty smooth transition.

Granted in the world of online applications where you have to write out your whole damn resume (grrrr) you might have to put a month and year, but my guess is the people who matter will only have your resume in front of their face and barely notice.

It seems like there's a trillion available jobs out there so I'm sure you'll find something good!